Hannes Rusch awarded ERC Starting Grant

Hannes' research will focus on 'Determinants and Dynamics of Collaborative Exploitation'. In this context, 'collaborative exploitation' means groups of humans working together to exploit others, thus stressing the between-group dimension of these relations.

"Research on exploitation is not short on data, historical or otherwise," Hannes explains. "However, an astonishing gap exists in the research literature with respect to modelling the incentive structures of collaborative exploitation and understanding the psychological aspects involved in the process."

Because of this discrepancy, it is hard to understand how the macro-level patterns and dynamics observable in the existing data emerge from micro-level traits, decisions, and behaviour.

"What I want to do in this project is to develop and test a versatile game-theoretic framework and corresponding new paradigms for behavioural experiments that provide novel insights into the strategic logic and the psychology of this pervasive malpractice."

In the longer run, its results will help inform policy-making which aims to end modern-day slavery and other forms of exploitation, bringing it in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.