Dr. Franziska Funke
I am an environmental economist studying the fairness, effectiveness, and public acceptability of climate policy. My research focuses on consumer-facing sectors, where people bear policy costs directly and are required to change behaviours and household-level investments, often under vastly unequal circumstances.
One strand of my work examines the design and behavioural political economy of market-based instruments, such as carbon pricing and taxes on animal-based products.
My next research agenda turns to the distributional consequences of unequal access to climate-friendly substitutes (e.g., heat pumps, electric vehicles, public transport, meat alternatives). I am planning to explore “equal opportunity to decarbonize” as a welfare-economic criterion for climate policy fairness, and look at implications for the effective and fair targeting of subsidies and compensation measures.
Methodologically, I work with survey experiments and household-level microdata, and draw on theories and concepts from public economics, welfare economics, and philosophy.
I completed my PhD in Economics at Technical University Berlin in January 2026. I also hold an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and a BA in Political Science and Economics from Münster University.