2015 – 2020
Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Kassel, Germany.
2015 – 2015
Post-Doctoral Researcher, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
Curriculum Vitae
November, 2025
Igor Asanov
| Evidence-Based Science and Innovation Policy Research Group INCHER-Kassel, University of Kassel Moenchebergstrasse 17 D-34125, Kassel, Germany |
Phone: +49 561 804-2362 E-mail: [email protected] Citizenship: German Web: www.igorasanov.com |
Employment
Education
11/2010 – 01/2015
Ph.D. in Economics (Dr. rer. pol.)
Title of Dissertation: Application of Experimental Methods to Economics of Innovation
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Oliver Kirchkamp and Prof. Dr. Uwe Cantner.
DFG Graduate College The Economics of Innovative Change,
Max Planck Institute of Economics and Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.
Title of Dissertation: Application of Experimental Methods to Economics of Innovation
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Oliver Kirchkamp and Prof. Dr. Uwe Cantner.
DFG Graduate College The Economics of Innovative Change,
Max Planck Institute of Economics and Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.
2008 – 2010
Ph.D. program in Economics
St.-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics, Suspended: October 2010
St.-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics, Suspended: October 2010
2007 – 2008
MA in Management (with Honors)
St.-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics.
St.-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics.
2005 – 2008
Bsc in Economics and Management
Pierre Mendès-France University II, Grenoble, France.
Pierre Mendès-France University II, Grenoble, France.
09/2003 – 07/2007
Bsc in Management (with Honors)
St.-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics.
St.-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics.
Applied Quantitative Economic Policy Research
06/2025
Researcher, World Bank Group.
Responsible for communication with policymakers and the for data analysis of the administrative data large-scale randomized control trial on socio-emotional learning and mental health (58,000 students). Task Team Lead: Quy-Toan Do (World Bank)
Responsible for communication with policymakers and the for data analysis of the administrative data large-scale randomized control trial on socio-emotional learning and mental health (58,000 students). Task Team Lead: Quy-Toan Do (World Bank)
11/2024 –
Invited Researcher, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, J-PAL
11/2024 – 02/2025
Researcher, World Bank Group. Investigator for evaluation of the behavioral change policy program on AI (artificial intelligence) mental health in fragile and conflict-affected settings (Worldwide). Task Team Lead: Quy-Toan Do (World Bank)
02/2024 – 06/2024
Researcher, World Bank Group. Investigator for evaluation of the digital policy to support the Education of Ukrainian Refugees in secondry schools (Italy). Responsible for the design, and data analysis. Task Team Lead: Quy-Toan Do (World Bank), joint project between World Bank Group and Harvard University)
01/2022
Researcher, World Bank Group. Responsible for communication with policymakers and the design, implementation, and analysis of the digital large-scale randomized control trial in secondary schools. (Vietnam, approx. 58,000 students completed the program successfully. Task Team Lead: Quy-Toan Do (World Bank).
08/2019 – 11/2020
Co-Principal Investigator, World Bank Group. Co-Principal Investigator for impact evaluation of the large-scale randomized control trial on Entrepreneurship and Innovation in secondary schools. Responsible for the design, implementation, and analysis. (Ecuador, approx. 45,000 students in more than 1000 schools). Task Team Lead: David Mckenzie (World Bank)
Publications
- A low-cost digital first aid tool to reduce psychological distress in refugees: a multi-country randomized controlled trial of Self-Help Online in the first months after the invasion of Ukraine. (with Anastasiya-Mariya Asanov, Guido Buenstorf) Social Science & Medicine. 2024 362, 117442. Open Access (OA), Open Data (OD)
Journal Impact Factor: 4.9. - Involving family and friends helps sustainable diets last longer. (with Severijns R., Streukens S., Bruns S. B., Moleman P., Brouwer J., Giethuijsen J., Lizin S.) NPJ Climate Action, Nature Portfolio. 2024. 3,109. OA, OD.
