Pension funds carry implications on citizens wellbeing in their retirement years and countries’ growths, rendering changes to them following natural disasters of great importance. Using administrative data that comprises a 10 percent random sample of the Australian population and a natural experimental design, we investigate the effects of natural disasters on retirement savings in the aftermath...
-- joint with Panu Poutvaara and Max Steinhardt This study analyzes the determinants of bitterness, which describes a feeling of not having achieved what one deserves compared to others. First, we perform pooled OLS and fixed effects regressions, showing that bitterness is associated with various economic and non-economic factors, whereby the effect of unemployment stands out. Therefore, in the...
Based on various data sources, the workshop will examine the economic and psychological situation of the self-employed three years after the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. Next to analyzing the immediate impact of the crisis, the workshop will address the adjustment measures taken by the self-employed and the long-term consequences. Possible research questions include what strategies the self...
This study uses administrative data on the universe of students in tertiary education in Germany and shows that university enrollment depends negatively on the local unemployment rate at high school graduation. This finding contradicts common evidence on countercyclical US undergraduate enrollment. Students' financial dependency and loan aversion suggest reduced parental income as dominant...
The most popular method to acquire a job is to use one's circle of acquaintances or social networks to find a position. However, in the current research, there is still no clear conclusion if this job search method has positive implications for different job outcomes such as wages. This paper studies the effects of this job search approach in the context of Germany compared to the formal...
*************POSTPONED*****************To promote integration, the German government enacted the Residential Obligation Act (Wohnsitzauflage) in 2016, which obliges refugees to maintain their residence in the states to which they have been assigned for a period of three years from the time they are granted asylum or temporary residence. Studies addressing this policy have found controversial...