Introducing: Sarah Flecke | PhD student in the Project Part “Credence Goods in Finance”
Sarah Flecke, half German half American, already started her contract as a PhD student in the project part “Credence Goods in Finance” in April. Sarah grew up in Hannover, Germany before moving to Connecticut in the U.S. for her undergraduate studies in Economics and International Relations. After graduating, she moved for two years to Quito, Ecuador for policy work, and for the last 5 years she’s been living in London, first working in management consulting before returning to academia with a master study in Cognitive and Decision Sciences at the UCL.
Sarah is particularly interested in the drivers of pro-environmental behavior and the design of incentives that encourage it.
“Environmental degradation is such a critical issue, not only for the planet, but for humanity, and I believe behavioral science and economics can provide a lot of insight and practical strategies for designing better policies, interventions, cities, systems, schools etc. to ensure people actually take the necessary actions.”
On a personal level, Sarah generally enjoys being outside, be it for skiing or hiking together with her husband and her dog. Be careful though: When she asks you to join for a walk, you might want to think twice. Could be she thinks about crossing the Alps as she did from Meran to Oberstdorf (and reverse) recently. Gardening, photography, and singing in choir are on the list of her hobbies too.
Word rap
Innsbruck –First thing that comes to mind is mountains.
Experiments – I like them.
Economics - Can be used to explain most phenomenon.
Biggest societal problem? – Environmental degradation (specifically existential risk due to ecosystem collapse) and global gender disparities. Hard to pick one. If we solve these two I think we’d be doing really well as a species :)
Wiener Schnitzel or Couscous? – Schnitzel.
Snowy mountains or sandy beaches? – Mountains.
Skiing, cycling, shopping or couch surfing? – Skiing.