Prof. Dr. Dr. Lydia Mechtenberg

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Since 2012: Associate Professor of Economics at the Universität Hamburg (tenured)
2011 - 2012: Replacement Chair for Public Finance at the University of Mannheim, Department of Economics
2009 - 2011: Postdoctoral Researcher at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), Department "Markets and Politics/Market Behavior"
2005 - 2009: Researcher/Postdoctoral Researcher at the Technical University of Berlin, Department of Microeconomics
2005: Fall and spring term, filling in for Professor Dr. Kuebler at the Technical University of Berlin, Department of Microeconomics
2003 - 2005: Researcher at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), Department "Markets and Politics"
2001 - 2005: Researcher at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Department of Philosophy
2006: PhD in Economics, Technical University of Berlin (Degree: summa cum laude/ with distinction. Supervisors: Dorothea Kuebler, Paul Heidhues)
2004: PhD in Philosophy, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Degree: summa cum laude/ with distinction)
2002: Diplom (equivalent to Master) in Economics, Free University of Berlin (best degree of the cohort)
2000: Master in Philosophy, Free University of Berlin

The Professorship Mechtenberg (Microeconomics) does research in the following areas:

• Behavioral Economics
• Experiments
• Game Theory
• Political Economy
• Market Design

Preferences over Taxation of High-Income Individuals: Evidence from an online survey experiment (with D. Engelmann, E. Janeba and N. Wehrhöfer, European Economic Review 157, 104505, 2023 [DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104505]).

Deliberative structures and their impact on voting behavior under social conflict (with J. Brandts and L. Gerhards, Experimental Economics 25, 680–705, 2022 [DOI: 10.1007/s10683-021-09729-4]).

Competition for Context-Sensitive Consumers (with A. Apffelstaedt, Management Science 67(5), 2828-2844, 2020 [DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2020.3675]).

Whistle-Blower Protection: Theory and Experimental Evidence ((with G. Muehlheusser and A. Roider, European Economic Review 126, 103447, 2020 [DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2020.103447]).

The Swing Voter's Curse in Social Networks (with B. Buechel, Games and Economic Behavior 118, 241-268, 2019 [DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2019.08.009]).

Voter Motivation and the Quality of Democratic Choice (with Jean-Robert Tyran, Games and Economic Behavior 116, 241-59, 2019 [DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2018.12.002]).

If I can do it, so can you! Peer Effects on Perseverance (with B. Buechel and J. Petersen, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 155, 301-314, 2018 [DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2018.09.004]).

When do conflicting parties share political power? An experimental study (with M. Battaglini, Journal of Experimental Political Science 2, 139-15, 2015 [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/XPS.2015.2]).

On the Failure of Hindsight-Biased Principals to Delegate Optimally (with D. Danz, D. Kübler and J. Schmid, Management Science 61(8), 1938-1958, 2015 [DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2014.2087]).

Why Votes Have Value: Instrumental Voting with Overconfidence and Overestimation of Others' Errors (with I. Dittmann, D. Kübler and E. Maug, Games and Economic Behaviour 84, 17-38, 2014 [DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2013.12.004]).

A strategic mediator who is biased into the same direction as the expert can improve information transmission (with J. Münster, Economic Letters 117, 490-492, 2012 [DOI:10.1016/j.econlet.2012.06.050]).

Migration of the Highly Talented: Can Europe Catch Up with the U.S.? (with R. Strausz, Journal of Public Economic Theory 14, 945-969, 2012 [DOI: 10.1111/jpet.12005]).

Cheap Talk in the Classroom: How biased grading at school explains gender differences in achievements, career choices, and wages (Review of Economic Studies 76, 1431-1459, 2009 [DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-937X.2009.00551.x]).

The Bologna Process: How student mobility affects multi-cultural skills and educational quality (with R. Strausz, International Tax and Public Finance 15 (2), 109-130, 2008 [DOI:10.1007/s10797-007-9040-1]).

Self-Signaling in Moral Voting (with G. Perino, N. Treich, J.-R. Tyran, and S. Wang, CEPR Discussion Paper DP15645), Revise & Resubmit from the Journal of Public Economics.

When Do Proxy Advisors Improve Corporate Decisions? (with B. Büchel and A. F. Wagner).

Public Perception on Authority, Transparency, and Bias of AI in Courts: A Vignette Experiment with Chat Intervention (with H. Hüning and A. Wömmel).

Using Arguments to Persuade: Experimental Evidence (with H. Hüning and S. Wang).

Detecting Argumentative Discourse in Online Chat Experiments (with H. Hüning and S. Wang).

How to Talk about an Out-Group: Effects on In-Group Trust and Out-Group Generosity (with J. Biermann and H. Hüning).

Fairness in Matching Markets: Experimental evidence (with T. Koenig, D. Kuebler, and R. Schmacker).

The Paradox of Integration: A model of relative group standings.

The researchers of the HAS CSS Institute for Legal Studies also contributed to the application for the research funding, which has been awarded a one billion HUF grant by the European Union under Horizon 2020 (Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Dr. Lydia Mechtenberg, Department of Economics). The DEMOS (Democratic Efficacy and the Varieties of Populism in Europe) research project, led by HAS Centre for Social Sciences has received one billion HUF funding from the European Union. The joint research project is based on a cooperation among 15 European partners, including such distinguished research institutes as the Universities of Hamburg and Copenhagen. Under the strict requirements of the EU Research and Innovation programmes only the most outstanding applications are found eligible for funding. During the evaluation process such criteria are considered by a board composed of European scholars as professional excellence, social impact, and the expected quality of realisation.