Berlin School of Economics

Unequal childcare, not women’s lower ambition, drives the gap.

👥 @ansolassen.bsky.social, @wzb.bsky.social, @lsepress.bsky.social

Parenthood and the Career Ladder: Evidence from Academia by Sofie Cairo, Ria Ivandić, Anne Sophie Lassen, and Valentina Tartari

Focus and Research Question The study examines how becoming a parent affects academic careers and whether it contributes to gender gaps at senior levels. It asks whether motherhood and fatherhood have different effects on staying in academia and reaching tenure (a permanent senior position).

Data and Methodology The researchers use population-wide Danish administrative data linked to publication records, promotions, and family information. They apply an event-study design, comparing men and women before and after the birth of their first child to isolate the impact of parenthood.

Key Findings I – Careers diverge after the first child Before parenthood, men and women follow similar career paths. After the first child, one in three women leave academia, while men’s academic employment declines only slightly.

👶📚 Does #parenthood affect academic careers equally?

A new study shows that after the first child, many mothers leave #academia and are less likely to reach tenure (a permanent professorship) – while fathers’ careers remain largely unchanged.

berlinschoolofeconomics.de/about-us/new...

The figure shows the gender wage gap (the difference in average log hourly wages between males and females) in log points on the y-axis. The x-axis displays the gender wage premium gap, which is the sum of the sorting and pay-setting components. The diagonal lines represent scenarios in which firm wage premiums account for 10% (top line) and 40% (bottom line) of the total gender wage gap. Early explanations for gender wage gaps focused on human capital or career choices. This column uses data from the US and ten European countries to examine the role of firms. Across all countries considered, firms account for between 10% and 30% of the gender wage gap, mainly reflecting women being more likely to work at firms that pay less to all employees, irrespective of their skills. While men move to higher-paying firms as they advance in their career, women tend to stay behind. Women also tend to sort into low-wage firms in return for more flexibility in working time. The findings suggests that there is a case for complementing family policies with policies focused on firms.

Using data from the US & 10 European countries, the OECD LinkEED 2.0 Team analysed the role of firms in the gender wage gap. They find firms account for 10-30% of the gap, mainly reflecting women being more likely to work at firms that pay less to all employees.
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky

📢 Why do women & men earn different wages – & what role do firms play?

New research finds that firm differences explain a substantial share of the #GenderWageGap.

📄 by @ansolassen.bsky.social (@wzb.bsky.social @bsoeberlin.bsky.social) & coauthors.

cepr.org/voxeu/column...

#InternationalWomensDay

📢 #CallForPapers - 2nd Annual Interdisciplinary WZB Conference 2026
📆7-9 Oct | 📍 @wzb.bsky.social
⌛Deadline: 23 April
Papers from interested researchers of all social science disciplines are welcome.
cepr.org/events/2nd-a...
@steffenhuck.bsky.social @yaso.bsky.social #EconSky #EconConf

Key Visula für the 2nd Annual Interdisciplinary WZB Conference 2026: About a dozen irregular magenta, petal- or pebble-like shapes of different sizes scattered horizontally on a background; several shapes have a short thin black line as an accent.

💡 Call for Papers for the 2nd Annual Interdisciplinary WZB Conference 2026 on the topic “Challenges to International Orders: Causes and Consequences”
📅 7–9 October at the WZB.
🔄Please share our call for papers within your networks. Deadline for submissions: 23 April 26
www.wzb.eu/en/events/2n...

👥 @tuberlin.bsky.social

Global Risk Shocks in a Small Open Economy and Their Impact on Monetary Policy Surprises by Juan Michelsen

Focus and Research Question The study examines how unexpected increases in global financial risk affect a small open economy, using Canada as a case study. It also asks whether global risk distorts common measures of monetary policy shocks.

Data and Methodology The researcher builds a new measure of global risk shocks from unexpected daily changes in the VIX (a market index of expected stock volatility) and uses a proxy-SVAR, an econometric model that traces cause-and-effect relationships over time. The approach identifies global shocks using only domestic Canadian variables.

Data The analysis combines high-frequency financial data (daily VIX and market reactions) with monthly Canadian macroeconomic indicators from 2002–2019, including GDP, prices, interest rates, exchange rates, credit spreads, and stock prices.

🌍📉 Global financial risk doesn’t just shake markets – it shapes national economies and even how we measure the effects of central bank policy. A new study shows external risk drives exchange rates, growth, financial conditions & monetary policy surprises.
👉 berlinschoolofeconomics.de/about-us/new...

👥 @ahlfeldt.bsky.social, @humboldtuni.bsky.social, @utoronto.ca, @unidue.bsky.social

The Price of Productivity by Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Stephan Heblich, Tobias Seidel, and Fan Yin

Focus and Research Question The study asks whether the productivity advantages of cities – known as agglomeration effects – are reflected not only in higher wages but also in higher commercial rents. It examines whether focusing on wages alone understates the true economic benefits of large cities.

