Postdoctoral Researcher, Cluster of Excellence “Politics of Inequality”, Universität Konstanz
Katrin Schmelz is a psychologist and behavioral economist at the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at Konstanz University and the Thurgau Institute of Economics (TWI). She studies the relationship between (intrinsic) motivation and incentives, and the influence of culture and institutions on behavior. Katrin holds a postgraduate degree in psychology (University of Jena). Her PhD dissertation in economics at the Max Planck Institute for Economics in Jena received the Heinz Sauermann Prize of the GfeW (German Association for Experimental Economic Research e.V.).
Two of her recent papers on how anti-COVID-19 policies change citizens’ preferences and beliefs appeared in PNAS. She has also published in Experimental Economics, The Journal of Neuroscience, and Human Brain Mapping. Her commentaries on public policy have appeared in the Washington Post, The Guardian, LSE COVID-19 blog, VOX.eu, Ökonomenstimme, ARD Tagesschau, Deutschlandfunk, and many other media outlets around the world.