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Profile Strategy Recognised Qualifications Espace media Work at UniDistance Suisse Faculty Faculty of Psychology Faculty of Business and Economics Faculty of History Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
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Prof. Dr Michael Kurschilgen

  1. UniDistance Suisse
  2. Faculty of Business and Economics
Michael Kurschilgen
Vice-dean

Links

E-Mail ORCID Google Scholar LinkedIn Website Research group - Behavioral Economics and Institutional Design Präsentationsvideo zum Forschungsprojekt

Michael Kurschilgen has been an Assistant Professor at UniDistance Suisse since 2022, after holding positions at the Technical University of Munich and the Max Planck Institute in Bonn. He received his PhD in economics from the University of Jena as part of a Max Planck Graduate School in 2013. He has been a visiting researcher at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, EUI Florence and the University of Bologna.

News

Prof. Kurschilgen on identity and its influence on our decisions

Why do people often act against their own financial interests? And what role does identity play in these choices? In a recent…

Prof. Kurschilgen on identity and its influence on our decisions

Research in Focus: Prof. Kurschilgen on identity and its influence on our decisions

Why do people often act against their own financial interests? And what role does identity play in these choices? In a recent…

Research in Focus: Prof. Kurschilgen on identity and its influence on our decisions

Photo portrait de Matthias Voigt

UniDistance Suisse Commits to Exemplary Research Practices

In collaboration with the University of Zurich and HES-SO, UniDistance Suisse is launching the project “Open Online Course in Good…

UniDistance Suisse Commits to Exemplary Research Practices

Diligentia Foundation Funds Research Project at FernUni Schweiz on Administrative Barriers in the Tax System

Dr Krishna Srinivasan, Prof. Manuel Grieder and Prof. Michael Kurschilgen from the Faculty of Economics at FernUni Schweiz have…

Diligentia Foundation Funds Research Project at FernUni Schweiz on Administrative Barriers in the Tax System

“UniDistance Suisse is an attractive institution in the field of high-level scientific research”

The Matterhorn Symposium took place from 18 to 20 September 2025 on the UniDistance Suisse campus in Brig. This second edition aimed to…

“UniDistance Suisse is an attractive institution in the field of high-level scientific research”

Congratulations to Christoph Drobner on his appointment at CEU

We warmly congratulate Dr Christoph Drobner on his appointment as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at…

Congratulations to Christoph Drobner on his appointment at CEU

Publications

Working Papers


Identity and Economic Incentives
with Kwabena Donkor, Eugen Dimant, Lorenz Goette, and Maximilian Mueller

Why Do People Take Turns?
with Ola Andersson, Carlos Kurschilgen, and Daniel Spiro

Pretentious but Meaningful? Experimental Evidence on the Value of Prosocial Signals
with Julia Holzmann and Magnus Strobel

 

Published Papers


Norms as obligations 
2024, International Review of Law and Economics, 81, 106235
with Leonard Hoeft and Wladislaw Mill

Moral awareness polarizes people’s fairness judgments
2023, Social Choice and Welfare, 61, 339–364

Does the threat of overthrow discipline the elites? Evidence from a laboratory experiment
2022, Journal of Legal Studies, 51 (2), 289-320
with Konstantin Chatziathanasiou and Svenja Hippel 

Revival of the Cover Letter? Experimental Evidence on the Performance of AI-driven Personality Assessments
2022, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), 1285
with Christoph Kecht and Magnus Strobel

Echo chambers and opinion dynamics explain the occurrence of vaccination hesitancy
2022, Royal Society Open Science, 9, 220367
with Johannes Müller and Aurélien Tellier

Managing Expectations: How selective information affects cooperation and punishment in social dilemma games
2021, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 187, 111-136
with Christoph Engel and Sebastian Kube

  • featured in Handelsblatt, Frankfurter Rundschau, Bild der Wissenschaft, Badische Zeitung, Cordis

Property, Redistribution, and the Status Quo: A laboratory study
2021, Experimental Economics, 24, 919-951
with Konstantin Chatziathanasiou and Svenja Hippel