Data and Measurement The researchers build a new commercial rent index for Germany using five million property listings from 2007 to 2024. They measure rents at a fine geographic level and identify central business districts (CBDs) as areas with unusually high economic density.

Methodological Approach They estimate how commercial rents decline with distance from the CBD and how CBD rents increase with city size. To identify causal effects, they use historical population as an instrument for current city size.

🏙️ Do big cities boost productivity more than we think?

A study shows the benefits of urban density are reflected not only in higher wages, but also in higher commercial rents. Ignoring rent effects may underestimate the true economic gains of large cities.
berlinschoolofeconomics.de/about-us/new...

📰 In a guest commentary for @taz.de, Dirk Engelmann (@humboldtuni.bsky.social & @bsoeberlin.bsky.social) examines inheritance taxation.

He argues that taxing inheritances as personal income could reduce inequities in wealth transmission and strengthen horizontal equity within the tax system.

🔁 @humboldtuni.bsky.social

Chinesische Kaffeekette startet mit Dumpingpreisen Billig, schnell, per App: Mit "Cotti Coffee" startet eine chinesische Kaffeekette in Berlin. Der erste Standort an der Friedrichstraße setzt auf Niedrigpreise und hohe Frequenz. Die Branche fragt sich...

📺 On @rbb24.de, @ahlfeldt.bsky.social discussed the entry of low-price coffee chains.

☕ He argued market-wide price declines are unlikely, as cafés compete beyond price. Current pricing may not be sustainable, though part of productivity gains reaches consumers.

👉 www.rbb-online.de/abendschau/v...

👥 @ahlfeldt.bsky.social @humboldtuni.bsky.social @unidue.bsky.social

Berlin School of Economics INSIGHTS pieces "The Price of Productivity" by Gabriel Ahlfeldt, Stephan Heblich, Tobias Seidel, Fan Yin

📊 A new INSIGHTS piece shows that urban agglomeration is capitalised into commercial rents–not just wages.

🏙️ Using a new micro-geographic rent index for Germany the researchers find wage-based estimates understate total effects, especially in large cities.
berlinschoolofeconomics.de/insight/the-...

The agglomeration elasticity may be larger than widely believed (if we account for capitalization in commercial floor space prices). And the first micro-geographic commercial rent index for Germany!!! 😎 @bsoeberlin.bsky.social DP: opus4.kobv.de/opus4-hsog/f... Data: github.com/Ahlfeldt/AHS...

👥 @smaxand.bsky.social @viadrina.eu @franziskaedorn.bsky.social @unidue.bsky.social @ifso.bsky.social

Time-use and Income: A Trivariate Relative Poverty Surface by Franziska Dorn, Kim Sarah Meier, and Simone Maxand

Focus and Research Question: The paper asks how poverty measurement changes when we include not only income, but also time use – especially unpaid work (care, housework) and leisure. It argues that income-only measures can miss important forms of deprivation and develops non-parametric methods to estimate multidimensional poverty thresholds.

Core Idea: Living standards depend on a bundle of money and time: households can sometimes compensate low income with more unpaid work, or compensate time scarcity with spending. The study, therefore, treats poverty as a problem of constrained income–time combinations, not just low income.

Data: The authors use Mexico’s nationally representative 2018 ENIGH survey, which includes income, unpaid work time, and self-reported leisure time. This allows both household-level and individual-level poverty analysis.

📊 Is income alone enough to measure poverty?

New research introduces a trivariate method combining income, unpaid work, and leisure – revealing “hidden” poverty missed by standard measures, especially among women.

🔗 berlinschoolofeconomics.de/about-us/new...

#PovertyMeasurement #TimeUse

🏫 Can “efficiency upgrades” really fix #schoolchoice outcomes?

👥 A new study by Josué Ortega, @gabrielziegler.bsky.social, R. Pablo Arribillaga, and Geng Zhao shows why improving the Deferred Acceptance algorithm may still leave key problems untouched.

📑 berlinschoolofeconomics.de/about-us/new...

👥 @maltesandner.bsky.social @iabnews.bsky.social @iza.org @unipotsdam.bsky.social

Online Tutoring, School Performance, and School-to-Work Transitions: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial by Silke Anger, Bernhard Christoph, Agata Galkiewicz, Shushanik Margaryan, Malte Sandner, and Thomas Siedler (with photos of the researchers) Logo Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation, logo Labor Market Transformation - DFG Research Unit

Focus and Research Question The study examines whether online tutoring for low-performing secondary school students improves not only grades, but also their transition from school into vocational training or work.

Why This Matters While tutoring is known to raise short-term academic performance, it is unclear whether these gains translate into better early career outcomes, which are crucial for long-term employment prospects.

Data and Methodology The researchers ran a randomized controlled trial with 839 students in Germany, randomly offering access to one-on-one online tutoring to identify causal effects.

