With a total of 35,000 euros in prize money, this interdisciplinary research prize is one of the most highly funded awards in the field of economics and social sciences. The third prize (5,000 euros) was awarded to IHS researcher Florian Spitzer for his dissertation "How detrimental behavior is shaped by the institutional environment–Three essays in behavioral and experimental economics".
Spitzer uses economic decision experiments to investigate the extent to which behavior with detrimental effects on other individuals can be changed for the better by altering the institutional environment. He shows in an impressive way how the social market economy can solve the conflict between economic efficiency and social justice.