Raphael Max

I'm an economist with a philosophical background. My work sits at the intersection of economic ethics, political economy, and the question of how markets respond to political events, public narratives, and institutional conditions. I think of this as the behavioral ethics of markets: the idea that market outcomes are shaped not only by economic fundamentals, but also by how societies interpret risk, responsibility, and economic action.

I did my PhD in Economics (Dr. rer. pol., summa cum laude) at the Technical University of Munich and I'm currently a Postdoc and Habilitation Candidate at the Chair of Economic and Social Ethics at the University of Hohenheim. 

What interests me most is how markets are perceived, evaluated, and contested in practice, especially when economic developments trigger strong moral reactions or political responses. Financial markets, energy systems, public policy debates: in all of these, people are not just responding to facts but to interpretations. How do we assign responsibility? What expectations do we form under uncertainty? What makes a market outcome feel legitimate or outrageous?

Underneath many of these questions is a tension I keep returning to. The moral intuitions most of us carry were formed in small, face-to-face social environments, where informal control and personal trust do a lot of work. Modern market societies are something else entirely. Understanding what happens when those two worlds collide is, in a way, what most of my research is about.

I grew up in Munich and am based there again. I also have a long-standing connection to Italy, through my studies in Venice and family ties to Sardinia. These experiences continue to shape how I think about cooperation, trust, and the social texture of economic life.

Contact: raphael.max [at] uni-hohenheim [dot] de