Principal Investigator

Guido Friebel

  • Biografische Angaben

    Guido Friebel's research is on human resources and organizations. He carries out randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with firms, analyzes observational firm data, and works on related applied theory. He also investigates how institutions shape the accumulation and allocation of human capital. His work has been published in leading journals such as American Economic Review, AEJ:Micro, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of the European Economic Association, Journal of Public Economics and many others. Friebel is a fellow of CEPR, IZA, and a VP of SIOE, a founding member of the Organizational Economics Committee of the German Economic Association (VfS), a member of the Women in Economics Committee of the European Economic Association and the Scientific Advisory Board of Sciences Po. Before joining Goethe, he held positions at the Toulouse School of Economics and EHESS, and at SITE, Stockholm School of Economics. At ConTrust, he coordinates the working group on markets and economic decision making. His research here is how conflicts in partnerships affect their resilience against external shocks (health or work-related) and on the determinants of trust in employment relationships. Before joining Goethe, he held positions at the Toulouse School of Economics and EHESS, and at SITE, Stockholm School of Economics. At ConTrust, he coordinates the working group on markets and economic decision making. His research here is how conflicts in partnerships affect their resilience against external shocks (health or work-related) and on the determinants of trust in employment relationships.
  • Publikationen

    Friebel, Guido, Matthias Heinz, Mitchell Hoffman, and Nick Zubanov. 2023. „What do Employee Referral Programs (ERPs) do? Measuring the direct and overall effects of a management practice.“ Journal of Political Economy 131, no. 3: 633–686. Auriol, Emmanuelle, Guido Friebel, Alisa Weinberger, and Sascha Wilhelm. 2022. „Underrepresentation of women in the economics profession more pronounced in the United States compared to heterogeneous Europe.“ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, no. 16. Friebel, Guido, Matthias Heinz, and Nikolay Zubanov. 2022. „Middle managers, personnel turnover, and performance: A long-term field experiment in a retail chain.“ Management Science 68, no. 1: 211–229. Khashabi, Pooyan, Matthias Heinz, Nick Zubanov, Tobias Kretschmer, and Guido Friebel. 2021. „Market competition and the effectiveness of performance pay.“ Organization Science 32, no. 2: 334–351.

News from the research center

Event
20.03.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

40 Jahre Schengen-Raum

Colloquium

Der 1984 geschlossene Schengen-Vertrag schuf einen heute 29 Staaten umfassenden Raum ohne Binnengrenzen, doch Migration über die Außengrenzen führte zuletzt zur Wiedereinführung von Kontrollen, auch durch die Bundesregierung ab 8. Mai 2025. Das Walter Hallstein-Kolloquium diskutiert die rechtliche Zulässigkeit, wirtschaftliche Folgen insbesondere für Arbeitsmigration und Arbeitsmarkt sowie die Zukunft des Schengen-Raums.

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News
12.02.2026

Satanist politics and the decline of reason in liberal democracies

For the last time in the winter semester 2025/26, the Research Center hosted the lecture series "Am Scheidepunkt. On the crisis of democracy". At the end, philosopher Michael Rosen from Harvard University presented his concept of "satanic politics" as a variant of the political interpretation of the world.

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News
09.02.2026

On the topicality of the concept of violence based on Camus and Derrida

Prof. Dr. Christine Abbt from the University of St. Gallen gave a lecture on democracies and the concept of violence as part of the lecture series "At the crossroads? On the crisis of democracy", she gave a lecture on democracies and the concept of violence. Under the title "Defending democracies. On the topicality of the concept of violence in Camus and Derrida", the philosopher discussed forms of violence and revolt and categorized them with regard to a democratic setting.

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Publication
04.02.2026 | Journal article

New Perspectives on Trust in International Conflicts

Wille, Tobias; Simon, Hendrik; Daase, Christopher; Deitelhoff, Nicole; Wheeler, Nicholas J.; Holmes, Marcus; Rathbun, Brian C.; Acharya, Amitav; Mitzen, Jennifer (2026): „New Perspectives on Trust in International Conflicts“. In: International Studies Review 28 (1), viaf027.

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News
02.02.2026

States competing for people - David Owen on civil geopolitics

As part of the lecture series "At the Crossroads - The Future of Democracy", David Owen from the University of Southampton presented his concept of civil geopolitics.

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News
20.01.2026

Christine Hentschel on reorientation in catastrophic times

As part of the lecture series "At the crossroads? On the crisis of democracy", the sociologist spoke about living in and dealing with catastrophic times. Against the backdrop of the destruction of living conditions, wars, permanent crises and threats to democracy, Hentschel addressed the infiltration of the catastrophic into everyday social life and a changing activist and literary approach to the future.

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Publication
08.01.2026 | Journal article

Gender Differences in Financial Advice

Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Hackethal, Andreas; Koenen, Johannes; Laudenbach, Christine (2025): „Gender Differences in Financial Advice“. In: American Economic Review, 115 (12), pp. 4218–4252.

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Publication
19.12.2025 | Anthology

Faszination und Freiheit 

Günther, Klaus; Zabel, Benno (Hrsg.) (2025): Faszination und Freiheit - Gegenwartsdiagnosen im Anschluss an Christoph Menkes Theorie der Befreiung, Weilerswist (Velbrück Wissenschaft).

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Publication
12.12.2025 | Anthology

Zwischen Transformation und Abolitionismus. Das Strafrecht und die Vielfalt der Alternativen

Tobias Singelnstein, Christoph Burchard (2025)

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