Research

• Gender Gaps in Time Use: Evidence from School Closures during Covid-19  

 (joint with Benjamin Elsner, Massimiliano Mascherini, & Sanna Nivakoski)

Abstract: We study the impact of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic on the time allocated to paid and unpaid work within households. We use panel data from 27 EU countries and isolate the impact of school closures by comparing parents and non-parents. We find no evidence that school closures had a disproportionate impact on women or men. Women and men reduced the time spent on paid work and increased the amount of time spent on household chores and leisure in roughly equal amounts. These findings do not confirm the common concern that school closures increased the care burden for women.

• Early Retirement Eligibility and Well-Being: Causal Evidence from a German Pension Reform 

(joint with Benjamin Elsner)

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of early retirement on life satisfaction in Germany. We exploit the 2014 Rente mit 63 reform, which allowed workers with at least 45 years of credited pension contributions to retire before the statutory age without actuarial deductions. To identify a causal effect, we use reform-induced eligibility as an instrument in a difference-in-differences framework that equals one for post-2014 observations of long-career workers who have reached their cohort-specific eligibility age. Using annual survey responses linked to administrative contribution records, we show that eligibility for early retirement raises life satisfaction on a 0–10 scale. Effects are concentrated among men in manual occupations, consistent with retirement relieving occupational strain.

• Nudging Employer Bias: Disability-Disclosure Framing in Hiring. 

The framing of disabilities in job applications plays a critical role in shaping employer responses, yet the optimal strategy for disclosure remains underexplored. This paper investigates how different framings of ADHD, affects callback rates in the UK labor market. Drawing on signaling theory, we hypothesize that signaling a disability as a productivity-enhancing trait can mitigate statistical discrimination in hiring.

We sent randomized resumes to job vacancies across various sectors, allowing us to estimate the causal impact of disability framing on employer responses. 

• The Effects of Public Health and Social Measures (PHSMs) on Mental Health: Pan-European Quantile Regression Analysis. 

(joint with Massimiliano Mascherini)

A Quantile Regression Analysis of Mental Health Outcomes under COVID‑19 Public Health and Social Measures across 27 EU Countries 

Abstract: This policy note examines how COVID‑19 public health and social measures (PHSMs) have affected mental health across all 27 EU member states, using quantile regression to capture distributional impacts. The analysis finds that while PHSMs helped “flatten the curve” of infections, they also widened pre-existing mental health gaps. Mental well-being declined overall for certain demographic groups and those already at lower levels of mental health disproportionately affected and less resilient.