💻 ⬆️ Can online tutoring do more than improve grades?

📑 How one-on-one online tutoring helps low-performing students expecially at the critical moment of moving into vocational training or work

🔗 berlinschoolofeconomics.de/about-us/new...

Screenshot of the title page of the Discussion Paper

"Time-use and Income: A Trivariate Relative Poverty Surface" –
new @bsoeberlin.bsky.social Discussion Paper by @franziskaedorn.bsky.social , Kim Sarah Meier & @smaxand.bsky.social just published:
opus4.kobv.de/opus4-hsog/f...

👥 @boschrosa.bsky.social, @mvbulutay.bsky.social & Bernhard Kassner

When Confidence Limits Attention: New Evidence on Belief Updating by Ciril Bosch-Rosa, Muhammed Bulutay, and Bernhard Kassner

Focus and Research Question Overprecision—overestimating the accuracy of one’s own beliefs—may shape how people allocate attention to information. This matters because, in an information-rich world, ignoring additional evidence is often framed as rational. However, what seems rational may instead be partially driven by biased confidence in one’s existing views.

Theory and Approach The authors extend a standard model of rational inattention (choosing how much information to process when it is costly) to include overprecision. They predict that overconfident people will update their beliefs less and pay less attention.

Data and Experiment They run a pre-registered online experiment with a representative German sample. Participants estimate average ages in photos, report how uncertain they are, and then update their beliefs after seeing some information.

🎯 Do people ignore information because it’s costly – or because they’re too confident in what they already know?

📊 A new study shows that overconfidence in one’s own beliefs can reduce attention to new information.

Read more 👉 berlinschoolofeconomics.de/about-us/new...

📣 Call for Papers opens Feb 1, 2026!
Submit your research for the open part of the VfS Annual Meeting and join us in beautiful Innsbruck. 🏔️
We’re looking forward to your submissions – and to seeing you in the Alps! 🏔️
express.converia.de/frontend/ind...
#VfSConf_26 #BehavioralEconomics

How Architecture Creates Economic Value Beyond Buildings by Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Elisabetta Pietrostefani, and Ailin Zhang

Focus and Research Question The paper asks how much “good architecture” is worth economically, and whether markets deliver too little of it. The key issue is that design benefits can extend beyond the building itself.

Why markets may underprovide design High-quality design can create spillovers — benefits to neighbors and the wider area that the developer cannot fully charge for. This can lead to less investment in design than is socially desirable.

Evidence base and data The authors synthesise evidence from many empirical studies linking architectural design to property prices and rents. They distinguish between effects on the designed building itself and effects on nearby buildings.

🏙️ Is “good #architecture” just aesthetics – or real #economic value?

👥 A new #paper by @ahlfeldt.bsky.social, E. Pietrostefani, and A. Zhang shows how distinctive design can raise prices not only for one building, but also for its neighbourhood.

📑 berlinschoolofeconomics.de/about-us/new...

📊 Using administrative data on 69,000+ refugees in Germany, the paper shows how later moves and correlated local conditions can distort results, even under random assignment.

🔍 A reminder that randomness alone is not a shortcut to causal certainty.

When Random Assignment Is Not Enough for Causal Evidence by Marco Schmandt, Constantin Tielkes, and Felix Weinhardt

Focus and Research Question The paper examines whether studies that rely on random placement — the random assignment of people to places or groups — can still produce biased results when estimating the effects of local conditions or group characteristics. This matters because random placement is often treated as a gold standard for causal evidence in economics.

Core Idea The authors show that random placement alone does not guarantee unbiased estimates of local factors, because people are assigned to places, not to specific local characteristics like unemployment or social attitudes. As a result, estimates can mix causal effects with hidden biases.

Data and Setting The framework is tested using administrative data on more than 69,000 refugees in Germany, who were initially assigned to counties under a random dispersal policy. The data track individuals over time and capture all later moves, which is crucial for studying mobility bias.

🎯 Does random assignment really guarantee unbiased results?

👥 A new study by @marcodavis94.bsky.social, Constantin Tielkes, and Felix Weinhardt shows why this common assumption can be misleading.

Read more 📑 berlinschoolofeconomics.de/about-us/new...

#economicresearch #evidencebasedpolicy

📣 Call for Papers - EXTENSION OF DEADLINE
Join us for the 2nd Berlin PhD Conference in Economics in July.

🗓 July 6-8, 2026
⏰ Application deadline: 30 January 2026

🔗 Learn more & apply: berlinschoolofeconomics.de/event-detail...

#phdconference #callforpapers @rationalitycrc.bsky.social

The workshop is organized by Stefano Carattini, @phaan.bsky.social, Davide Pace, @schmacker.bsky.social, and @georgweizsaecker.bsky.social, and is supported by @lmumuenchen.bsky.social, @rationalitycrc.bsky.social, and the @dfg.de (RU “Labor market transformation”).