Welcome to my homepage!

I am a PhD student at the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. I will finish my PhD in the summer of 2025.

I will be on the 2024/2025 job market.

I am an applied microeconomist. My research lies at the intersection of empirical industrial organization and public policy evaluation. Exploiting quasi-experimental elements of public policies, I empirically study their intended and unintended effects on firm and consumer behavior. Currently, I mainly study energy industries such as coal mining and retailing of gasoline. Beyond that, I am also interested in labour and public economics.

You can find my CV here.

Please do not hesitate to reach out: fischer (at) dice (dot) hhu (dot) de!

Job Market Paper

Industrial Policy in Declining Industries: Evidence from German Coal Mines (download)


Abstract: Industrial policy is on the rise. However, empirical evidence of how industrial policy shapes technological progress and productivity remains scarce. This paper examines a policy that aimed at boosting industry-wide productivity by subsidizing plant closures in the declining German coal mining industry. Based on newly digitized, mine-level production data, my findings indicate that the policy increased long-run productivity in three distinct ways: First, it facilitated the exit of low-productivity mines. Second, it triggered reallocation towards large, productive mines, especially in firms where the subsidy alleviated financial constraints. Third, firms invested parts of the policy-induced subsidies into machinery and infrastructure of surviving mines. The resulting within-mine productivity gains extended mines’ lifespan by six years. In total, the associated reduction in marginal cost exceeded the government subsidies. 

Working Papers

Publications

Early Stage Work