- A meta-analysis of lost-letter field experiments. Journal of Economic Psychology. 2024, 105 (with Helena Schirmacher, Christoph Bühren). OA, OD.
Journal Impact Factor: 3.5 %, Academic Journal Guide (AJG) Rank 2 - Patterns of Dissertation Dissemination: Publication-Based Outcomes of Doctoral Theses in The Social Sciences. Scientometrics, 2024, pp.1-17 (with Anastasiya-Mariya Asanov, Guido Buenstorf, Valon Kadriu, Pia Schoch). OA, OD. Journal Impact Factor: 3.9 %, Academic Journal Guide (AJG) Rank 2
- System-, Teacher-, and Student-level Interventions for Improving Participation in Online Learning at Scale in High Schools. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 2023 Vol. 120 No. 30 e2216686120 (with Anastasiya-Mariya Asanov, Thomas Astebro, Guido Buenstorf, Bruno Crépon, David McKenzie, Francisco Pablo Flores T., Mona Mensmann, Mathis Schulte). OA, OD.
Journal Impact Factor: 12.8, ranked as 9 out of 73 in Multidiscplinary Sciences - Mental Health and Stress Level of Ukrainians Seeking Psychological Help Online (with Anastasiya-Mariya Asanov(Noha), Guido Buenstorf) Heliyon 2023, 9, (11). OA, OD.
Journal Impact Factor: 4.0 - Remote-learning, Time-Use, and Mental Health of Ecuadorian High-School Students during the COVID-19 Quarantine. World Development, 138, 2021, 105225. (with Flores, Mckenzie, Mensmann, and Schulte). OD
Highly cited paper according to Web of Science - in the top 1% of the academic fields social science, general. Selected media coverage of the paper: Global News, The Conversation, Scidev
Journal Impact Factor: 6.7, ranked as 30 out of 376 in Economics. - Bandit cascade: A test of observational learning in the bandit problem. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Volume 189, 2021, Pages 150-171. OD.
Journal Impact Factor: 2.3 - Can Group Identity Explain Gender Gap in Recruitment Process?(with Maria Mavlikeeva) Industrial Relations Journal 54(1), 2023, Pages 95-113. OA. Journal Impact Factor: 1.4.
- Short-and Long-run Effects of External Interventions on Trust. Review of Behavioral Economics Vol. 7: No. 2, 2020, pp 159-195 (with Simone Vannuccini). Citec Impact Factor: 1.07
- Reporting Errors and Biases in Published Empirical Findings: Evidence From Innovation Research. Research Policy, 48(9), 2019, p.103796. (with Bruns et al.) OD.
Journal IF: 9.5, 26 out of 226 in Management
Papers: Conditionally accepted, Revise and Resubmit Stage, Under Review
- Remote delivery of STEM and entrepreneurship role models at scale changes college major choice.(with Thomas Astebro, Guido Buenstorf, Bruno Crepón, Francisco Flores, David McKenzie, Mona Mensmann, Mathis Schulte).
Conditionally accepted: Nature Human Behavior
Journal Impact Factor: 21.4 - Is Self-employment a Career Trap? Large-Scale Field Experiment in the Labor market. (with Maria Mavlikeeva)
Revise and Resubmit: Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.
Journal Impact Factor: 7.8 - The Origins of Reporting Bias: Selective but Unbiased Reporting by Early-Career Researchers? (with Anastasiya-Mariya Asanov, Guido Buenstorf, Valon Kadriu, Pia Schoch)Revise and Resubmit: European Economic Review.
Journal Impact Factor: 4.5 - No evidence for effectiveness of behavioral interventions on citizens to mitigate climate change after adjusting for publication bias (with Adam Hardaker, František Bartoš, Stephan B. Bruns) Revise and Resubmit: PNAS Nexus
- The power of experiments: How big is your n? (with Christoph Buehren, Panagiota Zacharodimou) Revise and Resubmit: Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
- Beyond Automation: Socratic AI, Epistemic Agency, and the Implications of the Emergence of Multi-Agent Learning Architectures (with Ben Degen) Under Review: Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence
- Comparing Human-Only, AI-Assisted, and AI-Led Teams on Assessing Research Reproducibility in Quantitative Social Science (with Brodeur et al.)
