Department für Agrarökonomie und Rurale Entwicklung

Current position

  • Postdoctoral researcher
  • Head of the working group: Finance and Insurance

    • Field of research
  • Small business financing
  • Risk assessment of bank clients
  • Empirical and experimental economics

    • University education
  • 05/2015 - 09/2015 Visiting fellow at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
  • 06/2013 - 05/2017 Doctor of Philosophy in economics, University of Göttingen
  • 05/2011 - 09/2011 University of Talca, Chile
  • 10/2010 - 12/2012 Master of Science in International Agribusiness and Rural Development, University of Göttingen Double-degree program with University of Talca, Chile
  • 10/2007 - 09/2010 Bachelor of Science at the University of Kassel
    Main field of study: organic agriculture


    • Work experience and administrative bodies
  • 01/2014 - 06/2016 Substitute examination committee
  • 05/2013 - today Research associate, University of Göttingen
  • 02/2013 - 03/2013 Scientific auxiliary force, University of Göttingen
  • 11/2010 - 02/2011 Voluntary peer for international students, University of Göttingen
  • 04/2010 - 07/2010 Internship in the economics department at the Landesbetrieb Landwirtschaft Hessen, Kassel


    • International experience
  • Chile 7 Months, student at the University of Talca
  • The Philippines 6 Months, field research
  • USA 6 Months, visiting fellow at Cornell University

    • Awards
  • Most innovative master thesis "Originellste Masterarbeit". Highest award in the Master of Science program, University of Göttingen

    • List of publications

    Articles in peer-reviewed journals
    Römer, U., Mußhoff, O., Weber, R. and Turvey, C. (2016), ?Wie ehrlich sind Kunden von Mikrofinanzinstituten? Ein Bogus-Pipeline-Experiment zur Untersuchung asymmetrischer Information im Mikrofinanzsektor auf den Philippinen?, Schmalenbachs Zeitschrift für betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung (DOI; 10.1007/s41471-016-0026-5).

    Sarwosri, A.W., Römer, U. and Mußhoff, O. (2016), "Are African female farmers disadvantaged on the microfinance lending market?",Agricultural Finance Review, Vol. 76, pp. 477-493.

    Working papers
    Römer, U., Mußhoff, O., Weber, R. and Turvey, C. (2017), "Truth and consequences: Bogus pipeline experiment in informal small business lending", DARE Working Paper,No. 1702, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

    Römer, U. and Mußhoff, O. (2017), "Can agricultural credit scoring for microfinance institutions be implemented and improved by weather data?", DARE Working Paper, No. 1703, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

    Presentations and conference proceedings
    Römer, U.; Weber, R. and Musshoff, O. (2013),"The potential of management information system data for the development of credit scoring models in microfinance", paper presented at the 2ndInternational Agricultural Risk, Finance and Insurance Conference (IARFIC), in Vancouver, Canada, June 16-18, 2013.

    Römer, U., Mußhoff, O. and Weber, R. (2014), "Risk assessment in microfinance - Do clients state their true income?",paper presented at the 3rdInternational Agricultural Risk, Finance and Insurance Conference (IARFIC), Zürich, Switzerland, June 22-24, 2014.

    Römer, U., Mußhoff, O., Weber, R. and Turvey, C. (2015), "How does asymmetric information in individual microfinance affect repayment rates?",paper presented at the 4thInternational Agricultural Risk, Finance and Insurance Conference (IARFIC),Washington, D.C., USA, June 7-9, 2015.

    Römer, U., Mußhoff, O., Weber, R. and Turvey, C. (2015), "Do clients hide their true income? A bogus pipeline experiment for analyzing asymmetric information in microfinance in the Philippines",paper presented at the29th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE), Milano, Italy, August 8-14, 2015.

    Sarwosri, A.W., Römer, U. and Mußhoff, O. (2016), "Are African female farmers disadvantaged on the microfinance lending market?",paper presented at the8th China Agricultural Economic Review (CAER) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Annual Conference, Fuzhou, China October 23-25, 2016.

    Römer, U. (2016), "An introduction into behavioral econometrics" Invited speaker at the Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, China, October 26, 2016.

    Römer, U., Mußhoff, O., Weber, R. and Turvey, C. (2016), "How does asymmetric information in individual microfinance affect repayment rates?" Invited speaker at the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling China, October 27, 2016.

    Römer, U., Mußhoff, O., Weber, R. and Turvey, C. (2016),"Wie ehrlich sind Kunden von Mikrofinanzinstituten? Ein Bogus-Pipeline-Experiment zur Untersuchung asymmetrischer Information im Mikrofinanzsektorauf den Philippinen",paper presented at the Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung e.V. (GfeW), Gießen, Germany, September 19-21, 2016.

    Schaak, H., Mußhoff, O. and Römer, U. (2017),"Grazing decision of German farmers",Paper presented at the3rd International Workshop on Study of Family-run Farming, Kyoto, Japan, March 15-17, 2017.