Behavioral economics, papers, and the patterns beneath behavior.

I am a PhD student in behavioral economics. I am interested in how people decide, how they justify those decisions to themselves and to others, and what their language quietly gives away in the process.

This blog follows that interest to where it carries real weight. Most of what I write at the moment sits at the intersection of behavior and wildlife markets, legal and illegal, where demand for something like rhino horn or a hunting trophy tracks status, rarity, and narratives of authenticity far more closely than it tracks anything about the animal. That is where the questions feel sharpest to me right now, but it is not the edge of the blog. The thread running underneath is simpler and travels further: how the stories people tell organize the choices they make, including the ones they would rather not look at too closely.

• The Rarity Rent Why trophy hunting runs on the same scarcity premium as the illegal horn trade, and why conservation that works can dismantle its own funding.
  June 8, 2026
• Prohibition's Second Price Why prohibition in a status-driven market does not stand opposite to it but enters its price formation
  May 14, 2026
• When Awareness Looks Like an Ad Why a decade of rhino horn demand reduction has been selling the product
  April 26, 2026
• What Synthetic Horn Cannot Carry Why synthetic rhino horn was never going to save the rhino
  April 22, 2026
• My Master's Thesis: What Diamonds Reveal About Norms, Love, and Social Meaning A thesis note on natural versus synthetic diamonds, symbolic meaning, and why materially similar objects can still carry very different social weight
  April 18, 2026

For collaborations, research questions, or related inquiries, you can reach me at hi@keremgcl.com.