Essays in Applied Economics

Abstract

This dissertation consists of five independent chapters contributing to the field of applied economics. The first three chapters analyze workers' perceptions of the wage penalty associated with working part-time, further evaluating the labor supply implications of biased beliefs. Chapter 4 quantifies the effects of raising the normal retirement age on the career trajectories of middle-aged workers far from retirement. Chapter 5 examines the expectation management of the German government in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic