Melanie Koch

Economist

Disclaimer: This is my personal website. The views expressed are my own and not those of the IMF or the OeNB.

Welcome!

About me

I am an advisor to the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). My research revolves around behavioral household finance issues in emerging markets. I am on leave from the Austrian Central Bank (OeNB).

Peer-reviewed publications

Grohmann, A. and M. Koch (2025), The Effect of Social Comparison on Debt Taking: Experimental Evidence. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 48, 101111.

Koch, M. and L. Menkhoff (2025), The non-linear impact of risk tolerance on entrepreneurial profit and business survival. Small Business Economics, 64, 1643–1670 .

Koch, M., L. Menkhoff and U. Schmidt (2021), Coupled lotteries-A new method to analyze inequality aversion. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 191, 236-256.

Hübler, O., M. Koch, L. Menkhoff and U. Schmidt (2021), Corruption and Cheating: Evidence from Rural Thailand. World Development, 145, 105526.

Working papers

Necessity entrepreneurship, financial literacy and business performance: evidence from an international survey, (with M. Langiulli), Banca D'Italia Occasional Paper No. 936, Jun. 2025.

Entrepreneurial Motive, Ambiguity Attitudes and the Effect of Good News, (with J. M. Brock), CEPR Discussion Paper No. 16559, Sep. 2021.

Don't Expect Too Much - High Income Expectations and Over-Indebtedness, (with T. Klühs and W. Stein), CRC TRR 190 Discussion Paper No. 200, Nov. 2019.

Publications in OeNB Journals (peer-reviewed)

Ellmeier, E., M. Koch and T. Scheiber (2023), Saving along the income distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus on European Economic Integration, Q1/23, 7-21.

Enzinger, M., M. Koch and A. Riedl (2022), Financial vulnerabilities of CESEE borrowers and their debt at risk: a cross-country analysis. OeNB Financial Stability Report 44, 25-44.

Scheiber, T. and M. Koch (2022), Mitigating the impact of the pandemic on personal finances in CESEE: descriptive evidence for 2020. Focus on European Economic Integration, Q2/22, 63-96.

Koch, M. and T. Scheiber (2022), Household savings in CESEE: expectations, experiences and common predictors. Focus on European Economic Integration, Q1/22, 29-54.

Selected work in progress

Do talk money – Reducing income nonresponse in surveys, AEA RCT Registry, ID: 0012215, (with K. Allinger).

The Currency Co-Holding Puzzle.

Perceived sustainable minimum wages – a test of randomization and question scales across countries, AEA RCT Registry, ID: 0010398, November 2022, (with E. Beckmann).

What determines households’ debt service-to-income ratios across countries?, (with M. Enzinger and A. Riedl).

For a complete list of publications (including policy work), please see my CV.

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