Research

Bettina Rockenbach is distinguished for many important contributions in behavioral economics. Her experimental work studies the influence of social motivations like trust and reciprocity on economic behavior.

She made major contributions to the design of institutions promoting cooperation in social dilemma situations. She studied which institutional frameworks foster cooperation in social dilemma situations as well as which institutions are preferred and successful in the long-run when societies are mobile. In her work she shows that societies with social sanctioning mechanisms are – despite an initial reluctance – favored and more successful than societies without social sanctioning.

Moreover, she demonstrates the importance of reputation mechanisms to promote cooperation and reduce the detrimental effects of sanctioning. Her research is often interdisciplinary and is published in leading economic journals as well as in distinguished general interest journals such as Science and Nature.