Dr. Stefan Schmidt

Senior Research Fellow

+49 228 91416-149

2.11a

Research Focus

I am a behavioral and experimental economist who uses laboratory and field experiments to study social identity, belief formation, and political polarization. My work mostly focuses on three strands. Firstly, I examine how group identity shapes economic behavior — for instance, how identity concerns drive status-seeking or how they interact with cognitive biases during belief formation. Secondly, I investigate the role of stereotypes and polarization. Thirdly, I study how stereotypes shape belief formation and political polarization by more accurate measurement tools for stereotypical beliefs and identifying effective interventions to reduce stereotyping across social groups. Finally, I study the mechanisms through which social-media consumption affects mental health outcomes among adolescents.

Academic Career

Since 2024: Senior Research Fellow (Postdoc), Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics, Bonn — Experimental Economics Group.
2025: Visiting Researcher at the University of California San Diego and the University of Chicago (hosts: Uri Gneezy and Leonardo Bursztyn), supported by a DFG Travel Grant.
2019–2024: PhD in Economics, University of Cologne, supervised by Prof. Dr. Matthias Sutter and Prof. Dr. Axel Ockenfels.
2016–2019: M.Sc. Economics, University of Bonn.
2013–2016: B.Sc. Economics, University of Bonn.

Publications

Working papers (under review)

Schmidt, S. “A flag to wave: How identity concerns drive status-seeking behavior.” Revise & Resubmit, Experimental Economics.
Bašić, Z., Bortolotti, S., Salicath, D., Schneider, S. O., Schmidt, S., & Sutter, M.“ One size fits all? The interplay of incentives, effort provision, and personality.” Revise & Resubmit, Quantitative Economics.

Work in progress

Bašić, Z., Schmidt, S., & Verrina, E. “Social identity and behavioral biases.”
Schmidt, S., Sutter, M., & Schwerter, F. “Preferences on immigration and beliefs about the speed of immigrants’ integration into society.”
Figueiredo, D., & Schmidt, S. “Stereotypes and polarization.”
Monteiro, S., Praxmarer, M., Schmidt, S., & Sutter, M. “Correlation neglect in teams.”
Bartels, L., Schmidt, S., & Schneider, S. “Investigating smartphone behavior among young adults.”