Education

Academic Positions Held

• 2009 to date: Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute of Economics
• March-April 2012: Visiting Fellow, SPRU, University of Sussex
• 2004-2009: Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Economics

Research Topics

• Subjective Well-Being Research
• (Evolutionary) Welfare Economics
• Behavioral Economics
• Economic Methodology

Work in Progress

• "Volunteering, Happiness and Public Policy", Papers on Economics and Evolution #1207, 2012 (with Freytag, A.)
• "Reconciling normative and behavioral economics: applying the 'naturalistic approach' to the adaptation problem", Working Paper, 2011 (with Schubert, C.)
• "A critical note on the role of the capability approach for sustainability economics", Working Paper, 2011 (with Witt, U.)
• "I'm afraid I have bad news for you...' Estimating the impact of different health impairments on subjective well-being", Papers on Economics and Evolution #1115, 2011 (with Coad, A.)
• "Disentangling Motivational and Experiential Aspects of 'Utility' - A Neuroeconomics Perspective", Papers on Economics and Evolution #1120, 2011 (with Witt, U.)
• "The Structure of Happiness: A Vectorautoregressive Approach", Papers on Economics and Evolution #1108, 2011 (with Ward, F.)
• "As Innovations Drive Economic Growth, Do They also Raise Well-Being?", Papers on Economics and Evolution #1105, 2011 (with Witt, U.)
• "Some Considerations Regarding the Problem of Multidimensional Utility", Working Paper, available at SSRN, 2009

Publications: Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

• "Innovativeness and Subjective Well-being", 2012, forthcoming in: Social Indicators Research, doi: 10.1007/s11205-012-0020-1
• "Life Satisfaction and Self-employment: A Matching Approach", 2010, forthcoming in: Small Business Economics, doi:10.1007/s11187-011-9413-9 (with Coad, A.)
• "The Neglected Dimension of Well-Being: Analyzing the Development of "Conversion Effciency" in Great Britain", Journal of Socio-Economics 41(1), 2012, 37-47, doi:10.1016/j.socec.2011.10.002 (with Broekel, T.)
• "Happiness No Matter the Cost? An Examination on How Efficiently Individuals Reach Their Happiness Levels", 2011, forthcoming in: Journal of Happiness Studies, doi:10.1007/s10902-011-9283-5 (with Broekel, T.)
• "Applying a Robust Non-parametric Efficiency Analysis to Measure Conversion Efficiency in Great Britain", Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 12(2), 2011, 257-281, doi:10.1080/19452829.2011.571088 (with Broekel, T.)
•  "From Average Joe's happiness to Miserable Jane and Cheerful John: using quantile regressions to analyze the full subjective well-being distribution", Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organization 79(3), 2011, 275–290, doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2011.02.005 (with Coad, A.)
• "Disentangling the Circularity in Sen's Capability Approach - An Analysis of the Co-Evolution of Functioning Achievement and Resources", Social Indicators Research 103(3), 2011, 327–355, doi:10.1007/s11205-010-9714-4 (with Coad, A.)
• "An Examination of the Dynamics of Well-Being and Life Events using Vector Autoregressions", Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 76(2), 2010, 352-371, doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2010.06.006 (with Coad, A.)
• "The Regional Dimension of Knowledge Transfers - A Behavioral Approach", Industry & Innovation 14(2), 2007, 151-175, doi:10.1080/13662710701252500 (with Broekel, T.)

Publications: Books and Book Chapters

• Deutscher Studienpreis 2010 der Körber-Stiftung. "Innovationen, Wirtschaftskrisen und gesellschaftlicher Fortschritt – Eine wohlfahrtstheoretische Untersuchung" (Essay)
• Springorum-Denkmünze 2005 for academic excellence (Freunde und Förderer der RWTH Aachen e.V.)
• Studienpreis Projektmanagement 2004 (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement e.V.)