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TU Clausthal presents research on the circular economy
Prof. Dr. Roland Menges and Michael Henke from the Department of Economics, in particular Macroeconomics, were represented at the 20th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), which took place in Dubrovnik (Croatia) from October 5 to 10, 2025. The conference brings together international researchers from the fields of sustainability, energy and resource systems.
As part of the conference, they presented the paper "Cooperation Problems and Incentive Structures in the Circular Economy". The paper examines which institutional and behavioral economic factors determine whether material cycles work in practice. An economic experiment is used to analyze how private households react to different recycling options and under which conditions cooperative behavior emerges or fails to emerge.
The discussions on site made it clear how central circular economy issues currently are in the international research context. For students, the article offers an insight into the application of experimental economic methods to specific challenges of sustainable resource policy.
