Lukas Hensel

I am an Assistant Professor in Economics at Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. I am also a JPAL Invited Researcher and an IZA Research Fellow.

I mainly work on field experiments at the intersection of Development Economics, Labor Economics, and Political Behavior.

Email: lukas.hensel@gsm.pku.edu.cn

Bluesky: @lukashenselecon.bsky.social

You can find my CV here: CV

Publications:

Voice and Political Engagement: Evidence from a Field Experiment. (Anselm Hager, Christopher Roth, and Andreas Stegmann). The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2025, 107(4), 1149–1158. (gated, ungated, replication package)

Political Activists are Not Driven by Instrumental Motives: Evidence from Two Natural Field Experiments. (with Anselm Hager, Johannes Hermle, and Chris Roth). British Journal of Political Science, 2025, 55, e88. (open access, replication package)

Political Activists as Free-Riders: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment. (with Anselm Hager, Johannes Hermle, and Chris Roth). The Economic Journal, 2023, 133(July), 2068–2084. (gated, ungated, replication package)

Group Size and Protest Mobilization across Movements and Countermovements. (with Anselm Hager, Johannes Hermle, and Chris Roth). American Political Science Review, 2022, 116(3), 1051–1066. (open access; replication package)

Global Behaviors, Perceptions, and the Emergence of Social Norms at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. (with Marc Witte, Stefano Caria, Thiemo Fetzer, Stefano Fiorin, Friedrich Goetz, …, and Jon Jachimowicz). Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2022, 193, 473–496. (gated, ungated, data and analysis files)

Coronavirus Perceptions and Economic Anxiety. (with Thiemo Fetzer, Johannes Hermle, and Chris Roth). The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2021, 103 (5): 968–978. (gated, ungated, replication package)

Does Party Competition Affect Political Activism? (with Anselm Hager, Johannes Hermle, and Chris Roth). The Journal of Politics, 2021, 83(4), 1681-1694. (open access, replication package)

Income Shocks and Suicides: Causal Evidence From Indonesia. (with Cornelius Christian and Chris Roth). The Review of Economics and Statistics, 101(5), 905–920. (gated, ungated)

Working Papers:

Formalized Employee Search and Labor Demand (with Tsegay Tekleselassie and Marc Witte)

[Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Development Economics]

Jobseekers’ Beliefs about Comparative Advantage and (Mis)Directed Search (with Andrea Kiss, Rob Garlick, and Kate Orkin)

[Revise and Resubmit, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics]

Wage Information and Applicant Selection (with Maria Balgova, Tsegay Tekleselassie, and Marc Witte)

[New draft, September 2025]

From Followers to Leaders: The Career Impact of High-quality Managers (with Yuyu Chen, and Xinjue Yao)

[updated April 2025]

Feedback, Confidence, and Job Search Behavior (with Tsegay Tekleselassie, Marc Witte, Jonas Radbruch, and Ingo Isphording)

[updated March 2025]

Mutual Knowledge of Social Norms and Political Behavior (with Anselm Hager, Elnura Kazakbaeva, and Damir Esenaliev)

[updated February 2025]

Selected work in progress:

Mitigating the Consequences of Job Loss in Ethiopia (with Girum Abebe, Stefano Caria, and François Gerard)

Hiring on Soft Skills or Qualifications (with Robert Garlick, Kate Orkin, and Jennifer Kades)

Women's Group Empowerment Can Increase Political Participation: Evidence from Five Coordinated Field Experiments (with Damir Esenaliev, Anselm Hager, and Elnura Kazakbaeva) [Part of EGAP Metaketa V: Women's Action Committees and Local Services]

I am an Assistant Professor in Economics at Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. I am also a JPAL Invited Researcher and an IZA Research Fellow. I mainly work on field experiments at the intersection of Development Economics, Labor Economics, and Political Behavior.