Katharina Pfeil studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (B.A., Hons) at Witten/Herdecke University and the University of Latvia and graduated her M.A. in Political Economy with merit from King’s College London. During her studies, she focused on New Institutional Economics and the power of ideas. She founded and organized the First International PPE Conference, participated in various extra-curricular summer schools and conferences such as the Summer Seminar of Science and the Big Questions, completed the first level of an EMCC business coach certificate and developed her interest in ordoliberal ideas during an internship at the Walter Eucken Institut. She is an alumna of the Foundation of German Business (sdw), member of theGerman Association for Experimental Economic Research (GfeW) and of the Verein für Socialpolitik. In October 2017, she started her position as a research associate at the Walter Eucken Institut and her Ph.D. at the University of Freiburg. Since October 2018 she works as a research associate at Freiburg University. Since January 2020 she consults the Minimum Wage Commission on an operational level in scientific questions. She is a recipient of the Reinhard Selten-Stipendium 2021 awarded by the GfeW.

Her research interests include the shadow economy, tax incentives, economic field experiments, and the impact of expertise. She is involved in fostering the Network of Constitutional Economics and Social Philosophy (NOUS).