Revise and Resubmit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Journal Impact Factor: 12.8
Papers: In Preparation for Submission
- Online Soft- and Hard-Skills Training at Scale in High-schools. (with Anastasiya-Mariya Asanov, Thomas Astebro, Guido Buenstorf, Bruno Crepón, Francisco Flores, David McKenzie, et al.). Target journal: PNAS
Papers: In Progress
- The Impact Of Digital Supplemental Education Services On Cognitive And Social And Emotional Learning: Evidence From Vietnam. (with Anastasiya-Mariya Asanov Noha,Quy-Toan Do, Hanan Jacoby et al.)
- Phone-Based Assessment of Learning in the Last Years of School
- Confidence, Confidence Training, and Entrepreneurial Behavior: Field and Lab-in-Field Experiment. (Alla Levitskaia)
- What You Pay Is Not What You Are Willing To Pay. A Field Experiment On Gambling Behavior In Online Games (with Liam Paul Neumann)
- On the observational learning in the optimal stopping problem (with Arno Riedl).
- Ethnic Employment Gap during the Covid-19 Outbreak: Great Equalizer or Divider? (with Maria Mavlikeeva)
- Massive Open Online Courses after the Gold Rush: International and National Developments and Future Perspectives. LCSS Working Papers; 4 . (with Hüther, O., Kosmützky, A., Bünstorf, G. and Krücken, G., )
- Folktale Narratives and Economic Behavior (with Dominik Heinisch, Nhat Luong Ming).
Grants (secured)
2025
J-Pal - AI in mental health, Investigator with Quy-Toan Do (World Bank), Lelys Dinarte (World Bank), Peter Van der Windt (New York University).
2024
INCHER-Innovation Fund, Principal investigator with Guido Buenstorf (University of Kassel)
2024
Human Capital Trust Fund- World Bank; - AI and mental health evaluation, Investigator with Quy-Toan Do (World Bank)
2022
INCHER-Innovation Fund, Principal investigator with Guido Buenstorf (University of Kassel)
2020
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Investigator with Guido Buenstorf (University of Kassel)
2018
World Bank Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF) grant: Nimble Evaluations, Principal Investigator with David McKenzie (World Bank) and Guido Buenstorf (University of Kassel). Study: High-growth entrepreneurship and STEM-focused program
2018
Innovation Growth Lab (IGL-NESTA) grant, Principal Investigator. Study: High-growth entrepreneurship and STEM-focused program
2018
Labex-Ecodec grant, Principal Investigator with Thomas Astebro (HEC) and Bruno Crépon (CREST, J-PAL)
2018
INCHER-Innovation Fund, Principal Investigator with Guido Buenstorf (University of Kassel)
Awards
Teaching Experience
Bachelor-Level Courses – University of Kassel
| Econometrics | 2017–2018 | 4 / 6 |
| Econometrics | 2016 | 4 / 6 |
Master-Level Courses – University of Kassel
| Econometrics | 2025 | 4 / 6 |
| Econometrics | 2024 | 4 / 6 |
| Econometrics | 2023 | 4 / 6 |
| Econometrics | 2021–2022 | 4 / 6 |
| Econometrics | 2020–2021 | 4 / 6 |
| Econometrics | 2019–2020 | 4 / 6 |
| Econometrics | 2018–2019 | 4 / 6 |
| Econometrics | 2015–2016 | 4 / 6 |
| Introduction to Causal Machine Learning and AI | 2025-2026 | 4 / 6 |
| Introduction to Causal Machine Learning (ML) | 2023–2024 | 4 / 6 |
| Field Experiments in Economics | 2024–2025 | 4 / 6 |
| Field Experiments in Economics | 2022–2023 | 4 / 6 |
| Field Experiments in Economics | 2021 | 4 / 6 |
