Dr. Fabian Thomas
Position: Junior Research Group Leader, Lab Manager, Post-Doc
When and why do people behave in environmentally friendly ways, and how can we foster these types of behaviors in a targeted manner? Much of my research addresses these questions in the context of agriculture. I am interested in the psychological, economic, social and institutional factors affecting environmentally relevant decisions of farmers and their implications for the design of effective agricultural policies. For this purpose, I mainly use the methods and concepts of experimental economics and behavioral economics.
With a training as a biologist and environmental systems scientist, I understand myself as an interdisciplinary scholar and try to increase the relevance of my research through inter- and transdisciplinary exchange. In my research, I therefore try to build bridges to social and environmental psychology, environmental and ecological economics, agroecology, rural sociology and agricultural policy, and in general to systems science and transformation research.
A major concern of mine is the exchange with decision-makers, practitioners and stakeholders. I believe that without a two-way communication of science and scientific evidence, the potential for change all too often remains unused.
Since 2019 and together with my family, I live on a farm with horse husbandry.
Dr. Fabian Thomas
Environmental Economics
Barbarastraße 12
49076 Osnabrück
Room: 66/E09
Phone: +49 541 969-3831
fabian.thomas@uni-osnabrueck.de
Research Interests
- Design and evaluation of agri-environmental policies
- Determinants of farmer pro-environmental behavior
- Farmer behavior in the face of environmental risk
Methods
- Economic lab, lab-in-the-field and field experiments
- Discrete choice experiments
- Conceptual and formal models
- Systematic literature reviews
- Qualitative content analysis
Current Projects
- ECORISK: Regime Shifts and Human Behavior in Agricultural Systems
- Understanding Farmers’ Climate Policy Support
- Collective Action Games in Higher Education: The Role of Discussing (Learned) Outcomes, Beliefs and Underlying Assumptions
- Motivation Crowding and Economic Incentives for Conservation
- Behaviorally Informed Interventions for Agri-Environmental Policymaking
- The Impact of Self-Identity and Public Perception of the Role of Farmers in Society on Compliance and Pro-Environmental Behavior
Past Projects
- FRAMEwork: Farmer Clusters for Realizing Agrobiodiversity Management Across Ecosystems
- GEWISOLA-SGA-ÖGA Journal-Ranking: Where Do Agricultural Economists Publish and How Do They Assess Journal Quality?
- Farmers and the New Green Architecture of the EU Common Agricultural Policy
- Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): Diverse Conceptualizations of Multiple Values of Nature and its Benefits (‘Values Assessment’)
- Dissertation: Behavioral Economics of Agri-Environmental Policies
- ZA-NExUS: Sustainable Agricultural Policy – Preserving Nature x Safeguarding the Environment
Peer-reviewed journal articles
Fritschle, M. P., Kuhfuss, L., Vorlaufer, T., & Thomas, F. (2026). Farmer identity and risk preferences in farmers’ choices between public and private agri-environmental contracts. Q Open, 6(1), Article qoag005. https://doi.org/10.1093/qopen/qoag005
Rellensmann, T., Engel, S., Rommel, J., & Thomas, F. (2026). Collective contracts as a risk-sharing mechanism for result-based agri-environmental payments: Experimental evidence. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 77(2), 597–614. https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.70034
Rellensmann, T., & Thomas, F. (2026). Trade-offs between internal and external validity in economic experiments to inform agricultural policy. Q Open, 6(1), Article qoag008. https://doi.org/10.1093/qopen/qoag008
Thomas, F., Herrmann, R., Loy, J.-P., Salhofer, K., Teuber, R., Banse, M., Berg, E., El Benni, N., Götz, L., Hess, S., & Kantelhardt, J. (2026). Where do agricultural economists publish and how do they assess journal quality? A survey in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. German Journal of Agricultural Economics, 75. https://doi.org/10.52825/gjae.v75i.2725
Baaken, M. C., Thomas, F., Engel, S., Fritschle, M. P., Ortiz-Riomalo, J. F., & Rellensmann, T. (2025). Advancing agri-environmental policy with behavioral and experimental economics: Insights, innovations, and future directions. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 50(4), 830–865. https://doi.org/10.22004/AG.ECON.364787
