Oliver Becker

Postdoctoral Researcher

About me

I am an environmental economist with a particular interest in environmental valuation, discrete choice modeling, and spatial econometrics.

My research uses econometric methods to provide a better understanding of human behavior and support evidence based policymaking. I currently work at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, where I conduct research that integrates high resolution spatial data into behavioral modeling to analyze environmental policy impacts and help inform management decisions.

Feel free to contact me at oliver@pksb.de

Research interests

  • Environmental valuation
  • Discrete choice modeling
  • Econometrics
  • GIS and spatial analysis

Recent publications

Applying the contingent behavior method at the regional level: Evidence from forest recreation (with T. Börger & J. Meyerhoff), Land Economics (accepted), 2026.

We study recreational forest values using the contingent behavior (CB) method in a general population survey, together with experimentally designed CB scenarios and perception data on current site conditions. This enables modling recreation demand regionally and across numerous attributes, but requires adjusting prediction procedures. Using data from north eastern Germany, we develop approaches for site and region level predictions.

We study how large choice sets can be handled efficiently in destination choice contexts, where travel costs as the central attribute are typically highly skewed. Using Monte Carlo simulations and empirical data, we show that estimation quality generally declines as travel cost sensitivity increases, while weighted (strategic) sampling substantially outperforms uniform sampling.