Hi!
I am an applied microeconomist working at the intersection of environmental, health, and public economics.
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Public Economics at the University of Passau and a research scholar at IIASA. I am affiliated with the Institute for Political Economy of Public Policy at WU Vienna.
I received my PhD in Economics from the University of Bern.
CV [Link]
CONTACT
benedikt.janzen@uni-passau.deHazy Dreams: The impact of air pollution on sleep (with Patrick Bigler) [Link]
Abstract: Surprisingly little is known about the causal impact of air pollution on human sleep. We provide quasi-experimental evidence that short-run exposure to particulate matter reduces objectively measured sleep. Using daily district-level data on sleep duration from half a million consumer wearable users in Germany between 2020 to 2022, we show that even relatively low levels of particulate matter air pollution adversely affect sleep. We document that a 10 µg/m3 increase in average daily PM10 concentration reduces sleep duration by about one minute. To strengthen the causal interpretation of our findings, we employ an instrumental variables approach, using local wind direction as a predictor for local air pollution. Our findings offer a potential mechanism linking air pollution to a wide range of human outcomes. Although the estimated effects are modest in magnitude, the central role of sleep in human well-being highlights the potential social burden of pollution-induced sleep loss.
Public festivities, crime and health: Evidence from Germany (with Katharina Drescher and Seraphin Schwarzbauer)
Abstract: Collective celebrations are a universal feature of social life, yet their social costs remain poorly understood. We provide systematic evidence on the effects of public festivities on crime and health using novel data on the near-universe of German folk festivals linked to administrative records on crime, road accidents, and hospitalizations. Exploiting variation in festival timing and location across municipalities, we find that crimes increase by 17 percent on festival days, with effects of up to 51 percent for assaults. We also document pronounced increases in road accidents and hospitalizations during festival periods. We provide evidence consistent with alcohol consumption as a key mechanism. For example, we find no meaningful change in the number of sexual offenses committed by sober suspects on festival days relative to non-festival days, while the number of sexual offenses involving alcohol-impaired suspects increases by 38 percent. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that crime-related externalities alone amount to roughly EUR 146 million per year in our study region, raising questions about public spending priorities and financing of safety expenditures.
Bigler, P. & Janzen, B. (2026). Green Spills: Peer effects in pro-environmental behaviors. Journal of Public Economics, 262, 105722. [Link]
2024 Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES) Young Economist Award; 2023 Swiss Association of Energy Economics (SAEE) Student Award
Media Coverage (in German): FAZ, FAS, Focus, PV magazine
Janzen, B. (2025). Temperature and mental health: Evidence from helpline calls. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 12 (6), 1431-1457. [Link]
2023 International Health Economics Association (IHEA) Student Paper 2nd Prize
Media Coverage (in German): Deutschlandfunk
Drescher, K., & Janzen, B. (2025). When weather wounds workers: The impact of temperature on workplace accidents. Journal of Public Economics, 241, 105258. [Link]
Media Coverage (in German): Kurier, MDR, Tagesanzeiger, SZ
Bigler, P., & Janzen, B. (2024). Too hot to sleep. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 128, 103063. [Link]
Media Coverage: Financial Times