Discussion and Working Papers:
Measuring the urban quality of life premium , submitted
(with Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Duncan Roth and Tobias Seidel)
Working Paper, 08/2025: Working Paper
Berlin School of Economics Discussion Paper No. 57, 12/2024: Discussion Paper
IZA Discussion Paper No. 17549, 12/2024: Discussion Paper
Link to our GitHub Directory and Toolkit: ABRS Toolkit
Media Coverage: BSoE Insights Article ; BSoE Insights Interview, LSE Policy Blog , der Makronom (in German), Centre Piece Magazine (Vol. 30 (2)) 2025
Link to Presentation Slides: Slides
Abstract: We employ a quantitative spatial model that accounts for trade frictions—generated by trade costs and non-tradable services—and mobility frictions—generated by idiosyncratic tastes and local ties—to recover unobserved quality of life (QoL) and estimate the urban QoL premium. For Germany, we find that a city twice as large offers, on average, a 22% higher QoL to the average resident—far exceeding the urban wage premium of 4%. Our model-based Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the lack of strong empirical evidence for an urban QoL premium in earlier literature likely stems from measurement error in the Rosen-Roback framework due to omitted spatial frictions.
Spatial Policies and Heterogeneous Employment Responses, submitted
(with Marcel Henkel)
Working Paper, 08/2025: Working Paper
Berlin School of Economics Discussion Paper No. 63, 03/2025: Discussion Paper
SSRN Research Paper: Discussion Paper
BSoE Insights Interview
Abstract: This paper shows that place-based policies influence not only where people work, but also whether they work by reducing local barriers to labour supply. We propose a quantitative spatial model where public services, financed by local taxation or interregional transfers, act as a crucial substitute for home production, influencing the decision to enter the labour force. We provide causal evidence from Germany, where quasi-experimental fiscal shocks increased labour force participation, particularly for women in regions with limited public childcare. This endogenous labour supply margin creates an externality with countervailing effects: market entry boosts local output and tax revenues, but simultaneously congests the public services that alter participation incentives for others. Implementing optimal spatial policies increases aggregate welfare by 2.7% and real GDP by 2.2%, primarily by reallocating female labour from home to market work in the most productive urban centres.
Quality of life in a dynamic spatial model
(with Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Duncan Roth and Tobias Seidel)
Link to latest paper version: Working Paper
CESifo Working Paper No. 8767, 12/2020: Discussion Paper
CEPR Discussion Paper No. 15594, 12/2020: Discussion Paper
CentrePiece Spring 2021: "Lockdown and the social life of big cities": Non-technical summary
LSE Blog: "Lockdown shows us it is not work that attracts us to big cities - but the social life" : Blog
Abstract: The economics literature on quality of life is rooted in the canonical frictionless spatial equilibrium framework. We show how to measure quality of life and evaluate quality-of-life policies within a dynamic spatial model with heterogeneous, imperfectly mobile, and forward-looking workers. We find that the canonical spatial equilibrium framework understates spatial quality-of-life differentials, the urban quality-of-life premium and the value of local non-marketed goods. Unlike the canonical spatial equilibrium framework, a dynamic spatial model predicts local welfare effects that motivate many place-based policies seeking to improve quality of life.
Work in progress:
Expensive cities: The role of the supply side
(with Christian Helmers and Felix Weinhardt)
Older Papers:
The stationary spatial equilibrium with migration costs
(with Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Duncan Roth and Tobias Seidel)
Note: This paper precedes the paper "Quality of life in a dynamic spatial model". Its dynamic, spatial model is discussed in detail in the current discussion paper version of "Quality of life in a dynamic spatial model".
The Role of Local Public Goods for Gender Gaps in the Spatial Economy
(with Marcel Henkel)
CRED Research Paper No. 33: Discussion Paper
Note: This paper precedes the current working paper "Spatial Policies and Heterogeneous Employment Responses".