Höhler, J., Barreiro‐Hurlé, J., Czajkowski, M., Dessart, F. J., Ferraro, P. J., Li, T., Messer, K. D., Palm‐Forster, L., Termansen, M., Thomas, F., Zagórska, K., Zemo, K. H., & Rommel, J. (2024). Perspectives on stakeholder participation in the design of economic experiments for agricultural policymaking: Pros, cons, and twelve recommendations for researchers. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 46(1), 338–359. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13385
Barreiro-Hurle, J., Dessart, F. J., Rommel, J., Czajkowski, M., Espinosa-Goded, M., Rodriguez-Entrena, M., Thomas, F., & Zagorska, K. (2023). Willing or complying? The delicate interplay between voluntary and mandatory interventions to promote farmers’ environmental behavior. Food Policy, 120, Article 102481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2023.102481
Lefebvre, M., Barreiro‐Hurlé, J., Blanchflower, C., Colen, L., Kuhfuss, L., Rommel, J., Šumrada, T., Thomas, F., & Thoyer, S. (2021). Can economic experiments contribute to a more effective CAP? EuroChoices, 20(3), 42–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692X.12324
Thomas, F., Midler, E., Lefebvre, M., & Engel, S. (2019). Greening the Common Agricultural Policy: A behavioural perspective and lab-in-the-field experiment in Germany. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 46(3), 367–392. https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbz014
Feindt, P. H., Krämer, C., Früh-Müller, A., Wolters, V., Pahl-Wostl, C., Heißenhuber, A., van Bers, C., Thomas, F., & Purnhagen, K. (2018). Der Status quo ist keine Option—Vorschlag für eine zukunftsfähige Architektur der Agrarpolitik. Natur und Landschaft, 93(6), 280–285. https://doi.org/10.17433/6.2018.50153589.280-285
Thomas, F., Koessler, A.-K., & Engel, S. (2018). Stupsende Agrarpolitik? Nudging zu einernachhaltigen Landwirtschaft. Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung, 87(2), 127–138. https://doi.org/10.3790/vjh.87.2.127
Thomas, F., & Knüppe, K. (2016). From flood protection to flood risk management: Insights from the Rhine River in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Water Resources Management, 30(8), 2785–2800. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-016-1323-9
Books, book chapters and monographies
Feindt, P. H., Krämer, C., Früh-Müller, A., Heißenhuber, A., Pahl-Wostl, C., Purnhagen, K. P., Thomas, F., van Bers, C., & Wolters, V. (2019). Ein neuer Gesellschaftsvertrag für eine nachhaltige Landwirtschaft: Wege zu einer integrativen Politik für den Agrarsektor (1st ed.). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-58656-3
Thomas, F. (2019). Behavioral economics of agri-environmental policies [Doctoral dissertation, Osnabrück University]. https://osnadocs.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de/handle/urn:nbn:de:gbv:700-201910232106
Thomas, F. (2015). Flut kontrollieren—Flut integrieren. Der Wandel zu einem integrativen und adaptiven Hochwassermanagement und die Rolle von Ökosystemleistungen am Beispiel des Rheins [Master’s thesis, Osnabrück University]. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1075.4406
Technical and policy reports
Dessart, F. J., Rommel, J., Barreiro-Hurlé, J., Thomas, F., Rodríguez-Entrena, M., Espinosa-Goded, M., Zagórska, K., Czajkowski, K., & van Bavel, R. (2021). Farmers and the new green architecture of the EU Common Agricultural Policy: A behavioural experiment (JRC Science for Policy Report EUR 30706 EN). Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/718383
Feindt, P. H., Krämer, C., Früh-Müller, A., Wolters, V., Pahl-Wostl, C., Heißenhuber, A., van Bers, C., Thomas, F., & Purnhagen, K. (2017). A future-oriented social contract with the agricultural sector: Plea for a new agricultural policy (Policy Paper from the ZANEXUS Project, presented to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, FKZ 3515 80 400). Bundesamt für Naturschutz & Umweltbundesamt.
Feindt, P. H., Krämer, C., Früh-Müller, A., Wolters, V., Pahl-Wostl, C., Heißenhuber, A., van Bers, C., Thomas, F., & Purnhagen, K. (2017). Ein neuer Gesellschaftsvertrag für eine nachhaltige Landwirtschaft: Auf dem Weg zu einer integrativen Politik für den Agrarsektor (Politikpapier des Forschungs- und Entwicklungs-Verbundvorhabens “ZA-NExUS: Zukunftsfähige Agrarpolitik – Natur erhalten, Umwelt sichern”, gefördert vom Bundesamt für Naturschutz und dem Umweltbundesamt, FKZ 3515 80 400). Bundesamt für Naturschutz & Umweltbundesamt.
Working papers
Thomas, F., & Engel, S. (2019). Understanding farmer self-identities and pro-environmental behavior: An experimental approach and cluster analysis [Working paper].
Thomas, F., Koessler, A.-K., & Engel, S. (2019). Using behavioral insights to leverage environmental performance of the Common Agricultural Policy [Working paper].