My research spans behavioral economics, experimental finance, and strategic management, with a focus on how decision-making processes, organizational structures, and institutional environments influence corporate strategies and outcomes. I take an interdisciplinary approach, integrating experimental and empirical methods to address key issues such as behavioral biases, managerial incentives, leadership traits, and corporate social responsibility. Below is an overview of my key publications and works in progress, highlighting my contributions to these areas:​

Publications


Working papers
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  • "Climate (In)Action: The Effect of CEO Early-Life Disaster Experiences on Corporate Climate Strategies" (with Timo Busch and Simone A. Wagner, Forthcoming in Ecological Economics): This paper examines how CEOs’ early-life experiences with natural disasters influence their approach to climate-related corporate strategies. It demonstrates how personal experiences shape strategic decisions, contributing to the behavioral dimensions of leadership and sustainability.
  • "When Protecting Children Hits the Bottom Line: Evidence from SDG 2000 Firms" (Revise & Resubmit at Scandinavian Journal of Management): This study explores the relationship between firms’ compliance with children’s rights under the Sustainable Development Goals and financial performance. It provides empirical evidence on the alignment between corporate social responsibility and economic outcomes.
  • "The Effect of Different Saving Mechanisms on Pension-Saving Behavior: Evidence from a Life-Cycle Experiment" (with Martin Angerer, Michael Hanke and Ekaterina Shakina, Forthcoming in Journal of Risk and Financial Management): This paper investigates how different mechanisms for saving influence individual pension-saving decisions, using a life-cycle experiment. The findings contribute to understanding the behavioral drivers of saving behavior and have implications for policy and financial decision-making.
  • "Managerial Contracts, Firm Value, and Corporate Externalities": This experimental study examines the impact of various managerial contract structures on firm value and the trade-offs between profitability and externalities, highlighting the influence of incentives on strategic decision-making.

Work in progress 

  • "Shaped by Culture or Incentives? Experimental Evidence on Managerial Contracts and Corporate Civing in China, Turkey, and the US" (with Jason Shachat and Özüm Yenen) : This study examines how cultural and contractual factors shape delegated social dilemmas, where principals’ material interests conflict with those of external stakeholders. It finds that while contractual incentives drive aggregate value creation, cultural contexts influence the distribution of value between companies and stakeholders.
  • "Don't Foul Your Own Nest! But Who Cares About The rest? CEOs' Ecological Embeddedness and Corporate Pollution" (with Simone A. Wagner):  Using U.S. facility-level data, this research shows that CEOs’ birthplaces predict lower pollution locally but reveal a pattern of shifting pollution to other locations, increasing overall toxic emissions for geographically dispersed firms.
  • "A Cross-Country Experimental Test of the Modigliani-Miller Theorem: Evidence from Spain and China" (with Tibor Neugebaur and Jason Shachat): This study compares results of an experiment testing the Modigliani-Miller theorem in two distinct economic environments, Spain and China, to assess the consistency of core asset pricing predictions across institutional and cultural contexts. We find that while the main theoretical results are qualitatively reproduced, market behavior differs systematically: prices in China align more closely with fundamentals, suggesting a greater sensitivity to arbitrage conditions.

Policy reports