Research

Publications

“Raising the bar: minimum wages and employers’ hiring standards” (2022). (American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14(2): 91-124) [accepted version]

Using the introduction of the statutory minimum wage in Germany in 2015 as a quasi experiment I find that the hiring standard of affected employers increases relative to unaffected ones.

“Motivating Gig Workers – Evidence from a Field Experiment” (2022), with Roberto González Amor, Patrick Kampkötter and Dirk Sliwka. (Labour Economics, 75: 102105) [accepted version]

We test whether gig workers work more and sloppier when a fixed component replaces part of normally commission-based pay. While they do neither on average, there is heterogeneity by intrinsic motivation.

“The effect of employment protection on firms' worker selection” (2024), with Jan Sauermann. (Journal of Human Resources, 59(6): 1981-2020) [accepted version]

Exploiting a 2001 reform of Sweden's employment protection we find that firms for which firing is made easier become less selective in their hiring than firms for which nothing changes.

Work in progress

Political identity and consumer behavior: Musk and Tesla in Germany, with Johannes Buggle and Elian Tenschert

We study how a political identity shock affects high-stakes consumption choices. Exploiting Musk's endorsement of the AfD ahead of Germany's 2025 general election, we show that CEO activism can polarize demand along political lines. We argue that the key mechanism is a shift in norms: among AfD voters, identifying with Musk and Tesla became acceptable.

Blame it on my youth: employer learning and age discrimination, with Louis-Pierre Lepage and Jan Sauermann

We document age-specific spillovers in firms' hiring dynamics: while employers treat prime-age workers as individuals, they appear to treat young workers as a homogeneous group. To study the mechanisms driving this pattern, we will survey managers.

Providing wage information at the job-posting stage: experimental evidence from French employers, with Mattis Gilbert, Roland Rathelot, Marina Schwab and Andreas Steinmayr

We investigate whether recruiter misinformation about the posted-wage distribution distorts vacancy posting and job matching. We evaluate an RCT informing recruiters about posted wages in local labour markets at the job-posting stage.

Labour-Market Information, job postings, and employer beliefs: experimental evidence from Austria, with Mattis Gilbert, Roland Rathelot, Marina Schwab and Andreas Steinmayr

To study the importance of information frictions in the job posting process, we test the effect of giving employers information about competitors' posted wages. We measure belief updating in a survey experiment and link employers' responses to subsequent posting behaviour.

Reallocation effects of unemployment insurance, with Jan Sauermann and Olle Törnquist

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