| Field Experiments in Economics | 2020 | 4 / 6 |
| Field Experiments in Economics | 2019 | 4 / 6 |
| Field Experiments in Economics | 2018 | 4 / 6 |
| Field Experiments in Economics | 2017 | 4 / 6 |
| Field Experiments in Economics | 2015–2016 | 4 / 6 |
| Behavioral Economics | 2016–2017 | 4 / 6 |
Master-Level Courses – Friedrich Schiller University Jena
| Empirical Methods | 2013–2014 | 2 / 6 |
PhD-Level Courses – MAGKS Phd Progam; Friedrich Schiller University Jena
| Field Experiments in Economics | 2023 (MAGKS) | 26 / 6 |
| Statistical Power Analysis | 2024 (MAGKS) | 12 / 6 |
| Statistical Power Analysis | 2022 (Jena) | 9 / 6 |
| Statistical Power Analysis | 2022 (MAGKS) | 9 / 6 |
Supervision
2018 –
2 Ph.D. students successfully defended under my co-supervision/ official committee member:
Dr. Maria Mavlikeeva (University of Kassel). Defended: 2021
Dr. Francisco Flores (University of Kassel). Defended: 2023
Ongoing Ph.D. students co-supervision: Anastasiya-Mariya Noha (University of Kassel). External referee: Dr. Rosaly Severijns (University of Hasselt)
Dr. Maria Mavlikeeva (University of Kassel). Defended: 2021
Dr. Francisco Flores (University of Kassel). Defended: 2023
Ongoing Ph.D. students co-supervision: Anastasiya-Mariya Noha (University of Kassel). External referee: Dr. Rosaly Severijns (University of Hasselt)
2021 – 2024
Post-doctoral mentorship - Dr. Burcu Özgün (University of Kassel, Currently: Utrecht University)
2016 –
18 Master Thesis Supervision. Latest defended: Leveraging Debiased Machine Learning to Improve Meta-Analyses (Master Student: Adam Hardker, Defended 2025); Social Media Use and Wellbeing During Uncertain Times: An Online Experiment Study Among Students in Moldova (Jana Zaremba, Defended 2024)
Invited Talks/Knowledge Transfer
10/2025
J-PAL Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile
10/2025
Ministry of Education of Ecuador, Ecuador
10/2025
UEES - Universidad Espíritu Santo - Ecuador
09/2025
World Bank & UNHCR Workshop, Italy (Invited Expert)
12/2024
MACIE Seminar Seminar, Philipps University Marburg, Germany
03/2024
Department of Economics, University of Southampton, UK
02/2024
BETA, Université de Strasbourg, France
12/2023
Department of Economics, Göttingen University, Germany
12/2023
Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Belgium
03/2021
SPRU – Science Policy Research Unit - University of Sussex, UK
05/2021
Diginomics, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics, University of Bremen, Germany
10/2020
Ministry of Education of Ecuador, Ecuador
09/2020
Innovations for Poverty Action, Washington, US
07/2020
Ministry of Education of Ecuador, Ecuador
08/2017
Department of Market Competition, Government of Ecuador, Ecuador
11/2015
Department of Economics, Göttingen University, Germany
10/2015
Academy of Economic Studies Moldova
Research Visits
09/2017 – 10/2017
HEC Paris (Business school), France, Host: Prof. Dr. Thomas Astebro
04/2013 – 06/2013
Maastricht University (AE1), Netherlands. Host: Prof. Dr. Arno Riedl
Presentations/Workshops
10/2025
CFXS - Conference on Field Experiments in Strategy at INSEAD, San Francisco
09/2023
2023 Exeter Economic Science Association Conference, Exeter
03/2023
11th Thuragau Experimental Economics Meeting, Konstanz
11/2022
Copenhagen Education Network Workshop, CBS, Copenhagen.
