Articles in peer-reviewed journals
- Early exposure to foreign language training and students’ educational trajectories (with Enzo Brox, Chantal Oggenfuss, and Stefan C. Wolter), Economics of Education Review 108, 102684, 2025.
Journal Website
- Religious practices and student performance: Evidence from Ramadan fasting (with Erik Hornung and Guido Schwerdt), Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 205, 100-119, 2023.
Journal Website
- The impact of state aid on the survival and financial viability of aided firms (with Sven Heim, Kai Hüschelrath, and Philipp Schmidt-Dengler), European Economic Review 100, 193-214, 2017.
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Policy columns: VoxEU | Ökonomenstimme
Working Paper: CEPR Discussion Paper 16620 | CESifo Working Paper 9349
Working papers
- Classroom rank in mathematics and career choices (with Enzo Brox and Maddalena Davoli)
- Students' grit and their post-compulsory educational choices and trajectories: Evidence from Switzerland (with Janine Albiez and Stefan C. Wolter)
- Assessing the role of asylum policies in refugees' labor market integration: The case of protection statuses in the German asylum system
- Internet usage and migration decisions: Evidence from Nigerian micro data
Abstract | Working Paper | Slides LEER conference 2023
We examine the impact of students' classroom rank in math on educational, occupational, and labor-market outcomes. Using Swiss PISA-2012 data linked to administrative student records and tax information, and leveraging variations in achievement distribution across classes, we find that students with higher math ranks are more likely to pursue STEM-related occupations. Through subject-specific survey questions, we provide evidence of the underlying mechanisms at play, and we also demonstrate that parents can serve as important mediators. Furthermore, we show that a higher classroom rank in math increases earnings and the willingness to invest in occupation-specific further education.
Abstract | CESifo Working Paper 11088
We examine the association between the personality trait grit and post-compulsory educational choices and trajectories using a large survey linked to administrative student register data. Exploiting cross sectional variation in students’ self-reported grit in the last year of compulsory school, we find that an increase in students’ grit is associated with a higher likelihood to start a vocational education instead of a general education. This association is robust to the inclusion of cognitive skill measures and a comprehensive set of other students’ background characteristics. Moreover, using novel data on skill requirements of around 240 vocational training occupations, we find that grittier vocational education students sort into math-intensive training occupations. Similarly, students in general education with more grit select themselves more often into the math-intensive track. Finally, we do not find evidence that students with a higher grit have lower dropout rates in post-compulsory education.
Abstract | Working Paper | Slides EALE 2021
I study the effect of refugees’ protection status—Geneva Convention or subsidiary protection status—on labor market outcomes, focusing on a cohort of Syrian and Iraqi refugee migrants entering Germany between 2013 and 2016. My empirical analysis exploits a sudden and unpredictable March 2016 policy change of the asylum claim-handling federal agency, reducing the likelihood of receiving Geneva Convention refugee status for refugee migrants from these two countries. Using data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP survey of refugees, I exploit the policy change in a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. Estimation results indicate a substantial negative effect of subsidiary protection status on earnings and employment.
Abstract | Working Paper | Slides Conference in Development Economics 2021
This paper investigates the role of Internet usage in the migration decision using micro-level data from Nigeria. Internet usage reduces migration costs such as search and information costs or psychological costs, which suggests that having access to the Internet increases the probability to migrate. My empirical analysis exploits variation in Internet usage induced by the arrival of submarine Internet cables in Western Africa. Results indicate a large positive effect of Internet usage on migration. The effect is particularly strong for migration out of Africa and is larger for individuals from the lower part of the wealth distribution.
Opinion pieces
- Die Integrationsagenda auf dem Prüfstand (with Tobias Fritschi), in Sozialalmanach 2025, Stabil prekär. Mit (Weiter-)Bildung aus der Armut? Caritas Schweiz.
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