Dr. Maximilian Longmuir

Ph.D. in Economics

I am an applied microeconomist with research expertise in Economic Inequality, Household Finance, Intergenerational Mobility, and Social Policy.

Since September 2025, I have been a research officer at UNSW, as well as an associated researcher at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality at the City University of New York.

As I have been awarded the Chancellor’s Research Fellowship, I will join the Business School at the University of Technology Sydney on 31 March 2027.

Mail: m.longmuir \at\ unsw.edu.au

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Research Expertise:

My research examines how household decisions, family background, labour markets, and public policy shape economic inequality and financial security.

Wealth Inequality and Household Finance – How saving behaviour, earnings risk, portfolio choices, and demographic change shape wealth inequality, with particular attention to pensions and retirement security.

Intergenerational Mobility – Focus on wealth persistence across generations, the role of family background and homeownership, and differences in mobility across countries.

Energy, Inequality, and Public Policy – The distributional effects of energy price shocks and climate policies, including carbon pricing, targeted support, and thermal retrofitting.

Income Inequality and Labour Economics – Technological change, job polarisation, and earnings inequality, alongside differences in wage losses following firm shutdowns.

Survey Methodology and Inequality Measurement – How survey design, data harmonisation, and sample representativeness affect the measurement of income and wealth inequality.

Short Bio:

Previous Positions:

2023 to 2025 Research Associate at Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality at CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA.
2021 to 2023, Postdoc at the Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany. Project: "The intergenerational reproduction of wealth inequality and its socio-demographic conditions in Germany".
2022 to 2023, Adjunct Lecturer at the Institute of Labour Economics, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany.

Publications:

Publications in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, like Demography, Energy Policy, International Review of Financial Analysis, Journal of Economic Inequality, and Survey Research Methods.
Publication of numerous Policy Briefs and Research Summaries for general audiences.

Education:

Ph.D. program on “Public Economics and Inequality" at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. Graduation in November 2021, Thesis: "Inequality, Risk, and Wealth".
M.Sc. "Public Economics" at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
B.Sc. "Economics" at Johannes-Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, Germany.

Recent and Upcoming Workshops and Conferences:

October 1-2, 2026. HILDA Conference, Melbourne Institute, Australia

April 24, 2026: Workshop on Inequality and intergenerational mobility: Measuring what matters and why at ANU, Australia.

Invited Seminar Talks and Presentations in 2024 and 2025:

August 3: International Conference on Empirical Economics (ICEE PSU Altoona), hosted by Pennsylvania State University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, topic: "Return heterogeneity vs. Participation: The Big Levers of Financial Wealth Inequality?"

July 9 to 11: Eleventh ECINEQ Conference the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality World Bank, Washington DC, topic: "Return heterogeneity vs. Participation: The Big Levers of Financial Wealth Inequality?"

Seminar: June 24, 2025, at the Stone Center Seminar CUNY, NYC, USA. Topic: "Stability in Intergenerational Wealth Transmission Levels in Germany."

June 4: 2025 RCEA International Conference on Economics, Econometrics, and Finance, New Jersey City University, NJ, USA., topic: "Return heterogeneity vs. Participation: The Big Levers of Financial Wealth Inequality?"

April 10 to 13: Population Association of America 2025 Annual Meeting, topic: Wealth Inequality among Families in a Changing Demographic Landscape: Evidence from Germany, 1988–2017

Friday, February 21, 2025 51th Annual Conference - Eastern Economic Association in New York, topic: "Return heterogeneity vs. Participation: The Big Levers of Financial Wealth Inequality?"

January 3–5, 2025: AEA in San Francisco, USA., Topic: "The Scarring Effects of Firm Shutdowns on Workers’ Wages: A Distributional Perspective".

Seminar: August 8, 2024, at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Topic: "The Scarring Effects of Firm Shutdowns on Workers’ Wages: A Distributional Perspective".

Seminar: August 5, 2024, at the Macro Seminar, Economics Department at The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Topic: "Returns vs. Participation: The Big Levers of Financial Wealth Inequality."

Seminar: August 1, 2024, at the Productivity Commission, Canberra, Australia. Topic: "Stability in Intergenerational Wealth Transmission Levels in Germany".

Seminar: July 31, 2024, at the Research School of Economics at Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Topic: "The Scarring Effects of Firm Shutdowns on Workers’ Wages: A Distributional Perspective".

Seminar: July 30, 2024, at the Crawford School of Public Policy at Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Topic: "De-routinization of Jobs and the Distribution of Earnings: A Cross-Country Comparison".

Seminar: July 25, 2024, at the Economics Department at University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia. Topic: "Stability in Intergenerational Wealth Transmission Levels in Germany".

Conference: July 10th - 12, 2024, Australian Conference of Economists, University of Adelaide, Australia. Topic: "The Scarring Effects of Firm Shutdowns on Workers’ Wages: A Distributional Perspective"

Workshop: Utah Public Finance Invitational Conference 2024, June 11 — June 13, 2024, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. Topic: Returns vs. Participation: The Big Levers of Financial Wealth Inequality.

Workshop: Inequality by the Numbers 2024, Monday, June 3 — Friday, June 7, 2024, at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, The Graduate Center, New York City, USA. https://www.gc.cuny.edu/events/inequality-numbers-2024

Conference: February 28th to March 2, at YSI @ the 50th Eastern Economics Association Conference, Boston, USA. Topic: "The GC Wealth Project".

Seminar: January 30, 2024, at the Economics Department at Johannes-Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany. Topic: "The Scarring Effects of Firm Shutdowns".

Seminar: January 26, 2024, at the OeNB in Vienna, Austria. Topic: "Augmented Wealth in Australia".

Seminar: January 12, 2024, at the e61 Institute, Sydney, Australia. Topic: "The Scarring Effects of Firm Shutdowns".