patrick.lehnert@business.uzh.ch
I am assistant professor for personnel economics at the University of Zurich. I study how human capital contributes to innovation and economic performance, with a particular emphasis on vocational education. Moreover, I develop longitudinal data of local and regional economic indicators.
You can find my full CV here.
"Intergenerational mobility fosters innovation in Europe" with S. McNamara and G. Neidhöfer, Nature 656(8128), 2026. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10736-9
"Curriculum updates in vocational education and changes in graduates' skills and wages" with A. F. Buehler & U. Backes-Gellner, Journal of Education and Work 37(5-6), 458-482, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2025.2456844
"Apprenticeships" with U. Backes-Gellner, In: T. Eriksson (ed.), Encyclopedia of Labour Studies, 14-18, Edward Elgar, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800377547.ch04
"Berufliche Bildung als Innovationstreiber: Eine lange vernachlässigtes Forschungsfeld" with U. Backes-Gellner, Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik 24(1), 85-97, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1515/pwp-2022-0036
"Social norms and gendered occupational choices of men and women: Time to turn the tide?" with P. Pálffy & U. Backes-Gellner, Industrial Relations 62(4), 380-410, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1111/irel.12332
"Proxying economic activity with daytime satellite imagery: Filling data gaps across time and space" with M. Niederberger, U. Backes-Gellner, & E. Bettinger, PNAS Nexus 2(4), Article pgad099, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad099
"The contribution of vocational education and training to innovation and growth" with U. Backes-Gellner, In: The Oxford Research Encyclopdia of Economics and Finance, Oxford University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190625979.013.653
"Employment of R&D personnel after an educational supply shock: Effects of the introduction of Universities of Applied Sciences in Switzerland" with C. Pfister & U. Backes-Gellner, Labour Economics 66, Article 101883, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101883
"Natural disasters and the green occupational aspirations of adolescents" with A. F. Buehler & H. Pfeifer, Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper No. 254. https://ideas.repec.org/p/iso/educat/0254.html
"Bridging academic and vocational human capital in inventor teams: Implications for inventor team productivity" with B. S. Bruestle, E. Buunk, U. Backes-Gellner, & D. Harhoff, Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper No. 248, 2025 (revised April 2026. https://ideas.repec.org/p/iso/educat/0248.html
"Environmental awareness and occupational choices of adolescents" with H. Pfeifer, Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper No. 231. https://ideas.repec.org/p/iso/educat/0231.html
"Gender norms, occupational choices, and the innovation gender gap" with A. F. Buehler & U. Backes-Gellner, Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper No. 230. https://ideas.repec.org/p/iso/educat/0230.html
"The effect of postsecondary educational institutions on local economies: A bird's-eye view" with M. Dell, U. Backes-Gellner, & E. Bettinger, Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper No. 210 / IZA Discussion Paper No. 17059 / NBER Working Paper No. 32679, 2024. https://ideas.repec.org/p/iso/educat/0210.html
"What works for women does not work for men: A large field experiment on countering gendered occupational choices" with P. Pálffy & U. Backes-Gellner, Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper No. 207, 2022 (revised June 2023). https://ideas.repec.org/p/iso/educat/0207.html
"Innovation effects and knowledge complementarities in a diverse research landscape" with C. Pfister, D. Harhoff, & U. Backes-Gellner, Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education Working Paper No. 164, 2020 (revised January 2022). https://ideas.repec.org/p/iso/educat/0164.html
"Innovationstreiber Berufsbildung" with U. Backes-Gellner. Die Volkswirtschaft 10/2025. https://dievolkswirtschaft.ch/de/2025/10/innovationstreiber-berufsbildung/
"Fachhochschulen beschleunigen regionale Innovation - aber nicht überall gleich" with T. Schlegel & U. Backes-Gellner. Transfer, Berufsbildung in Forschung und Praxis 01/2022, https://sgab-srfp.ch/fachhochschulen-beschleunigen-regionale-innovation-aber-nicht-ueberall-gleich/
"Fachhochschulen als Innovationstreiber" with C. Pfister & U. Backes-Gellner. Die Volkswirtschaft 06/2021, https://dievolkswirtschaft.ch/content/uploads/2021/05/18_Pfister_Lehnert_Backes-Gellner_DE.pdf
"Linked employer-employee data from the IAB: LIAB longitudinal model 1993-2014 (LIAB LM 9314)" with J. Heining, W. Klosterhuber, & S. Seth, FDZ-Datenreport 10/2016. https://doku.iab.de/fdz/reporte/2016/DR_10-16_EN.pdf
"Linked employer-employee data from the IAB: LIAB cross-sectional model 2 1993-2014 (LIAB QM2 9314)" with W. Klosterhuber & S. Seth, FDZ-Datenreport 05/2016. https://doku.iab.de/fdz/reporte/2016/DR_05-16_EN.pdf
"The European atlas of spatially disaggregated intergenerational mobility (EUROPE-IGM-ATLAS)" — Subnational indicators of intergenerational educational mobility across European regions over time. Available under CC-BY-NC-SA license. https://europe-igm-atlas.github.io/app/
"Surface groups" — Proxy for local economic activity based on daytime satellite imagery. Available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. https://github.com/Neduzen/lhvpetecon-surface