Published and accepted articles
Tournaments, Contestant Heterogeneity and Performance (with Daniel Goller)[accepted at Journal of Political Economy: Microeconomics]
Tournaments are frequently used incentive mechanisms to enhance performance. In this paper, we use field data and show that skill disparities among contestants asymmetrically affect the performance of contestants. Skill disparities have a detrimental effect on the performance of the lower-ability contestant but a positive effect on the performance of the higher-ability contestant. We discuss the potential of different behavioral approaches to explain our findings and discuss the implications of our results for the optimal design of contests. Beyond that, our study reveals two important empirical results: (a) affirmative action-type policies may help to mitigate the adverse effects on lower-ability contestants, and (b) the skill level of potential future contestants in subsequent tournament stages can detrimentally influence the performance of higher-ability contestants but does not affect the lower-ability contestant.
[WP available here]
Early exposure to foreign language training and students' educational trajectories (with Maurizio Strazzeri, Chantal Oggenfuss and Stefan C. Wolter), Economics of Education Review, Volume 108, 2025 [Journal Website]
We estimate the impact of a large curriculum reform in Switzerland that substantially increased the share of foreign language classes in compulsory school on students' subsequent educational choices in upper secondary school. Using administrative student register data and exploiting the staggered implementation of the curriculum reform, we find that exposure to more foreign language classes during compulsory school has only minor effects on educational choices of the overall student population. However, we find substantial effect heterogeneity: while the reform has no effect on the direct educational progression of either low-track female or high-track students, it impedes low-track male students' transition to upper secondary education. The effect of foreign language classes on the educational trajectory of low-track male students is particularly pronounced for students who do not speak at home the school's language of instruction. Finally, we find that female students who start vocational training immediately after compulsory school are more likely to select into training occupations that require higher foreign language skills instead of natural science skills.
[WP available here]
Social Ties and Preferences for Competition (with Moritz Janas and Baiba Renerte), Experimental Economics, Volume 28, March 2025[Journal Website]
We conduct an economic experiment to examine the causal impact of social ties on the preference for competition. Participants decide whether to engage in a competition or not. Across four treatments, potential competitors vary based on their relationship with the decision-maker: whether they had a conversation with the decision-maker prior to the competition, whether they are expected to chat after the competition, or both, or neither. We find that the process of chatting promotes social closeness. This increase in social closeness tends to reduce the preference for competition if participants are expected to meet again after the competition. However, it does not change the likelihood of opting for competition if there is no prospect of further interaction. Through this experiment, we thus identify previously undiscovered implications of managerial practices that promote social tie formation, like team-building exercises and options for remote work.
[Draft available here]
Birthplace Diversity and Team Performance (with Tommy Krieger), Labour Economics, Volume 79, 2022 [Journal Website]
Using hand-collected and web-scraped data on 7208 matches and 3266 players from the highest division of German male football, this paper examines how birthplace diversity affects team performance. The results of two instrumental variable approaches suggest that birthplace diversity has a hump-shaped effect on team performance. To explain our result, we argue that nationally diverse teams have a wider range of skills and face greater communication barriers.
[ZEW Discussion Paper No. 10-020]
Working Paper
Far-right mass protests and internal migration (with Tommy Krieger)[R & R Journal of Urban Economics]
We examine how far-right mass protests shape cities’ reputation and thus location choices of nationals. To this end, we first exploit that the city of Dresden (Germany) unexpectedly experienced such protests at the turn of the year 2014/2015. Estimates from difference-in-differences and Synthetic Control analyses suggest that the number of (young) German adults who moved from another region to Dresden declined by around 10% due to the far-right mass protests. We complement our first analysis with a conjoint experiment where participants decide between two hypothetical cities. This experiment confirms that far-right rallies have a dissuasive effect and shows that left-wing people react stronger than right-wing people. It also reveals that far-right protests cause security concerns and concerns about finding like-minded people. The latter reaction is only observed for people that do not support the far right.
[ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-045 ] [ifo Dresden berichtet]
Classroom Rank in Math and Occupational Choices (with Maddalena Davoli and Maurizio Strazzeri) [submitted]
We study the impact of classroom rank in math on subsequent educational and occupational choices, as well as labor market outcomes. Using the Swiss section of the PISA-2012 student achievement data linked to administrative student register data and earning records from 2012-2020, we exploit differences in math achievement distributions across classes to estimate the effect of students' ordinal rank in the classroom. We find that students with a higher classroom rank in math are more likely to select training occupations that require a higher share of math and science skills. We then show that this has lasting effects on earnings in the labor market several years after completing compulsory school and is associated with a higher willingness to invest in occupation-specific further education. Furthermore, we use detailed subject-specific survey information to show that students' rank in math is associated with an increase in perceived ability in math and with increasing willingness to provide effort in math. The latter channel may offset potential consequences for occupational mismatch, as we do not find that rank-based decisions lead to increases in occupational changes or dropout from training occupations.
[WP available here]
Spillover Effects in Performance Evaluations (with Michael Lechner) [submitted]
This article investigates how coworker performance impacts individual performance evaluations at the workplace and thus examines a complementary channel, alongside productivity gains and learning effects, how coworkers shape career advancement. Using high-quality football match data, we isolate a component of individual performance from collaborative effects. Applying causal machine learning methods, we account for assortative matching of workers. Coworker performance significantly affects manager decisions and third-party expert evaluations. We characterize the most and least affected workers by spillover effects and demonstrate that spillover effects depend on reference points, with only positive deviations from a reference point creating positive spillover effects.
[WP available here]
The Costs of Coming Out (with Riccardo di Francesco) [submitted]
The fear of social stigma and discrimination leads many individuals worldwide to hesitate in openly disclosing their sexual orientation. Due to the large costs of concealing identity, it is crucial to understand the extent of anti-LGB sentiments and reactions to coming out. However, disclosing one's sexual orientation is a personal choice, complicating data access and introducing endogeneity issues. This paper tackles these challenges by using an innovative data source from a popular online video game together with a natural experiment. We exploit exogenous variation in the identity of a playable character to identify the effects of disclosure on players' revealed preferences for that character. Leveraging detailed daily data, we monitor players' preferences for the character across diverse regions globally and employ synthetic control methods to isolate the effect of the disclosure on players' preferences. Our findings reveal a substantial and persistent negative impact of coming out. To strengthen the plausibility of social stigma as the primary explanation for the estimated effects, we systematically address and eliminate several alternative game-related channels.
[WP available here]
High-Stakes in Higher Education - Evidence from Academic Probation (with Michael Dörsam) [submitted]
Universities in many countries have introduced early requirements that students need to fulfill to be allowed to proceed. Yet, their effectiveness is disputed because of concerns that they harm graduation chances. We study the impact of a last-chance exam mechanism applying a quasi-experimental design. We exploit the discontinuity in treatment status around the promotion cutoff and show that exposure to a last-chance exam increases early dropout. Graduation chances are on average not affected. However, we do find small negative effects for female students’ and low-ability students’ graduation chances. Further performance measures are largely unaffected.
[WP available here]
Work in Progress
Taxing secondary residents (with Jan Kemper, Tommy Krieger and Lukas Torhoff)
Overconfidence and Misperception: Evidence from the Swiss Apprenticeship Market (with Daniel Goller and Stefan Wolter)
Teamwork or how teams work: The value of coworker complementarities in team production (with Riccardo di Francesco)
Peer exposure and horizontal mismatch