Research

Research statement

I use applied econometrics to better understand causes of social and spatial inequalities.  The markets that I consider key for inequality are education, labour and real estate. All of my work speaks to contemporaneous public debates and policy.

Labour supply (and the role of gender)

• Immigration, Female Labour Supply and Local Cultural Norms, with Jonas Jessen (European University Viadrina, IZA) und Sophia Schmitz (BIB), November 2022. Earlier version: "Immigration and the Evolution of Local Cultural Norms", IZA DP12509, July 2019. The Economic Journal (accepted).

• "Separate Housework Spheres", with Jonas Jessen (European University Viadrina, DIW, IZA), Sebastian Schweighofer-Kodritsch (HU Berlin) and Jan Berkes (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs), ongoing.

Peer effects in schools

• Class Rank and Long-Run Outcomes, with Jeffrey T. Denning (University of Notre Dame) and Richard Murphy (UT Austin). NBER WP27468, July 2020 (Revisions: April 2021). Earlier version: IZA DP11808, September 2018. Review of Economics and Statistics (2023), vol. 105 (6): 1426–1441.   https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01125. Check out this video and animation from www.econinmate.com

• Top of the Class: the Importance of Ordinal Rank, with Richard Murphy (UT Austin). The Review of Economic Studies (2020), vol. 87(6), pp. 2777–2826.  Earlier versions:  NBER Working Paper No 24958, August 2018, CESifo Working Paper No. 4815, May 2014. LSE-Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No 1241, 2013. Winning paper of the UniCredit & Universities Best Paper Award on Gender Economics - 6th Ed (2016).  https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdaa020. Check out this video!

• The Good, The Bad and The Average: Evidence on Ability Peer Effects in Schools, with Victor Lavy (Warwick) and Olmo Silva (LSE). Journal of Labor Economics 2012, vol. 20(2): pp. 367-414. Earlier versions: NBER Working Paper No 15600. https://doi.org/10.1086/663592.

Human capital (and policy)

• "Autonomous Schools, Achievement and Segragation", with Natalia Irmert, Jan Bietenbeck, Linn Mattisson (all at Lund University), ongoing.

• "Home Broadband and Human Capital Formation", with José Montalbán (Sofi) and Rosa Sanchis-Guarner (University of Barcelona). CESifo Working Paper No. 8846, 2021.  Earlier resting work that this paper builds on: "ICT and Education: Evidence from Student Home Addresses", with Ben Faber (UC Berkeley) and Rosa Sanchis-Guarner (then: Queen Mary), published as: NBER Working Paper No 21306 and CEP Discussion Paper 1359.

• Working Life and Human Capital Investment: Causal Evidence from Pension Reform, with Niklas Gohl, Elisabeth Kurz and Peter Haan (all DIW), CEP DP1753, 19 March 2021. Earlier version: IZA DP12891. Labour Economics 2023, vol. 84(October). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2023.102426.

• Tuition Fees and Educational Attainment, with Jan Bietenbeck (Lund University), Andreas Leibing (DIW Berlin) and Jan Marcus (FU Berlin), March 2022, CEP Discussion Paper 1839. European Economic Review 2023, vol. 154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104431.

• Who teaches the teachers? A RCT of peer-to-peer observation and feedback in 181 schools, with Richard Murphy (UT Austin) and Gill Wyness (UCL). CEP Discussion Paper 1565, August 2018. Also published as DIW DP1753 and IZA DP11731.  The Economics of Education Review (2021), vol. 82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102091.

Neighbourhood effects

• Neighbourhood Turnover and Teenage Attainment, with Steve Gibbons (LSE) and Olmo Silva (LSE). Journal of the European Economic Association 2017, vol. 15(4). Earlier versions: IZA Discussion Paper 8381 and LSE-Spatial Economics Discussion Paper 163. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvw018. Check out this research cartoon!

• Social Housing, Neighborhood Quality and Student Performance, Journal of Urban Economics 2014, vol. 82: pp.12-31. Earlier versions: IZA Discussion Paper 7139 and LSE-Spatial Economics Discussion Paper 44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2014.06.001. 

• Everybody Needs Good Neighbours? Evidence from Students' Outcomes in England, with Steve Gibbons (LSE) and Olmo Silva (LSE). The Economic Journal 2013, vol. 123(571): pp. 831-874. Earlier versions: IZA DP No 5980, CEEDP0122. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12025. 

Information, expectations and economic decisions

• How to Measure Long-Run Expectations, with Chen Sun, Georg Weizsäcker (both Humboldt-University Berlin) and Peter Haan (DIW Berlin), ongoing.

• House Prices Expectations, with Niklas Gohl (Potsdam), Claus Michelsen and Peter Haan (both DIW Berlin), DIW Discussion Paper #1995, IZA DP 15040 and CEPDP1829, 2022 . R&R The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

• Information Provision and Postgraduate Studies, with Jan Berkes, Frauke Peter and C. Katharina Spieß (all DIW). Economica 2022, vol. 89(355), 6627-646. Earlier version: IZA DP12735, October 2019. http://doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12416 

• Long-run Expectations of Households, with Christoph Breunig (Emory University), Iuliia Grabova (HU and DIW Berlin), Peter Haan (FU and DIW Berlin) and Georg Weizsäcker (Humboldt-University Berlin), CRC TRR 190 DP 218, December 2019. Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Finance 2021, vol. 31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2021.100535.

• Deutschland: ein Land der Mieter? Die Rolle von Erwartungen über zukünftige Immobilienpreisentwicklungen, mit Niklas Gohl (University of Potsdam), Peter Haan und Claus Michelsen (both DIW). Zeitschrift für Immobilienökonomie, 2019, vol. 5(1), 95-109. https://doi.org/10.1365/s41056-019-00036-x.  

 RIP/misc

• "Local Rankings in Global Markets"

• The importance of time zone assignment: evidence from residential electricity consumption, LSE-Spatial Economics Research Centre Discussion Paper 126, LSE, 2013.