06/2018
CoDE-ZEW, Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim
06/2018
Economic Science Association World Meeting 2018, Berlin
06/2018
11th Behavioral and Experimental Economics Symposium, Maastricht
08/2017
Economic Science Association European Meeting 2017, Vienna
06/2017
10th Behavioral and Experimental Economics Symposium, Maastricht
04/2017
8th Thuragau Experimental Economics Meeting, Konstanz
01/2017
7th Leuphana Conference on Entrepreneurship, Lünebrg
06/2017
10th Game Theory and Management Conference, Saint-Petersburg
06/2015
8th Behavioral and Experimental Economics Symposium, Maastricht
08/2014
29th Annual Congress of the European Economic Association, Toulouse
07/2014
15th International Joseph Schumpeter Conference, Jena
01/2014
The 2014 Royal Economic Society Postgraduate Meeting, London
06/2013
6th Behavioral and Experimental Economics Symposium, Maastricht
05/2013
2013 Behavioral and Experimental Economics Workshop, Florence
07/2012 – 08/2012
6th Summer School offered by Max-Planck Institute and FSU, Jena
11/2011
The DIMETIC, UMU, Maastricht
07/2011 – 08/2011
5th Summer School offered by Max-Planck Institute and FSU, Jena
Policy Impact Cases (selected)
- Showing Life Opportunities (SLO) - No Poverty (SDG 1), Quality education (SDG 4).
- May 2020 - December 2020 -- Scale-up of the Showing Life Opportunities (SLO) program to the national level as an emergency response to COVID-19. More than 30,000 kids graduated in time using the Entrepreneurship and STEM program materials.
- Entrepreneurship and STEM educational materials of the Showing Life Opportunities (SLO) are negotiated to be transferred to the Ministry of Education of Ecuador (to become part of the curricula).
- We disseminated evidence about the management of education online to the Ministry of Education of Ecuador in regular meetings and to the educational actors in other countries with the help of the World Bank Workshops.
- Self-Help Online (SHO) - Good health and well-being (SDG 3)
- January 2023 - now -- The educational materials that show a positive impact on the mental health of Ukrainian refugees are disseminated free to the Ukrainian refugees. www.sho4ukraine.com Materials are shared by request with the World Health Organization (WHO), the team of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Bank.
- ProVeg Nederland (NGO, Netherlands): Veggie Challenge - Climate action (SDG 13)
- November 2023 -- Guided by results of the experiment, ProVeg expands the most effective treatment (team-based Veggie Challenge) in European Union, Veggie Challenge 2025 main focus on the teams. More on the study on ProVeg website
- East Kent Colleges (EKC group, UK). Unlocking Innovative Potential: Experimentation Programme (UKRI/IGL) - No Poverty (SDG 1), Quality education (SDG 4).
- May 2025 -- The pilot of the digital educational materials with AI elements is finished, and program has been expanded to be tested and used across grades in 6 colleges More on the pilot on IGL website
Selected Media Coverage
- Press about Self-Help Online (SHO) project: Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA) Newspaper; BMC'S Blog Network-Blog On Medicine.
- Press about the "Showing Life Opportunities" (SLO) project: El Telegrafo; ElObservador.ec; Los Andes; Radio Luz y Vida; El Comercio.
Applied Statistics Methodological Expertise (selected)
- Advanced data analysis: Econometric modeling proficiency. Research and policy application (see full publication list). Disseminating this knowledge in the Econometrics course (11 years).
- Advanced data analysis: (Casual) machine learning (AI methods) for economists. See, for instance, Asanov et al., 2023 (PNAS). Severijns R., Asanov I. et al., 2024 (Nature portfolio Journal Climate Action), Asanov et al., 2024 (Social Science & Medicine). Disseminating this knowledge in the Casual Machine Learning Course.
