Cornelius Schneider has successfully defended his dissertation

Cornelius started his PhD studies at our institute within the joint program of the Max Planck Research School on Adapting Behavior in a Fundamentally Uncertain World (IMPRS Uncertainty) and the University of Cologne (Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences, CGS) in October 2016. Before, he graduated from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, which sparked his research interest in Experimental Economics and, specifically, in Public Economics. Under the supervision of Prof. Felix Bierbrauer and Prof. Christoph Engel, he was able to pursue these research interests. He explored how personal preferences, (mis)perceptions and norms can inform optimal tax policies.

In his job market paper, he examined the hidden benefits of tax evasion: perfect enforcement of tax compliance might not be a desirable objective for a society in economic terms. Or, put differently: if a state does not have the resources fully to enforce tax compliance, who should be targeted, and who should not? To explore these counterintuitive findings further, Cornelius set up an extensive research proposal for which he was granted a DAAD PRIME fellowship. After having defended his PhD degree on 25 August 2021, he now works at the NHH in Bergen and at the University of Mannheim.