CAM4transfo

CAM4transfo

My research group CAM4transfo: Curricula, Access, and Mobility in Times of Transformation investigates how Curricula, Access to higher education, and (regional) Mobility affect higher education participation and entry into the labor market during times of major transformational change. The group's goal is to develop a deep understanding of the interplay between the decision-making processes of young adults and the institutional framework of the higher education system and the labor market. 

CAM4transfo operates at the intersection of education and labor economics, with a strong methodological focus on computational approaches and artificial intelligence. Methodologically, we work with large-scale data from both Germany and the United Kingdom, including administrative register data as well as unstructured text data. A central project within the group involves the design and implementation of a chatbot-based field experiment aimed at improving study guidance for high school graduates. This experiment not only offers targeted support to students but also enables us to collect unique process-generated data to analyze information asymmetries and behavioral patterns at the transition from school to higher education.

In addition, accompanying courses in the Economics of Education are offered each summer term, and a dialogue is maintained with educational practitioners, policymakers, and the academic community. 

Workshops (upcoming)

July 2027: Stay tuned about an exciting workshop in July 2027!

Publications

Peer-reviewed publications:

Nothing here yet... We've just started. But there will be more to come...

Work in progress

AI and Study Choice (with Luis Rumert, Pia Schilling, and Rosa Ricarda Wolf)

Young people's post-secondary study decisions are often shaped by incomplete or inaccurate information about academic programs, skill requirements, and career prospects. These information frictions contribute to inefficient matching between students and degree programs, leading to suboptimal educational and labor market outcomes, and exacerbating shortages in specialized occupations. This paper studies whether personalized information provision can reduce such frictions. We implement a randomized intervention using a conversational AI chatbot that interacts with high school students during their decision-making process. Students are randomly assigned to receive different types of information including highly personalized content tailored to individual preferences and profiles. The chatbot collects rich conversational data, allowing us to track changes in beliefs, preferences, and application intentions.

Grants or loans? How the composition of financial aid shapes students' enrollment, residential independence, and employment (with Leonardo Puehler)

This project studies how the composition of need-based student financial aid, precisely grants vs. loans, affects students' educational, residential, and labor supply decisions. We first develop a theoretical framework that generates testable predictions for behavioral adjustments of students to changes in financial aid. We then empirically test these predictions using German microdata and a quasi-experimental design exploiting a reform of the German financial aid system that left eligibility rules and the level of aid unchanged but shifted the program from a mixed grant-loan scheme to a fully loan-based regime. The results show that the reform slightly affected educational participation, consistent with the theoretical predictions and existing evidence on need-based financial aid. In addition, the reform induced significant adjustments on the behavioral level: students receiving loan-based aid became less likely to live independently of their parents and more likely to work alongside studying. These effects are particularly pronounced among students at universities of applied sciences. Overall, the findings suggest that while loan-based aid does not heavily deter access to higher education, it reshapes how students finance and organize their studies. The study thus highlights the importance of considering behavioral responses in student aid design.

Intergenerational transmission of education through the lens of financial aid (with Jessica Ordemann, Leonardo Puehler & Ulrike Schwabe)