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Dr. Gabi Waldhof
School of Business Administration and Economics
Environmental economics
Barbarastr. 12
49076 Osnabrück
Raum 66/E27
Fax: +49 541 969-2599
gabi.waldhof@uni-osnabrueck.de
I am interested in moral value conflicts within agricultural transformation processes. I am particularly fascinated by how morality and group dynamics influence attitudes toward new technologies and regulations. This is so exciting to me because moralized attitudes can create polarizations in public debates that can make political discourse very difficult. Here, I am exploring how moral polarization can be overcome so that constructive debates about future technologies and regulations become possible again.
For example, in my dissertation I examined the role of moral values and moral emotions in the genetic engineering debate. Particularly with respect to shaping public opinion, I wanted to find out in this dissertation project whether there is potential to overcome polarization on this issue.
In my research I work both quantitatively - with representative surveys and experiments - and qualitatively - with text and content analyses.
Prior to my doctoral studies at the University of Hamburg and IAMO Halle, I worked, among others, at Oxford University in the field of experimental psychology, and in the DFG priority program "Experience and Expectation. Historical Foundations of Economic Behavior."
I hold a double Master's degree in Economics from UCL, London, and HSE, Moscow. I completed my Bachelor´s degree in Philosophy & Economics at the University of Bayreuth and at the Paris-Sorbonne Université Abu Dhabi.
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Research Interests
- Moral motives of sustainable behavior
- Conflicts of values, moral polarization & overcoming polarization
- Changes in morality & ethics
- Decisions & behavior in groups
- Behavioral & experimental economics
- Environmental & sustainability economics
Methods
- Representative surveys and survey experiments
- Qualitative surveys
- Economic / psychological experiments
- Text analysis and qualitative content analysis
- Statistical data analysis (e.g. descriptive, regression analyses)
- Conceptual analyses
- Mixed methods approach
Publications
Waldhof, G. (2024). Improving Science Communication About Genome Editing - Mitigating Strong Moral Convictions Through Shared Moral Goals, in: A Roadmap for Plant Genome Editing pp. 493-517 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46150-7_30
Jauernig, J.; Uhl, M.; Waldhof, G. (2023). Genetically engineered foods and moral absolutism: A representative study from Germany. Science and Engineering Ethics, 29(5). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-023-00454-0
Inbar, Y.; Waldhof, G. (2022). Mitigating Consequence-Insensitive Attitudes Towards GE Crops? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000451
Wilmes, R.; Waldhof, G.; Breunig, P. (2022). Can Digital Farming Technologies Enhance the Willingness to Buy Products from Current Farming Systems? Plos One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277731
Döpke, J.; Fritsche, U.; Waldhof, G. (2019). Theories, techniques and the formation of German business cycle forecasts: Evidence from a survey of professional forecasters, Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2018-0018
Waldhof, G. (forthcoming). Improving Science Communication about Genome Editing – Mitigating Strong Moral Convictions through Shared Moral Goals. In: A roadmap for plant genome editing. A perspective from Europe and beyond. PlantEd COST Action. Springer International.
Pies, I.; Waldhof, G.; Valentinov, V. (2021). Diskursblockaden in der Debatte um grüne Gentechnik – Analysen und Reformempfehlungen aus ordonomischer Sicht. In: Green Deal – Was kommt auf die Land- und Ernährungswirtschaft zu? Schriftenreihe der Rentenbank, Bd. 37, 93-147: Edmund-Rehwinkel Stiftung. ISSN 1868-5854
Döpke, J.; Fritsche, U.; Waldhof, G. (2020). Never Change a Losing Horse?: On Adaptations in German Forecasting after the Great Financial Crisis. In: Futures Past. Economic Forecasting in the 20th and 21st Century. Berlin: Peter Lang. http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?fidaac-11858/998
Waldhof, G. (2020). Moral in der Gentechnikdebatte? – Warum manche Diskurse nicht zu einer Einigung führen. In: Jahrbuch des IAMO 2020, Halle.
