Research

Work in Progress       Published Papers       Working Papers

Work in Progress

Work from Home and Labor Market Trajectories

(with Kamila Cygan-Rehm, Klara Kaliskova and Maike Steffen)

We exploit the unexpected and sharp  adoption of work-from-home (WFH) arrangements in 2020 to study the labor market responses among the most affected workers in subsequent years. Using German social security data linked to a measure of WFH potential at the 5-digit occupational level, we employ a dynamic difference-in-difference design to compare the career trajectories of individuals employed in occupations with high and low WFH potential by the end of 2019. Despite a protective employment effect, we find negative earnings responses to higher WFH potential, with increasing magnitudes over time and comparable losses across genders. Higher WFH potential induces greater occupational mobility toward part-time arrangements with lower job quality, suggesting a willingness to pay for remote work options.

Enrolling in Bad Times: College Persistence and Labor Market Outcomes

(with Matias Cortes, Kelly Foley, Jacopo Mazza and Peter McHenry)

Using administrative data covering the universe of student enrollments in public universities in Canada since 2009, we show that individuals who start an undergraduate degree when unemployment is high are less likely to graduate within five years. Compositional changes along observable student characteristics including gender, age at enrollment, and parental income do not account for this result, nor does sorting across universities or fields of study. While a simple model of negative selection into university during downturns can account for the decline in graduation rates, it would imply that post-schooling earnings should be lower among non-completers who enroll during high unemployment periods compared to those who enroll when unemployment is lower. Using a panel of administrative tax data linked to the student enrollment records, we show that higher unemployment rates at enrollment are not associated with lower annual earnings among non-completers. A model that features heterogeneity in the idiosyncratic costs of post-secondary education can rationalize this result.

Beyond Test Scores: The Effect of School Entry Age on Specific Cognitive Processes

(with Jaroslav Groero)

This paper examines how school entry age affects the development of specific cognitive skills that underpin human capital formation. We link school entry timing to narrow cognitive abilities using high-resolution psychometric data on children from the 4th and 5th grade of the elementary school. We exploit a cutoff rule policy that assigns school eligibility based on month of birth and estimate the intention-to-treat (ITT) effect of delayed school entry on specific cognitive skills measured several years later (around the age of 10-11) using regression discontinuity design. Combining the results from two models with different sets of fixed effects allow us to gain interpretive leverage on underlying mechanisms. Our findings indicate that delayed school entry enhances inductive reasoning, with this effect largely attributable to children's biological maturity—both at the time of school entry and during testing. Learning effectiveness is also enhanced by biological maturity, in particular at school entry. In contrast, quantitative thinking appears to be more strongly influenced by duration of formal school exposure, thereby benefiting children who begin school earlier, among those of the same age. These findings provide new evidence on the specific cognitive channels through which early schooling decisions affect long-run skill development.

Can High-Stakes Entrance Exams Explain Why Fewer Women Study STEM Fields?

(with Miroslava Federicova and Barbara Pertold-Gebicka) 

This study examines whether high-stakes entrance exams contribute to the persistent gender imbalance in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Although female students perform comparably to their male peers in mathematics during secondary education, their representation in STEM college programs remains substantially lower. We exploit institutional changes in admission policies at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University between 2006 and 2023 to examine the effects of abolishing and subsequently reinstating entrance exams. We analyze how these policy shifts influenced applications, enrollments, and academic outcomes by gender. Our preliminary findings suggest that women are disproportionately discouraged by competitive entrance procedures and male-dominated environments, factors that may reinforce their underrepresentation in STEM disciplines.