Business Administration and Economics

The Chair of Quantitative Economic Policy (Prof. Jeannette Brosig) has its research focus on economic policy and behaviour research. A characteristic of research in this field is the combination of microeconomic methods – especially of game theory – and empirical methods, in particular of experimental economic research. Current research projects are dedicated to the design of online procurement auctions for public and private contracts. One popular electronic market for service contracts in Germany is “My-Hammer.de”. Customers use this platform to choose bidders and appoint suppliers. It is clear that customer decisions are not only influenced by the previous performance of suppliers, but also and to an even greater extent by the standard of communication between them. One of the research projects looks at the role of communication in these processes and examines to what extent communication can be used as a reputation mechanism. A series of other auction mechanisms for contracting suppliers exists alongside “My-Hammer.de”. This raises various questions, including how successfully customers and suppliers (bidders) coordinate in terms of the market mechanisms, which auction mechanisms will become established, and what effect this will have on the efficiency of the market.
Further studies are to be carried out in the newly built Essener Labor für Experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung, elfe (Laboratory for Experimental Economics). The laboratory has 25 modern computer-based workstations, including 12 soundproof cubicles, and as such is the best-equipped experimental laboratory for research into economic interaction and communication in the world. Further information on elfe is available at www.wipo.wiwi.uni-due.de.