Prof. Dr Michael Kurschilgen

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

Michael Kurschilgen has been an associate professor at UniDistance Suisse since 2026. Before that, he was an assistant professor at UniDistance Suisse and the Technical University of Munich, as well as a postdoc at 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.

His research topics lie at the intersection of economics, psychology, and law. In his research, Michael 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 can trust the recommendations of scientific experts.

Research Group "Behavioral Economics and Institutional Design"

News

Economics Research

UniDistance Suisse strengthens its commitment to reproducible research UniDistance Suisse is further expanding its long-standing commitment to promoting transparent and reproducible research. Since May 2026, Michael Kurschilgen, Professor of Behavioural Economics and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, has been serving on the Steering Committee of the Swiss Reproducibility Network (SwissRN), marking the first time that UniDistance Suisse has been represented on the network’s strategic governing body.

Economics

New Partnership with the University of Valencia strengthens Doctoral Training UniDistance Suisse signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU) with the LINEEX Lab at the University of Valencia (Spain) in May 2026. This new partnership gives doctoral candidates from the Faculty of Economics and Management access to one of Europe’s most advanced research infrastructures for experimental economics.

Economics Research

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 interview, Prof. Dr Michael Kurschilgen, Professor of Behavioural Economics at the Faculty of Economics at UniDistance Suisse, offers insights into his research and explores these questions.

Economics

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 interview, Prof. Dr Michael Kurschilgen, Professor of Behavioural Economics at the Faculty of Economics at UniDistance Suisse, offers insights into his research and explores these questions.

Accreditation UniDistance Suisse Research

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 Research Practices”: an innovative program aimed at promoting good scientific practices among PhD students and postdocs. The ambitious initiative is led by Prof. Dr Thomas Voigt, Assistant Professor of Mathematics with a tenure track at UniDistance Suisse.

Economics

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 successfully secured research funding from the Diligentia Foundation. The foundation is supporting their project “Understanding Administrative Burden: A Field Experiment on the Hassle Costs of Tax Filing in Germany”. The project began in November 2025 and will run until October 2027.

Publications

Working Papers

The Price of Identity: Overconfidence and Congruence Concerns
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 projects

Open Online Course on Good Research Practices

Approved amount: 30000 CHF

Funding scheme: Programme Open Science II (swissuniversities)

Voigt Matthias // Rothen Nicolas // Kurschilgen Michael // Angino Andrea // MOLO Fabio // GONZáLEZ Gorka Fraga // DOUGOUD Maya // CALBIMONTE Jean-Paul // COTTING Alexandre

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.08.2025

End: 31.12.2026

Mathematics

Open Online Course on Good Research Practices

Voigt Matthias // Rothen Nicolas // Kurschilgen Michael // Angino Andrea // MOLO Fabio // GONZáLEZ Gorka Fraga // DOUGOUD Maya // CALBIMONTE Jean-Paul // COTTING Alexandre

Approved amount:30000 CHF

Funding scheme: Programme Open Science II (swissuniversities)

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.08.2025

End: 31.12.2026

Mathematics

Understanding Administrative Burden: A Field Experiment on the Hassle Costs of Tax Filing in Germany

Approved amount: 33248 CHF

Funding scheme: -

Grieder Manuel // Kurschilgen Michael // HANSEN Emanuel

Start: 01.01.2025

Economics

Understanding Administrative Burden: A Field Experiment on the Hassle Costs of Tax Filing in Germany

Grieder Manuel // Kurschilgen Michael // // HANSEN Emanuel

Approved amount:33248 CHF

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.01.2025

Economics

Distorted Beliefs and Consumers' Carbon Emissions

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

DROBNER Christoph // GOERG Sebastian // Kurschilgen Michael

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.01.2023

End: 31.12.2027

Economics

Distorted Beliefs and Consumers' Carbon Emissions

DROBNER Christoph // GOERG Sebastian // Kurschilgen Michael

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.01.2023

End: 31.12.2027

Economics

The Evolution and Economic Consequences of Overconfidence

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

DROBNER Christoph // GOERG Sebastian // Kurschilgen Michael // ORHUN A. Yeşim

Status: Completed

Start: 01.01.2019

End: 31.12.2025

Economics

The Evolution and Economic Consequences of Overconfidence

DROBNER Christoph // GOERG Sebastian // Kurschilgen Michael // ORHUN A. Yeşim

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Status: Completed

Start: 01.01.2019

End: 31.12.2025

Economics

Research groups

Behavioral Economics and Institutional Design

Faculty of Business and Economics

Insights from the SwissRN Computational Reproducibility Hackathon 2025 [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]

2026-09

DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.180013.2

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

Insights from the SwissRN Computational Reproducibility Hackathon 2025

2026-05 | F1000Research

DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.180013.1

Tom Willems
Tobias Kühlwein
Matthias Voigt
Michael Kurschilgen
Daniel J Stekhoven

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

The Price of Identity: Overoptimism and Congruence Concerns

2023-01

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4670092

Kwabena Donkor
Lorenz Goette
Maximilian W. Müller
Eugen Dimant
Michael J. Kurschilgen

preprint

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

Divided in Morals, United in Selfishness: An Experiment

2016-01

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2857050

Michael J. Kurschilgen

preprint

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

How Do Firms’ Internal Incentive Schemes Affect Price Levels?

2012-01

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2107682

Michael J. Kurschilgen
Alexander Morell
Ori Weisel

preprint

The 'Jurisdiction of the Man Within': Intrinsic Norms in a Public Goods Experiment

2012-01

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2097038

Christoph Engel
Michael J. Kurschilgen

preprint

The Coevolution of Behavior and Normative Expectations: Customary Law in the Lab

2012-01

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1983946

Christoph Engel
Michael J. Kurschilgen

preprint

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

Customary Law in the Lab

2011-01

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1877186

Christoph Engel
Michael J. Kurschilgen

preprint

Fairness Ex Ante & Ex Post - An Experimental Test of the German 'Bestseller Paragraph'

2010-01

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1628725

Christoph Engel
Michael J. Kurschilgen

preprint

Beware of Broken Windows! First Impressions in Public-Good Experiment

2009-01

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1432393

Martin Beckenkamp
Christoph Engel
Andreas Glöckner
Bernd Irlenbusch
Heike Henning-Schmidt
Sebastian Kube
Michael J. Kurschilgen
Alexander Morell
Andreas Nicklisch
Hans-Theo Normann
Emanuel V. Towfigh

preprint

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 Business and Economics

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

Faculty Council of Business and Economics

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

Behavioral Economics and Institutional Design

Associate Professor

Academic Council

Representative for professors

Prof. Dr Michael Kurschilgen

Links

Publications

Working Papers

Published Papers

Published Comments

Other Publications

Research focus

Research projects

Behavioral Economics and Institutional Design

Teaching

Functions at UniDistance Suisse

Faculty of Business and Economics

Faculty Council of Business and Economics

Behavioral Economics and Institutional Design

Academic Council