Introducing: Raphael Epperson | PostDoc in the Project Part “Insurance Schemes in Markets for Credence Goods”

Raphael Epperson from Germany is an experimental economist to the core who developed his skills (from B.Sc. to Ph.D.) at the University of Mannheim. He will defend his Ph.D. in June and will start officially in Innsbruck in July. Raphael was born in Bonn and lived the last 9 years in Mannheim (with the exception of 5 months spent in Singapore during his bachelor studies). He worked as a research assistant at the Centre for European Economic Research (Department of Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management) from 2015 until 2017 and did a research-focused internshipat the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Department of Economics) in 2017.

Raphael uses field, online, and laboratory experiments to study research questions from Behavioral and Environmental Economics. Most of his current research projects focus on charitable giving or the role of information in economic decision-making, but he also has a strong interest in other areas, such as pro-environmental behavior and fraud. (See his list of publications on his personal website.)

He will be a strong addition to the team of Loukas, mainly associated with the project part on “Insurance Schemes in Markets for Credence Goods”. Strong not only because of the professional experiences he brings with him, but also because he loves doing sports, particularly all kinds of fitness training, Muay Thai, and Krav Maga. (For those of you who don’t know what exactly that is, have a look here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga - in sum: don’t mess with Raphael … ;))

Raphael and his wife are also looking forward to Innsbruck in winter since they enjoy skiing together.

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/raphaelepperson

Word rap

Innsbruck - My new home

Experiments - A key tool in my research

Economics - More multifaceted than many people think

Biggest societal problem? - Environmental degradation is one big problem (but definitely not the only one).

Wiener Schnitzel or Couscous? - Couscous (but much more delicious food are out there)

Snowy mountains or sandy beaches? - Both are beautiful.