skip to content

Prof. Dr. Patrick Schmitz receives research prize

Expert in contract theory is awarded with Hans-Kelsen prize for outstanding academic performance

In a ceremony at the University of Cologne on May 12th, Prof. Dr. Patrick Schmitz of the Department of Economics at the WiSo-faculty received this year’s Hans-Kelsen award.
In his research, Prof. Dr. Patrick Schmitz focuses on fundamental microeconomic questions: Why do firms exist at all? Which effects have different ownership structures on investment incentives? How should public projects be organized? Prof. Schmitz examines these questions with the help of contract theory, i.e. using formal models in which asymmetric information plays a central role.
The University of Cologne strongly believes that individual scientific excellence is at the heart of research progress and should therefore be encouraged and rewarded. To this end, as part of the institutional strategy of the University of Cologne, a Hans-Kelsen prize is awarded annually to a researcher with outstanding scientific achievements in the field of law or economics in the past five years.

Prof. Dr. Patrick Schmitz // Hans-Kelsen-Preis 2015