In this episode we are talking to Vitali Gretschko, professor of economics and market design. With him, we explore how moral behaviour affects decisions in market environments. We discuss a recent research project in which he jointly with colleagues designed an experiment to understand details on the relevance of social norms for market interactions. We also discuss how markets can be set up and designed to increase moral behaviour. Prof. Dr. Vitali Gretschko is head of the ZEW Research Department "Market Design", Professor of Market Design at the University of Mannheim, and a member of the Research Unit "Design and Behaviour" at the German Research Foundation (DFG). Vitali’s team published a working paper on the research project he mentions in the interview - you can download it at https://www.zew.de/publikationen/social-norms-and-market-behavior-evidence-from-a-large-population-sample

In this episode we are talking to Anouar El Haji, behavioral economist and the founder & CEO of Veylinx. With him, we explore how game theory can help to identify how customers truly value new products and services. We touch on why it is crucial for companies to obtain reliable insights before making major investment decisions and why so many companies struggle with this. The standard practice of conducting market research surveys is ineffective because participants don’t have skin in the game. But by taking a different approach using game theory, participants can be incentivized to reveal their true interest in services and products that might not even exist yet. Anouar El Haji is the founder and CEO of Veylinx (https://veylinx.com/). Before founding his company Anouar completed his PhD at the University of Amsterdam applying his knowledge in game theory and behavioural economics to the field of Marketing.

In this episode we are talking to Robert Idel, economist and expert in the energy sector. With him, we explore the effects of zero prices and how a market design approach can help tackle the challenging properties of the energy sector with limited storage capacities and lack of incentives to invest. Ironically, after recording this episode, the fragility and flaws in the current energy market that Robert describes became drastically apparent, when a winter storm led to long lasting and widespread power outages (find the corresponding article under https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/winterization-and-texas-blackout-fail-prepare-prepare-fail/). Robert Idel is an expert on the design of electricity markets and more generally regulation of the power sector. Robert is currently pursuing his PhD at the Baker Institute's Center for Energy Studies in Texas (https://www.bakerinstitute.org/experts/robert-idel/).

In this episode, Christina Gravert shares her personal experience from using online dating apps and how she applied game theoretic principles to maximise her chances for finding the perfect match. It turns out that the use of dating apps like tinder can be modelled as a game, leading to useful insights for your best “swiping strategy”. We also discuss the link between dating apps and game theoretic concepts like “cheap talk” or the “optimal stopping” problem. Christina Gravert is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Copenhagen and the cofounder of Impactually, a behavioral science consultancy. Her research is field is behavioural economics with focus on environmental sustainability, health and charitable giving. If you want to know more about her academic work, you can check out her homepage: https://www.christinagravert.com/ Our interview with Christina is based on her article at behavioralscientist.org, which also contains some interesting links on related articles.

In this episode we are talking with Jacob Larsen, expert on digital Procurement, about the nuts and bolts of e-auctions and why companies are still struggling to realize their full potential. We discuss the key ingredients needed for a successful e-auction, common misconceptions surrounding the topic and how to avoid looming pitfalls when first getting started with e-auctions. Jacob Larsen is an expert on Procurement in the digital age and author of the book "A Practical Guide to E-Auctions for Procurement". Currently the Head of Digital Procurement at Maersk, a danish integrated shipping company, the largest of its kind, Jacob knows the practical side of e-auctions like the back of his hand and summarized this knowledge together with the theory behind it in his book. If you want to discuss how the concepts introduced in Jacob’s book can help your organization to increase the use of e-auctions, you are welcome to reach out to him via LinkedIn or email (Jacob.larsen@maersk.com). You can also find the book e.g. on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/-/de/gp/product/B08PPZWRH3/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0).