- Lab, field experiments, Randomized Control Trials: Causal inference. Casual inference in observational and experimental data (lab, lab-in-field, field experiments, randomized control trials in education, health, labor, sustainability etc.) See, for instance, Asanov et al., 2023 (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). Severijns R., Asanov I. et al., 2024 (Nature portfolio Journal Climate Action), Asanov et al., 2024 (Social Science & Medicine). Disseminating this knowledge in the Field Experiment Course (10 years) and Econometrics (11 years).
- Conducting data-intensive policy-relevant research: Field Experiments/Randomized Control Trials. See, for instance, Asanov et al., 2023 (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). Severijns R., Asanov I. et al., 2024 (Nature portfolio Journal Climate Action), Asanov et al., 2024 (Social Science & Medicine). Disseminating this knowledge in the Field Experiment Course. See Societal impact - Policy Impact Cases section above (World Bank, WHO, etc.).
- Leading and executing large data collection, preparation (survey, behavioral, mental health, audit data, administrative, archival data, unstructured texts). For instance, responsible for data in World Bank data micro data repository for "Showing Life opportunities" experiment 1, 2, 3 and related papers (co-PI and senior data scientist). Leading the preparation of national-level administrative data in Ecuador, Vietnam (both are the largest Randomized Control Trials in the world on respective topics). Disseminating this knowledge in the Field Experiment Course.
- Survey design and implementation: Phone-based, online, paper and pen. See, for instance, Asanov et al., 2021 (World Development), Asanov et al., 2023 (Helyion), Asanov et al., 2024 (Social Science & Medicine). Disseminating this knowledge in the Field Experiment Course.
- Developing and applying behavioural economic models. Research and policy application. See, for instance, Asanov 2021 (Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization), Asanov and Vanuccini (Review of Behavioral Economics), Asanov et al., 2023 (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). Severijns R., Asanov I. et al., 2024 (Nature portfolio Journal Climate Action). Disseminating this knowledge in the Field Experiment Course (10 years), Behavioral Economics course and Econometrics course (11 years).
- Statistical power analysis. See, for instance, Asanov et al., 2023 (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). Severijns R., Asanov I. et al., 2024 (Nature portfolio Journal Climate Action), Asanov et al., 2024 (Social Science & Medicine). Disseminating this knowledge in the Statistical Power Analysis Course.
- Meta-science, meta-analysis, ethics and reproducibility in research. See, for instance, Bruns, S. B., Asanov, I. et al., 2019 (Research Policy), Asanov et al., 2024 (Journal of Economic Psychology), Asanov et al., 2024 (Scientometrics), Asanov et al. 2025. Disseminating this knowledge in the Field Experiment Course (10 years) and Econometrics (11 years).
Languages
English (Fluent), German (Upper-Intermediate), French (Intermediate), Spanish (Intermediate), Russian (Native).
Public Service - Academic Self-governance
2024 –
Deputy Member of Central Ethics Committee of University of Kassel Central Ethics Committee, University of Kassel
2016 –
Manager and initiator of structured Ph.D. program Graduate School of Economic Behavior and Governance, University of Kassel
2015
Opened Laboratory of Experimental Economics, KLab, Kassel
2012 – 2013
Elected Ph.D. student representative at the GK EIC, Germany.
Refereeing
World Development, Research Policy, Journal of Economic Surveys, Applied Economics Letters, Advances in Statistical Analysis, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Small Bussines Economics, PLOS One, Helyion, Journal of Affective Disorders Reports
Membership
- American Economic Association (AEA)
- Economic Science Association (ESA)
- Innovation Growth Lab (IGL)
- Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)
- Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), invited researcher.
References
|
Ph.D. David McKenzie
Lead Economist, Development Research Group The World Bank E-mail: [email protected] |
Prof. Dr. Guido Bünstorf
Professor University of Kassel E-mail: [email protected] |
|
Ph.D. Quy-Toan Do
Lead Economist, Development Research Group The World Bank E-mail: [email protected] |
Prof. Dr. Thomas astebro
Professor HEC Paris E-mail: [email protected] |
