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Vita

Prof. Dr. Mario Mechtel is Professor of Economics, in particular Empirical Microeconomics, at the Institute of Economics (IVWL) and Vice-Dean for Research of the School of Public Affairs at Leuphana University. His research focuses on Applied Microeconomics, Behavioral Economics, Social Identity, Environmental and Sustainability Economics, Digitalization, and Labor and Personnel Economics.

Mario Mechtel is the spokesperson (lead-PI) of the research cluster “Behavioral Economics and Societal Transformation”, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony.

 Academic Positions

  • Since 11/2018: Professor of Empirical Microeconomics, Leuphana University Lüneburg.
  • 06/2015–11/2018: Assistant Professor of Microeconomics, Leuphana University Lüneburg.
  • 03/2015–05/2015: Visiting scholar, Department of Economics and Business (Markets, Organization and Behaviour Group), Aarhus University.
  • 01/2012–05/2015: Research Associate, Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU) and at the Chair of Personnel Economics, University of Trier.
  • 10/2007–12/2011: Research Associate, Chair of Public Finance, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen.

 Education

  • 10/2007-01/2012: Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, PhD student, Dissertation "Essays on Political Economy and Social Preferences" (summa cum laude)
  • 04/2003-09/2007: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Student in Economics, Degree: Diplom-Volkswirt

 Prizes/Awards (Selected)

  • 2016: Leuphana University Teaching Award
  • 2014: Joseph-A.-Schumpeter-Preis, funded by Deutschen Bundesbank
  • 2014: Best Paper Award: Spring Meeting of Young Economists (SMYE), Vienna

Third-party funding

  • Research Cluster “Behavioral Economics and Societal Transformation“ (spokesperson, proposal submitted jointly with Gerald Eisenkopf, Fabian Paetzel et al.), funding amount €2,435,496, project period 2024-2028
  • DFG individual research grant “Enhancing cooperation and investigating peer effects on human capital formation – A randomized-controlled field study with primary school children” (together with Florian Hett and Daniel Schunk), funding amount €147,900, project period 2017–2020

Editorial positions

  • Co-Editor Journal of Comments and Replications in Economics (JCRE), 2019-2023
  • Guest Editor Special Issue on “Health and Labor Markets” of Schmollers Jahrbuch (with Christian Pfeifer), 2015/2016

Reviewer (Selected)

European Economic Review, Games and Economic Behavior, Journal of Health Economics, Management Science, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (“Outstanding Reviewer”), Labour Economics, Public Choice, European Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Journal of Sports Economics,  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Israel Science Foundation, Czech Science Foundation

For more information, please see: www.mario-mechtel.de

Projects

  1. Leuphana AI Campus – Wirksamkeitsprüfung
    Mario Mechtel (Project manager, academic) , Johannes Lohse (Project manager, academic) , Siegfried Hammer (Project staff)

    Project: Teaching

  2. Wissenschaftsraum „Verhaltensökonomik und gesellschaftliche Transformation“
    Mario Mechtel (Project manager, academic)

    Project: Research

  3. Enhancing cooperation and investigating peer effects on human capital formation – A randomized-controlled field study with primary school children
    Florian Hett (Project manager, academic) , Daniel Schunk (Partner) , Mario Mechtel (Project manager, academic)

