Simon Cordes
I am a 5th-year PhD student at the University of Bonn.
My research focuses on Labor, Behavioral, and Personnel Economics.
I study how firms set wages and amenities in the labor market.
Methodologically, I delevop and field surveys with firms and workers, often linked to administrative records.
I will be on the 2026-2027 job market.
E-Mail: simon.cordes@uni-bonn.de
CV: here
I am co-founder and co-organizer of the annual PhD Workshop in Labor and Behavioral Economics.
Research
Do Firms Know What Workers Want? | with Max Müller
Abstract: Labor supply depends on wages and amenities, and standard models implicitly assume that firms hold accurate beliefs about workers’ amenity valuations. In a survey with firms and workers in Germany linked to administrative data, we measure workers’ valuations of five different amenities and firms’ beliefs about workers’ valuations. We find that firms systematically underestimate workers’ valuations of all five amenities. These misperceptions are driven by interpersonal projection: managers project their own preferences—they value amenities less—onto workers. Through the lens of a simple model of imperfect competition, we show that firm misperceptions result in (i) labor shortages and (ii) excess labor costs for biased firms. Empirical tests confirm these predictions: a simple calibration suggests that non-providing firms could reduce their labor costs by 5% by providing amenities.
Upcoming presentations: SITE - Psychology and Economics; 2nd Workshop on Imperfect Competition in the Labor Market (IAB)
Uncertainty About Amenities and Job Search | with Antonia Bleser and Max Müller
What Do Firms Know About Market Wages? | with Gökay Demir and Max Müller
Pre-PhD Research
What Drives Demand For Loot Boxes? An Experimental Study | with Markus Dertwinkel-Kalt and Tobias Werner
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 228, 2024, Article 106755