WORKING PAPERS

Mikkel Mertz, Maddalena Ronchi and Viola Salvestrini 

Media: Kellogg Insight | Bocconi News | Inc | Fortune | VoxEU | Altinget | RF Newsletter 

Winner of the best paper award at the CSEF-RCFS Conference on Finance, Labor, and Inequality 2022 

Winner of the Unicredit Foundation Best paper Award on Gender Economics (12th edition, 2022)

Abstract: This paper shows that exposure to entrepreneurs during adolescence increases women's entry and performance in entrepreneurship and improves the allocation of talent in the economy. Using population-wide registry data from Denmark, we exploit idiosyncratic within-school, cross-cohort variation in early exposure to entrepreneurs, measured by the share of an adolescent's peers whose parents are entrepreneurs at the end of compulsory school. Early exposure, particularly to the entrepreneur parents of female peers, encourages girls' entry and tenure into this profession, while it has no impact on boys. This effect is associated with the creation of successful and female-friendly firms. Furthermore, early exposure reduces women's probability to discontinue education at the end of compulsory school and to hold low wage jobs through their lives. Finally, we find evidence in support of three main channels: (i) access to specific information; (ii) changes in aspirations and goals; (iii) increased consideration of entrepreneurship as a potential career. Together these results challenge the view that the most successful female entrepreneurs would enter this profession regardless of early exposure.


Mikkel Mertz

Media: Berlingske Tidende | Danish Radio Web | RF Newsletter

Previously circulated as "Anticipated Cash Transfers and Crimes Against the Person" 

Abstract: I show that rates of sexual and violent crimes increase by 77% immediately following paydays of wage earners and public transfer recipients. Additional analysis identifies increased alcohol consumption, substance abuse, and heightened partying behavior as important mechanisms. The concentration of crime following paydays leads to lower crime clearance rates, indicating strain on police resources. Implementing alternative payment schedules that distribute payments across different segments of the population at varying times of the month could smooth monthly crime cycles, reduce pressure on police, and potentially lower overall crime rates.


Christian Dustmann and Mikkel Mertz

Abstract: We document striking heterogeneity in both the risk and consequences of crime victimization by crime type, gender, and socioeconomic background. Men and individuals from lower-SES backgrounds are more likely to experience violent crime, while women and those from higher-SES backgrounds face greater risks of property crime. Violent crime leads to large and lasting earnings losses, especially for women from disadvantaged backgrounds, primarily due to reduced transitions from non-employment to employment. In contrast, property crime has no meaningful effect on labor market outcomes. Our findings underscore the unequal burden of victimization and highlight labor market (re-)entry as a key mechanism.


Mikkel Mertz, Livvy Mitchell and Peer Ebbesen Skov 

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. Revise and resubmit. 

Abstract: When a child is the victim of a non-domestic violent assault, how do their parents respond? Using linked population-wide administrative data from New Zealand and a stacked difference-in-differences design, we show that youth assault is a two-generation shock. Over the two years following an assault, parental earnings fall by 2.2 percent and stress-related medication dispensing rises by 11 percent. These responses are larger after more serious assaults, for younger victims, and for mothers, consistent with a caregiving channel. Both assault risk and parental earnings losses are steeply graded by neighborhood deprivation, making the household burden of youth violence strongly regressive.