I am a fifth-year PhD student at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU). I also work as a junior economist at the ifo Institute. I will be joining ZEW Mannheim as a Post-Doc in September.
My main fields of interest are Public Economics and Labor Economics. My research studies the effects of taxation on workers and firms.
Please feel free to reach out: gstrein@ifo.de
David Gstrein
Working Papers
Capitalists, Workers and Landlords: A Comprehensive Analysis of Corporate Tax Incidence
Co-authors: Florian Neumeier, Andreas Peichl, Pascal Zamorski
Taxing Wealth or Profits? Evidence from a German Business Wealth Tax
Using administrative plant-level data I study how the taxation of business wealth affects firms and workers. Before a reform in 1998, the German local business tax was levied on two bases: profits and book-value business wealth. Exploiting municipality‑level variation in pre‑reform capital‑tax rates, a one‑standard‑deviation (0.1 pp) cut raised equipment investment by 5 % and average wages by 0.4 %. Semi‑elasticities converted into user‑cost terms are large for investment (~ 4.5) and in line with prior wage incidence estimates. District‑level evidence reveals that the reform encouraged entry, predominantly of low‑productivity firms. The investment effects were also concentrated among lower-profitability firms. The findings underscore that taxing wealth versus income shapes both factor demand and the productivity distribution. Using sufficient statistics and a spatial-equilibrium model, I find that in the German setting profit taxation is the more efficient instrument for raising revenue under empirically plausible parameter values.
Work in Progress
Rent control, expropriation risk and political uncertainty
Co-authors: Mathias Dolls, Clemens Fuest, Carla Krolage, Florian Neumeier
Cashing Out and Moving On: The Taxation of Business Sales
(solo-authored)
Taxing Me, Taxing You: Efficiency Costs of Income Taxation with Coworker Spillovers
Co-authors: Lea Fricke, Ulrich Glogowsky, Dominik Sachs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
The challenge of estimating the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 interventions - toward an integrated economic and epidemiological approach
Co-authors: Florian Dorn, Berit Lange, Martin Braml, Clemens Fuest, Gérard Krause, John L.Z. Nyirenda, Patrizio Vanella, Joachim Winter
Economics and Human Biology, 2023, Volume 49, 101198
Other Publications (non-refereed)
Economic Causes for the Rise of Populist and Nationalist Movements
Co-authors: Florian Dorn, Florian Neumeier
EconPol Forum, 2024, 25(9), 09-13.
Fiskalische Auswirkungen der Säule 1 (teilweise Neuverteilung von Besteuerungsrechten) und der Säule 2 (globale effektive Mindestbesteuerung)
Co-authors: Elena Herold, Florian Neumeier
Kurzexpertise im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums der Finanzen im Rahmen des Forschungsauftrags fe 3/19
Die Mittelschicht in Deutschland: Zugehörigkeit, Entwicklung und Steuerlast
Co-authors: Florian Dorn, Florian Neumeier, Andreas Peichl
ifo Schnelldienst, 2023, 76, Nr. 08, 29-36
Media Coverage: Tagesschau, ZDF, Spiegel, Die Zeit, Wirtschaftswoche, Tagesspiegel
Income and Tax Burden of the Middle Class in Europe
Co-authors: Mathias Dolls, Florian Dorn, Max Lay
EconPol Forum, 2023, 24 (4), 67-72
Gerechtigkeit für die Mitte? Die Verteilung der Steuer- und Abgabenlast in Deutschland und im EU-Vergleich
Co-authors: Mathias Dolls, Florian Dorn, Max Lay, Florian Neumeier, Andreas Peichl
Study funded by Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung e.V., 2023
Die Betroffenheit der deutschen Wirtschaft durch den US-Inflation Reduction Act
Co-authors: Andreas Baur, Clemens Fuest, Philipp Heil, Niklas Potrafke, Aurel Rochell
Kurzexpertise im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums der Finanzen im Rahmen des Forschungsauftrags fe 3/19
Media Coverage: SZ
Entwicklung eines Bottom-up Ansatzes zur Messung der Unternehmensteuerlücke (Corporate Income Tax Gap) in Deutschland mit Fokus auf die benötigten Datengrundlagen
Co-authors: Elena Herold, Florian Neumeier
Kurzexpertise im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums der Finanzen im Rahmen des Forschungsauftrags fe 3/19
How Do Taxation and Regulation Affect the Real Estate Market?
Co-authors: Mathias Dolls, Carla Krolage, Florian Neumeier
EconPol Forum, 2022, 23 (5), 65-69
The European added value of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. An assessment of the Austrian, Belgian and German plans
Co-authors: Francesco Corti, Daniel Gros, Alessandro Liscai, Tomas Ruiz, Tamas Kiss-Galfalvi, Elena Herold, Mathias Dolls, Clemens Fuest
Study requested by the ECON committee of the European Parliament
Older EconPol Policy Brief Version
Entwicklungen am Berliner Immobilienmarkt ein Jahr nach dem Mietendeckel
Co-authors: Daniela Arlia, Mathias Dolls, Clemens Fuest, Carla Krolage, Florian Neumeier
ifo Schnelldienst, 2022, 75, Nr. 04, 50-55
Media Coverage: Spiegel, FAZ, Tagesspiegel, Business Insider, Wirtschaftswoche
Corona-Infektionen und die Dunkelziffer: Vergleichen wir Äpfel mit Birnen?
Co-authors: Florian Dorn, Clemens Fuest, Andreas Peichl, Marc Stöckli
ifo Schnelldienst digital, 2020, 1, Nr. 12, 01-05
Media Coverage: ZDF Heute Journal
Currently on Hold
Economc Deprivation and Radical Voting: Evidence From Germany
Co-authors: Florian Dorn, Clemens Fuest, Lea Immel, Florian Neumeier