Omar Bamieh, Florian Exler, Victor Gonzalez-Jimenez, Philipp Külpmann, Stephanos Vlachos, Martin Wolf, Lennart Ziegler
Omar Bamieh (European University Institute Florence)
Omar Bamieh is joining us from the European University Institute in Florence. Like his supervisor, Andrea Ichino, Omar belongs to the sect of economists looking for second best solutions to the problem that economists cannot really run experiments as physicist do! "What Is To Be Done?" A fellow Viennese called Ludwig Wittgenstein would say nothing, or with his own words: "About what one cannot speak, one must remain silent". Instead of remaining silent, empirical economists like Omar look for situations where one can find good enough approximations of experiments, at the risk of not being taken seriously by their fellow economists! Are you really doing Economics when your data comes from the German Bundesliga or from a Labor Court, and you talk about football teams, judges and lawyers? Omar and members of his Sect think so, just as you talk about medicine when you run experiments on rats!
Omar loves outdoor sports, especially rock climbing: single pitch, multi pitch, bouldering and trad routes, essentially everything as long as you can get your hands on the rock.
Florian Exler (University of Mannheim)
Florian Exler is joining us from the University of Mannheim where he was supervised by Michèle Tertilt. Florian is quantitative macroeconomist mainly interested in household finance. He works on consumer debt and bankruptcy and analyses how households use debt and default in the face of uninsured risk. In his work, he also scheds light on the effects of regulation on consumer welfare.
Florian enjoys the outdoors both in summer (swimming, hiking, and biking) and the winter (skiing). He is looking forward to explore Vienna from Pratersauna to the State Opera.
Florian says: "I am excited to join the University of Vienna and become part of a vibrant and smart group of researchers."
Victor Gonzalez-Jimenez (Tilburg University)
Victor Gonzalez-Jimenez is joining us from Tilburg University where he was supervised by Charles Noussair and Patricio Dalton.
Victor's main field of interest is Behavioral Economics. He uses experiments and applied microeconomic theory to study the decision-making of individuals in disadvantaged situations, such as the state of poverty or individuals that belong to a low socio-economic status. He also strives to propose new ways to motivate individuals using incentive schemes founded upon behavioral regularities, for instance reference points or probability weighting functions.
Victor is Dutch/Colombian, he enjoys running, learning languages, watching and playing football, and travelling. When asked why he has accepted our offer he says "The Department of Economics at the University of Vienna offers a very good environment for experimental and theoretical research. There are great experimentalists along with great theorists which is a combination that you do not find in many departments and that I am sure will contribute to rigorous and excellent research. I also felt that everyone is direct, which is something I learned to appreciate in The Netherlands, and willing to help."
Philipp Külpmann (Bielefeld University)
Philipp Külpmann is joining us from Bielefeld University where he was supervised by Christoph Kuzmics and Frank Riedel.
Philipp's research is in experimental and theoretical economics with a focus on Game Theory. He is particularly interested in testing economic theories in the lab. In a theoretical paper on strategic experimentation he shows that, when facing a deadline, it might be in the best interest of the group to do most of the work just before the deadline. Furthermore, he used an experiment to show that some people use higher-order beliefs in coordination games and that thinking too much about what others think about ourself might hurt you.
In his spare time, Philipp enjoys playing volleyball, watching American football and listening to classical and electronic music (which he claims are very closely related).
Stephanos Vlachos (University of Lausanne)
Stephanos Vlachos is joining us from the University of Lausanne where he was supervised by Mathias Thoenig. Stephanos' primary research interest is in the political economy of conflict. More precisely, he is interested in the impact of violence on voting behaviour. He mainly studies these questions empirically using historical data.
Stephanos is both Greek and French. He used to play the drums in a band called "The Somboloz" but then discovered applied research in economics.
When asked why he has accepted our offer he said: "To broaden my research agenda, I plan on expanding my knowledge on theoretical models in political economy. The Department of Economics at the University of Vienna would be an ideal environment to accomplish these objectives. Moreover, does anyone really need a reason to move to Vienna?"
Martin Wolf (University of Bonn)
Martin Wolf is joining us from the University of Bonn. During his PhD, he also spent three years at the University of Tübingen and the London School of Economics. His main academic advisors were Gernot Müller (Tübingen), Gianluca Benigno (LSE) and Keith Kuester (Bonn).
Martin is a macroeconomist, with a special focus on international macroeconomics. Within this field, Martin has recently been working on growth and secular stagnation, the dynamics of sovereign and private debt, cross-border capital flows and sudden stops, monetary policy in open economies and the industrial organization of labour markets.
Martin is German, enjoys playing the piano and listening to classical music, watching movies and going skiing in the Alps.
When asked why he has accepted our offer he says: "Clearly there is a great number of great economists at the University of Vienna. However, what I like most about the deparment is this: First, the department is very large, covering a wide spectrum of interests. This offers a great potential for cross-field collaboration. Second, while I do mostly applied research, I am a theorist at heart, and I think that in Vienna many colleagues share this approach."
Lennart Ziegler (University of Amsterdam)
Lennart Ziegler joins us from Tinbergen Institute where he was supervised by Bas van der Klaauw and Erik Plug. Being an applied labor economists, he is interested in various topics related to the labor market such as education and job search. Lennart currently conducts research on the effectiveness of active labor market policies, he focuses on changes in the composition of households and intergenerational effects on earnings inequality.
Next to his research, Lennart enjoys running, excursions, concerts and comedy shows. Being from Germany, he has to admit that Austrians often have a greater sense of humour.
When asked about his motives to join University of Vienna, Lennart said: "The Economics department consists of numerous highly motivated researchers with diverse interests in all fields of economics. During my first visit to Vienna, I already had many interesting talks. Among other factors, the internationality of the department seems to spark a friendly and productive environment. I'm excited to start here in September and get to know everybody better."
