“My research enables us to better understand the world around us!”

Why do people help each other? Redzo Mujcic from WU Vienna’s Institute for Markets and Strategy focuses in his research on different aspects of human behaviour and offers answers. For his publication (with Co-Author Andreas Leibbrandt) “Forthcoming.  Indirect Reciprocity and Prosocial Behaviour: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment” in the renowned Economic Journal Mujcic received the WU Award 2017.

Name: Redzo Mujcic, Ph.D.

Born: 1985 in Australia

Lectures: Business Research Methods / Applied Econometrics

Researcher at: Institute for Markets and Strategy (IMS)

Working for WU Vienna since: September 2016

Research focus: Applied Microeconomics, Behavioural Economics, Field Experiments

What is the most fascinating part of your research?

The most exciting part of research for me is the opportunity for creativity and coming up with new ideas or ways of studying economic and social behaviour. For example, being able to come up with a simple idea or question relating to an important economic issue, which the reader or casual observer finds obvious and straightforward only after they read or hear about it, but the same reader or consumer finds it very difficult or almost impossible to think about this simple idea at first. I think this is the most difficult part of research and also the key difference between being a producer of research and a consumer of research – or, for example, being able to solve an exercise for an exam.

Why should people be aware of your research results?

I try to look at interesting questions relating to economics and other social sciences which are of general interest not only to other academics but also to non-academic audiences including policy makers, politicians, business professionals, as well as the average person on the street.

Some recent projects cover a range of topics related to different aspects of human behaviour and decision making including: why people discriminate against or favour some social groups more than others; why people help random strangers; does a healthy diet have any psychological benefits; how are consumers treated in markets where the seller knows more?

The WU Award 2017 means to me:

I am very grateful to receive the WU Award 2017. Good research sometimes takes a long time to be finalised and made public, and a lot of effort and tenacity is required especially in the early stages. Hence, I was very pleased to see a lot of colleagues being recognised for their efforts and research output.

Research at WU Vienna is important, because:

Being able to come up with new ideas and ways of thinking or doing things differently is critical for any type of progress. The production of quality research by academics enables us to better understand the world around us, but also to pass on this improved knowledge to our students. For me, this is the key characteristic of WU, where new research findings are applied and translated to audiences both inside and outside of the lecture theatre.

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