Research

Research interests

Applied Microeconomics, Health Economics, Labor Economics

Publications:

Reservation Wages and Labor Supply (with Iris Kesternich, Heiner Schumacher and Bettina Siflinger)

 Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 194, 2022, 583-607 link

Survey measures of the reservation wage may reflect both the consumption-leisure trade-off and job market prospects (the arrival rate of job offers and the wage distribution). We examine what a survey measure of the reservation wage reveals about an individual’s willingness to trade leisure for consumption. To this end, we combine the reservation wage measure from a large labor market survey with the reservation wage for a one-hour job that we elicit in an online experiment. The two measures show a strong positive association. For unemployed individuals, the experimental reservation wage increases on average by around one Euro for every Euro increase in the survey measure. For employed individuals, the association between the two measures is weaker and depends on their occupation-specific risk of unemployment. We show that these results are robust to selection into the experiment, and that demographic variables have a similar influence on both reservation wage measures.

Two Sides of the Same Pill? Fertility Control and Mental Health Effects of the Contraceptive Pill

forthcoming at Journal of Labor Economics

I investigate the link between access to the contraceptive pill, mental health, education, and labor market outcomes. While liberalizing labor market effects of access to the pill are well established, a medical literature suggests a link between hormonal contraception and depression. Exploiting variation in access to the pill, I document substantial mental health effects of the pill. These mental health effects mitigate the fertility control effect of the pill on education and labor market outcomes and are associated with limitations at work and more disability periods.

Working Paper:

Relationship Stability - Evidence from Labor and Marriage Markets (with Iris Kesternich, Bettina Siflinger, and James P. Smith)

R&R at Scandinavian Journal of Economics, CEBI Working Paper 20/22

Behavior in labor and marriage markets follows similar structures when it comes to commitment to long-term relationships. We argue that there is a joint social skill driving stability in both markets. Applying a grouped fixed-effect estimator on data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, we identify types of individuals at risk of instability in both domains. We provide evidence on how economic preferences and personality are related to instability in both markets. We also show negative consequences of instability in terms of reduced life satisfaction and wealth late in life.

Diagnosis Related Payment for Inpatient Mental Health Care: Hospital Selection and Effects on Length of Stay (with Simon Reif and Harald Tauchmann) 

draft available upon request

Little is known about the effects of reimbursement on inpatient mental health care. We study the introduction of a diagnosis related payment scheme for inpatient mental health care in Germany. The new system – PEPP – features diagnosis related reimbursement rates for each inpatient day that decrease over length of stay. We use data on all hospital cases in Germany to first examine which hospitals voluntarily opt into the new scheme and second analyze the effect of diagnosis related payment on length of stay. We find that larger, more specialized hospitals with high average length of stay select into the scheme. We then show large reductions in length of stay associated with diagnosis related payment. We find no evidence that the reduction in length of stay affects patient mortality, post-acute care or the ambulatory sector.