    Project: Research

Publications

Journal contributions

  1. Fading Shooting Stars—The Relative Age Effect, Ability, and Foregone Market Values in German Elite Youth Soccer
    Lukas Tohoff (Author) , Mario Mechtel (Author) , 01.06.2025 , in: Journal of Sports Economics, 26, 5 , p. 499-542 , 44 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Competition and moral behavior: A meta-analysis of forty-five crowd-sourced experimental designs
    Christoph Huber (Author) , Anna Dreber (Author) , Jürgen Huber (Author) , Magnus Johannesson (Author) , Michael Kirchler (Author) , Utz Weitzel (Author) , Miguel Abellán-Ossenbach (Author) , Xeniya Adayeva (Author) , Fehime Ceren Ay (Author) , Kai Barron (Author) , Zachariah Berry (Author) , Werner Bönte (Author) , Katharina Brütt (Author) , Muhammed Bulutay (Author) , Pol Campos-Mercade (Author) , Eric Cardella (Author) , Maria Almudena Claassen (Author) , Gert Cornelissen (Author) , Ian G.J. Dawson (Author) , Joyce Delnoij (Author) , Elif E. Demiral (Author) , Eugen Dimant (Author) , Johannes Theodor Doerflinger (Author) , Malte Dold (Author) , Cécile Emery (Author) , Lenka Fiala (Author) , Susann Fiedler (Author) , Eleonora Freddi (Author) , Tilman Fries (Author) , Agata Gasiorowska (Author) , Ulrich Glogowsky (Author) , Paul M Gorny (Author) , Jeremy David Gretton (Author) , Antonia Grohmann (Author) , Sebastian Hafenbrädl (Author) , Michel Handgraaf (Author) , Yaniv Hanoch (Author) , Einav Hart (Author) , Max Hennig (Author) , Stanton Hudja (Author) , Mandy Hütter (Author) , Kyle Hyndman (Author) , Konstantinos Ioannidis (Author) , Ozan Isler (Author) , Sabrina Jeworrek (Author) , Daniel Jolles (Author) , Marie Juanchich (Author) , Raghabendra Pratap Kc (Author) , Menusch Khadjavi (Author) , Tamar Kugler (Author) , Shuwen Li (Author) , Brian Lucas (Author) , Vincent Mak (Author) , Mario Mechtel (Author) , Christoph Merkle (Author) , Ethan Andrew Meyers (Author) , Johanna Mollerstrom (Author) , Alexander Nesterov (Author) , Levent Neyse (Author) , Petra Nieken (Author) , Anne Marie Nussberger (Author) , Helena Palumbo (Author) , Kim Peters (Author) , Angelo Pirrone (Author) , Xiangdong Qin (Author) , Rima Maria Rahal (Author) , Holger Rau (Author) , Johannes Rincke (Author) , Piero Ronzani (Author) , Yefim Roth (Author) , Ali Seyhun Saral (Author) , Jan Schmitz (Author) , Florian Schneider (Author) , Arthur Schram (Author) , Simeon Schudy (Author) , Maurice E. Schweitzer (Author) , Christiane Schwieren (Author) , Irene Scopelliti (Author) , Miroslav Sirota (Author) , Joep Sonnemans (Author) , Ivan Soraperra (Author) , Lisa Spantig (Author) , Ivo Steimanis (Author) , Janina Steinmetz (Author) , Sigrid Suetens (Author) , Andriana Theodoropoulou (Author) , Diemo Urbig (Author) , Tobias Vorlaufer (Author) , Joschka Waibel (Author) , Daniel Woods (Author) , Ofir Yakobi (Author) , Onurcan Yilmaz (Author) , Tomasz Zaleskiewicz (Author) , Stefan Zeisberger (Author) , Felix Holzmeister (Author) , 06.06.2023 , in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 120, 23 , 26 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Distributional effects of carbon pricing by transport fuel taxation
    Leif Jacobs (Author) , Lara Quack (Author) , Mario Mechtel (Author) , 01.10.2022 , in: Energy Economics, 114

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  4. Do Nonprofessional Investors Value the Assurance of Integrated Reports?: Exploratory Evidence
    Patrick Velte (Author) , Mario Mechtel (Author) , Jannik Gerwanski (Author) , 01.02.2022 , in: European Management Journal, 40, 1 , p. 103-126 , 24 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Smartphone bans and workplace performance
    Adrian Chadi (Author) , Mario Mechtel (Author) , Vanessa Mertins (Author) , 01.02.2022 , in: Experimental Economics, 25, 1 , p. 287-317 , 31 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Press / Media

  1. Auf die Künstliche Intelligenz allein kommt es nicht an
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  2. So sehr beeinflussen die Berufsangaben auf Stimmzetteln die Wähler
    Interviewed once

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  3. F.A.Z.-IFO-Ökonomenpanel - 100 Tage: Ökonomen geben der Regierung schlechte Noten
    1 time cited

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  4. Torjäger zum Sonderpreis - Torjägerinnen allerdings nicht
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  5. Fußball-Vereine vergeuden Millionen beim Nachwuchs
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

Prizes

  1. Lehrpreis der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
    (Recipient) ,

    Prize: Leuphana internal Prize, Scholaships, distinctions, appointmentsEducation

Courses

Next appointment:
Monday, 2026-10-12 at 12:15
This course presents an introduction to modern economics. Students will gain insight into modern economics, learning how economic ideas can describe, explain, predict, and improve important social and economic phenomena of our time. They will learn about modern economics as an empirical discipline that uses models to understand real-world phenomena and become familiar with the application of these models in decision making by individuals, businesses, governments, and other organizations.

Please see syllabus on myStudy (material folder) for more details.
Next appointment:
Wednesday, 2026-10-14 at 08:15
Boris Hirsch, Johannes Lohse, Mario Mechtel, Christian Pfeifer, Florian Unger, Joachim Wagner, Thomas Wein
Vorträge zu laufenden Forschungsarbeiten von Promovierenden und Wissenschaftlern des Instituts sowie von auswärtigen Gästen.

Die Referenten sollten möglichst min. eine Woche vor dem Vortrag ihr Papier an Boris Hirsch schicken, der es dann für alle Teilnehmer zugänglich in MyStudy hochladen wird. Hierdurch sollen tiefergehende Diskussionen der Papiere ermöglicht werden.

* im Seminarplan: Externe Gäste, mit denen wir vermutlich am Dienstagabend Essen gehen werden, wozu alle Interessierten gerne mitkommen können (Info bei Boris Hirsch).
Next appointment:
Tuesday, 2026-10-13 at 12:15