keremgcl

What the buyer is buying is almost never the thing in their hand.

I am Kerem, an economist and PhD researcher in behavioural economics at the University of Potsdam. I write about markets where the price follows the story rather than the material: rhino horn, hunting trophies, diamonds, and the campaigns and bans aimed at them.

Currently on my mind. Replaced when something else takes over.

As of October 2026

Fewer animals, higher price, more reason to poach Recovery lowers the price, and the hunting money with it Price per animal few many Animals left
Schematic, after Courchamp et al. (2006). The rarer a species, the more each animal is worth, which can push it towards extinction. Where hunting pays for conservation, recovery lowers the price that pays for it.

Essays

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  • $38,000
    about what one hunter paid to hunt a yellow-backed duiker in Gabon, April 2026

    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.

  • Keratin
    the material of fingernails, and most of what rhino horn is made of

    Prohibition's Second Price

    Why prohibition in a status-driven market does not stand opposite to it but enters its price formation

  • 27.5% → 7%
    self-reported horn use in a Vietnamese campaign's target group over three years, while seizures rose

    When Awareness Looks Like an Ad

    Why a decade of rhino horn demand reduction has been selling the product

  • 1/8
    of the wild-horn price: Pembient's 2015 plan for lab-made horn

    What Synthetic Horn Cannot Carry

    Why synthetic rhino horn was never going to save the rhino

  • n ≈ 550
    respondents rated a couple as less committed when the ring held a synthetic stone

    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

About

I studied economics in Konstanz and industrial economics at TU Berlin, and trained as a gemmologist in Idar-Oberstein along the way. My master's thesis combined both: an experiment on how people judge natural and synthetic diamonds in engagement rings. Later I joined an anti-poaching unit on private reserves in Namibia. Since January 2026 I have been doing my PhD in Potsdam.

Contact

For research questions and collaborations: hi@keremgcl.com