The fragility of a nudge: The power of self-set norms to contain a social dilemma
2020, Journal of Economic Psychology, 81,102293
with Christoph Engel

Communication is More than Information Sharing: The Role of Status-Relevant Knowledge
2019, Games and Economic Behavior, 113, 651-672
with Isabel Marcin

  • featured in Forschung & Wissen, FehrAdvice Blog, Max-Planck-Society

Internal conflict, market uniformity, and transparency in price competition between teams
2017, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 144, 121-132
with Alexander Morell and Ori Weisel

  • featured in LatestThinking

First impressions are more important than early intervention: Qualifying broken windows theory in the lab
2014, International Review of Law and Economics, 37, 126-136
with Christoph Engel, Martin Beckenkamp, Andreas Glöckner, Bernd Irlenbusch, Heike Hennig-Schmidt, Sebastian Kube, Alexander Morell, Andreas Nicklisch, Hans-Theo Normann, and Emanuel Towfigh

The Coevolution of Behavior and Normative Expectations: an Experiment
2013, American Law and Economics Review, 15(2), 578-609
with Christoph Engel

Fairness Ex Ante & Ex Post: Experimentally Testing Ex Post Judicial Intervention into Blockbuster Deals
2011, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 8(4), 682–708
with Christoph Engel

  • featured in JOTWELL

 

Published Comments


Why do Judges Grant Rehearing Requests? Evidence from the Supreme Court of Israel: Comment
2023, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 179, 27-31

Coercion and Consent: Comment
2014, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 170(1), 79-82

Discretion, Productivity, and Work Satisfaction: Comment
2013, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 169(1), 23-25

Disclosure, Agents, and Consumer Protection: Comment
2011, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 167(1), 77-79

Other Publications


Reproducibility in Management Science
2023, Management Science, forthcoming
Fišar, M., Greiner, B., Huber, C., Katok, E., Ozkes, A., and the Management Science Reproducibility Collaboration. Member of the Management Science Reproducibility Collaboration.

Research focus

His research lies at the interface between economics, psychology and law. In his research, Prof. Dr. Kurschilgen combines behavioral microeconomic theory with laboratory experiments, field experiments, and other empirical approaches. His work shows, among other things, that property rights are more secure when redistribution is mandatory (rather than voluntary); and that the human need for social recognition is a key reason why citizens may trust the recommendations of scientific experts.

