PhD Position in Behavioral and Welfare Economics (m/f/d)
Your tasks
- Develop your independent research.
- Contribute actively to the project's research activities, including designing, coding, and analyzing experiments and surveys.
- Contribute to the organization of workshops, preparation of grant proposals, and provision of feedback on research papers.
- Support the teaching activities of the team.
- Engage with both components of the project: the behavioral experiments (led by Dr. Brian Jabarian) and the theoretical analysis utilizing axiomatic methods (led by Prof. Dr. Paolo Piacquadio).
Your profile
- A master degree (completed or near completion) in Economics, with a strong background in behavioral economics, public economics, and/or welfare economics.
- Enthusiasm and ambition for conducting high-quality research.
- Experience with designing and running experiments (lab, online, or field) is highly desirable.
- Familiarity with or openness to axiomatic methods in theoretical analysis is highly desirable.
- Ability to work independently, think creatively and contribute collaboratively in a dynamic team environment.
Application Procedure:
Please submit the following documents online: Cover Letter: Briefly describe your research interests, motivation for joining the project, and how your background fits the position; Curriculum Vitae (CV): Detailing your education, research experience, coding skills, and any publications or working papers; Copies of grade transcripts and certificates (see also https://www.unisg.ch/en/studying/admission/admission-phd/economics-and-econometrics/)
Reference Letters: Please arrange for two letters of recommendation to be sent directly to both: Prof. Dr. Paolo Piacquadio at paolo.piacquadio@unisg.ch and Dr. Brian Jabarian at brian.jabarian@chicagobooth.edu
Application Deadline: Review of applications will begin April 1st and continue until the position is filled. For additional information, please contact Prof. Dr. Paolo Piacquadio at paolo.piacquadio@unisg.ch
Project Overview:
This interdisciplinary project examines how individuals' ethical views shape social welfare judgments and redistribution policies. The project combines a behavioral component-building on experiments and surveys-with a theoretical component that employs axiomatic methods to formalize ethical and welfare constructs rigorously.
Specifically, the project aims to:
•Identify and comprehensively catalog the diverse and multifaceted range of individuals' ethical views and core values.
•Understand and rigorously analyze the underlying patterns and origins of various ethical perspectives and belief systems.
•Develop innovative axiomatic frameworks to aggregate diverse ethical stances into coherent, actionable measures of social welfare.
•Investigate how ethical heterogeneity influences the design, implementation, and effectiveness of redistribution policies across economic contexts.
•Integrate generative AI into experiments to simulate realistic taxation scenarios and assess informed versus mistaken support.
Inspirational Work Environment
Executive Education
Network
Family & Career
Equal Opportunities
Fit and Healthy
Inspirational Work Environment
At the HSG, as Europe's leading business university, we operate in an entrepreneurial environment where you will meet highly qualified, ambitious experts - both regionally and internationally. For example, you benefit from a modern IT infrastructure and, in our library via HSGswisscovery, from nationwide access to the wealth of scientific information available.
Executive Education
We support internal and external executive education opportunities. Our internal executive education programme offers you a practical, dedicated and didactically mature transfer of knowledge in the form of seminars, e-learning, coaching and collegial advice. We support task-specific external training and executive education financially as well as with regard to the time required.
Network
We promote our culture of cross-functional collaboration and create space for forging valuable relationships - also with external partners. Regular exchanges and internal events help to strengthen these relationships and make them long-lasting.
Family & Career
We provide our employees with flexible work time models with a variable number of hours per week. As a family-friendly employer, we offer part-time positions, 16 weeks of maternity leave and a subsidised crèche, as well as support with childcare during the vacations.
Equal Opportunities
The University enables equal opportunities for all employees and students. This applies to degree courses and work, as well as academic careers, university management positions and the reconciliation of studies, work and private commitments. We are committed to this with various measures in the areas of teaching, research, administration and the Presidency.
Fit and Healthy
We help you stay fit and healthy. In addition to our diverse range of sports activities at the university, most of which are free of charge, and campaign weeks for corporate health management, we also offer you fruit in the workplace. In our canteen you will find a wide selection of freshly prepared meals - from vegetarian to fish dishes - at discounted prices.
Further information on working at the HSG can be found here.
For job-related questions
Associate Professor of Applied Economics
We offer a great work environment at ERP-HSG with enthusiastic colleagues and researchers.
Institute Manager Administration
I'm looking forward to welcome you as a new team member at ERP-HSG.
Your place of work
University of St.Gallen
«A place where knowledge is created» - As one of Europe's leading universities of economics and business administration, the University of St.Gallen (HSG), Switzerland, is committed to the education of over 9800 students. The HSG is one of the largest employers in the region and provides an attractive and innovative environment for more than 3300 researchers, educators and professional staff.
