Wolfgang Ritter Prize for Sven Simon
Dr. Sven Simon received the Wolfgang Ritter Prize of the Year 2022 for his dissertation “Essays on the Trade-Offs for Non-Compliance and Deceptive Behavior”.
Dr. Sven Simon is a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance in Munich and a proponent of experimental economics. His doctoral thesis “Essays on the Trade-Offs for Non-Compliance and Deceptive Behavior” examines fraudulent behaviour, dishonesty and insincerity in economic transactions.
Cheating – Why some Do and others Don’t
Simon uses laboratory experiments to identify individual motives and impulses affecting compliance decisions.
His work shows, among other things, that the decision to be dishonest is based on a multilayered, and thus time-consuming, cognitive process. Therefore, when pressed for time, most people intuitionally choose honesty.
Furthermore, the experiments reveal that people who do not know the amount of profit they are entitled to, find it easier to make a self-serving claim, even if it is highly likely to deviate from the actual reward.
An important result is also that, in accordance with their individual stance on dishonest behaviour, people choose environments where they can make a profit whether honestly or dishonestly. Here, the proverbial thief seeks the opportunity!
In addition, Simon’s dissertation addresses the question of why the individual behaves more dishonestly in a team than on its own and how to promote compliance by holding each member of a team, individually, fully liable.
“Innovative Work on Issues of Great Relevance to Entrepreneurial Activity”
The Wolfgang Ritter Foundation awarded the prize, named after its founder, for the 37th time on 11 May 2022 at Bremen City Hall.
According to Prof. Dr. Christoph Löffler, chairman of the foundation, Simon has presented “innovative work on issues of great relevance to corporate action”. It shows that situations that encourage fraudulent behaviour can be identified and dishonest actions can be limited, he said.
Career and Research Outlook
Sven Simon studied economics at the Universities of Mannheim and Copenhagen from 2009 to 2014. He wrote his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance in the department of Prof. Dr. Kai A. Konrad, where he was employed as a PhD student and manager of the experimental laboratory econlab from 2014–2020. Since 2020, Sven Simon has been working as a senior research fellow at the Institute.
Currently, Sven Simon’s research investigates the circumstances under which individuals prefer to delegate personal authority (e.g. to the state) and when they value their personal freedom of choice more highly. The economist is currently working on a number of research projects in this area.
Individual Chapters of the Award-winning Dissertation:
Konrad, K. A., Lohse, T. und Simon, S. A., 2021. Pecunia non olet: on the self-selection into (dis)honest earning opportunities. Experimental Economics, 24, S. 1105-1130. DOI: 10.1007/s10683-020-09691-7
Lohse, T. und Simon, S. A., 2021. Compliance in teams – Implications of joint decisions and shared consequences. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 94. Article No. 101745. DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2021.101745
Lohse, T., Simon, S. A. und Konrad, K. A., 2018. Deception under time pressure: conscious decision or a problem of awareness?. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 146, S. 31-42. DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2017.11.026
Simon, S. A., Is it a Lie if I don’t know? Self-serving dishonesty under ignorance. Working Paper of the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance No. 2020-12. SSRN
May 2022