Research

Abstract: Technological change is a major driver of economic growth and comes with gains that are not necessarily equally shared. In this paper, we show that organized labor plays a key role in shielding incumbent workers from the negative employment consequences of automation and enabling rent-sharing. Combining German individual-level administrative records with information on plant-level robot adoption and the presence of works councils in a matched event-study design, we find positive effects of works councils on retention during automation events. In particular, if firms face low labor market tightness. Older workers, who find it more challenging to reallocate to new employers, benefit the most from organized labor in terms of employment. Further, works council prevent wages of older and simple manual workers from falling. We provide descriptive evidence that work plants with works councils employ not more but higher quality robots, provide more training during robot adoption, and have higher productivity growth thereafter.

Abstract: This study quantifies the relationship between workplace digitalization, i.e., the increasing use of frontier technologies, and workers' health outcomes using novel and representative German linked employer-employee data. Based on changes in individual-level use of technologies between 2011 and 2019, we find that digitalization induces similar shifts into more complex and service-oriented tasks across all workers, but exacerbates health inequality between cognitive and manual workers. Unlike more mature, computer-based technologies, frontier technologies of the recent technology wave substantially lower manual workers' subjective health and increase sick leave, while leaving cognitive workers unaffected. We provide evidence that the effects are mitigated in firms that provide training and assistance in the adjustment process for workers.

Abstract: Skilled labor scarcity is a major economic challenge in developed countries. Albeit present across industries, it is especially a pressing issue in the healthcare sector due to its size and importance. This paper studies how the shortage of nurses affects the provision of hospital services and patients’ health. I leverage exogenous variation induced by a Swiss monetary policy that led to a sudden and strong outflow of nurses in German hospitals. Based on administrative data covering the universe of hospitals and inpatient cases in Germany combined with a matched difference-in-differences design, I show that labor scarcity substantially alters the provision of healthcare services, increases mortality, and lowers life expectancy.

Abstract: By leveraging a unique feature of Germany's needs-based planning system for primary care, we examine the impact of the threat of competition on the behavior of general practitioners (GPs) and consequently on healthcare provision. In this system, regions where primary care coverage exceeds a specified threshold are automatically closed to new GP entrants.  Combining a new comprehensive dataset encompassing all German planning areas for primary care from 2014 to 2019 with a regression discontinuity design, we estimate the causal effect of blocking, i.e., the reduced probability of new entrants, on the quantity and quality of services provided by incumbent GPs. Blocking decreases the threat of new competitors by 20 p.p. However, contrary to what is observed in other markets, our findings suggest that it does not impair service quality or diminish patients’ access to primary care.