Research groups

Behavioral Economics and Institutional Design

Faculty of of Business and Economics

Insights from the SwissRN Computational Reproducibility Hackathon 2025 [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]
2026-05
DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.180013.1
  • Tom Willems
  • Tobias Kühlwein
  • Matthias Voigt
  • Michael Kurschilgen
  • Daniel J Stekhoven
  • J Stekhoven Daniel
  • J Stekhoven Daniel
  • J Stekhoven Daniel
  • J Stekhoven Daniel
  • Kurschilgen Michael
  • Kurschilgen Michael
  • Kühlwein Tobias
  • Voigt Matthias
  • Voigt Matthias
  • Willems Tom
  • Willems Tom
  • Willems Tom
  • Willems Tom
Journal article
Norms as obligations
2025-03 | International Review of Law and Economics
DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2024.106235
  • Leonard Hoeft
  • Michael Kurschilgen
  • Wladislaw Mill
Journal article
Pretentious but Meaningful? Experimental evidence on the value of prosocial signals
2025-01
  • Julia Beck
  • Michael Kurschilgen
  • Magnus Strobel
working-paper
The Price of Identity: Overconfidence and Congruence Concerns
2025-01
  • Lorenz Goette
  • Maximilian W. Mueller
  • Eugen Dimant
  • Michael Kurschilgen
working-paper
Why do People Take Turns?
2025-01
  • Ola Andersson
  • Carlos Kurschilgen
  • Michael Kurschilgen
  • Daniel Spiro
working-paper
Data Repurposing through Compatibility: A Computational Perspective
2024-01 | Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics
DOI: 10.1628/jite-2024-0019
  • Michael Kurschilgen
Journal article
Moral awareness polarizes people’s fairness judgments
2023-08 | Social Choice and Welfare
DOI: 10.1007/s00355-023-01454-6
  • Michael Kurschilgen
Journal article
Norms as Obligations
2023-08
  • Michael Kurschilgen
  • Leonard Hoeft
  • Wladislaw Mill
working-paper
Why do Judges Grant Rehearing Requests? Evidence from the Supreme Court of Israel
2023-01 | Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics
DOI: 10.1628/jite-2023-0013
  • Michael Kurschilgen
Journal article
Revival of the Cover Letter? Experimental Evidence on the Performance of AI-driven Personality Assessments
2022-11 | ICIS 2022
  • Christoph Kecht
  • Michael Kurschilgen
  • Magnus Strobel
Conference paper
Echo chambers and opinion dynamics explain the occurrence of vaccination hesitancy
2022-10 | Royal Society Open Science
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220367
  • Johannes Müller
  • Aurélien Tellier
  • Michael Kurschilgen
Journal article
Does the Threat of Overthrow Discipline the Elites? Evidence from a Laboratory Experiment
2022-06 | The Journal of Legal Studies
DOI: 10.1086/719747
  • Konstantin Chatziathanasiou
  • Svenja Hippel
  • Michael Kurschilgen
Journal article
Property, redistribution, and the status quo: a laboratory study
2021-09 | Experimental Economics
DOI: 10.1007/s10683-020-09685-5
  • Konstantin Chatziathanasiou
  • Svenja Hippel
  • Michael Kurschilgen
Journal article
Managing expectations: How selective information affects cooperation and punishment in social dilemma games
2021-07 | Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.04.029
Journal article
The Fragility of a Nudge: the power of self-set norms to contain a social dilemma
2020-12 | Journal of Economic Psychology
DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2020.102293
Journal article
Communication is more than information sharing: The role of status-relevant knowledge
2019-01 | Games and Economic Behavior
DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2018.11.007
  • Michael Kurschilgen
  • Isabel Marcin
Journal article
Internal conflict, market uniformity, and transparency in price competition between teams
2017-01 | Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2017.09.009
  • Kurschilgen, M.
  • Morell, A.
  • Weisel, O.
Journal article
Coercion and consent
2014-01 | Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics
DOI: 10.1628/093245614X13871984731202
  • Kurschilgen, M.
Journal article
First impressions are more important than early intervention: Qualifying broken windows theory in the lab
2014-01 | International Review of Law and Economics
DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2013.07.005
  • Engel, C.
  • Beckenkamp, M.
  • Glöckner, A.
  • Irlenbusch, B.
  • Hennig-Schmidt, H.
  • Kube, S.
  • Kurschilgen, M.
  • Morell, A.
  • Nicklisch, A.
  • Normann, H.-T.
  • Towfigh, E.
Journal article
Discretion, productivity, and work satisfaction
2013-01 | Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics
DOI: 10.1628/093245613X660366
  • Kurschilgen, M.
Journal article
The coevolution of behavior and normative expectations: An experiment
2013-01 | American Law and Economics Review
DOI: 10.1093/aler/aht010
  • Engel, C.
  • Kurschilgen, M.
Journal article
Disclosure, agents, and consumer protection
2011-01 | Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics
DOI: 10.1628/093245611794656543
  • Kurschilgen, M.
Journal article
Fairness Ex Ante and Ex Post: Experimentally Testing Ex Post Judicial Intervention into Blockbuster Deals
2011-01 | Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
DOI: 10.1111/j.1740-1461.2011.01237.x
  • Engel, C.
  • Kurschilgen, M.
Journal article

Teaching

M101-F Microéconomie Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics
M101-D Mikroökonomie Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics

Functions at UniDistance Suisse

Faculty of of Business and Economics

  • Vice-dean
  • Programme direction for the Bachelor in Business and Economics (French and German)
  • Assistant Professor

Faculty Council of Business and Economics

  • Vice-dean
  • Programme direction for the Bachelor in Business and Economics (French and German)
  • Assistant Professor

Behavioral Economics and Institutional Design

  • Assistant Professor

Academic Council

  • Representative for professors

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