AGATE

In 2006, the research project "Rationality in the Light of Experimental Economic Research" was incorporated into the research programme of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences as a new long-term project. It is the first economic science project within the framework of the long-term humanities research programme of the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities.

The research project involves basic research that questions the basic assumption of rational behaviour. The aim of the project is to develop a comprehensive economic theory of human behavior that is experimentally supported.

The 10-year research project is headed by Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Reinhard Selten (University of Bonn). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994 for groundbreaking work in the field of game theory. The project is developed in close cooperation with Prof. Dr. Axel Ockenfels (University of Cologne), who was awarded the 2005 Leibnitz Prize of the German Research Foundation for his work in the field of experimental economic research.