About me

• Invited seminars (Spring/Summer 2026). Copenhagen Business School (Brown Bag), University of Salzburg, De Nederlandsche Bank, Austrian National Bank.
• EES Workshop 2026 (Nürnberg, June 17–18, 2026). Workshop on New Developments in the Macroeconomics of Labor Markets. Keynote speakers: Ayşegül Şahin (Princeton University) and Benjamin Schoefer (UC Berkeley). Call for Papers (PDF)
• Teaching (Spring/Summer 2026). Macroeconomics B (MakØkB) , BSc Programme in Computer Science and Economics.
• Teaching (Autumn 2025). Programming for Economists (with Jeppe Druedahl). Course material: Progecon Website · NumEconCopenhagen GitHub · NumEconCPH
• New CEPR Discussion Paper (DP20286). Heterogeneous Risk Preferences, Entrepreneurship, and Wealth (with Monika Merz and Fabian Prettenthaler).
• New CEPR Discussion Paper (DP20092). Labor Market Reforms in Open Economies: Current Account Dynamics and Consumer Heterogeneity (with Stéphane Moyen, Felix Schröter, and Nikolai Stähler).

Working papers

• Labor Market Reforms in Open Economies: Current Account Dynamics and Consumer Heterogeneity
  with Stéphane Moyen, Felix Schröter, and Nikolai Stähler
  Revised and Resubmitted (2nd Round) to AEJ: Macroeconomics
  PDF CEPR DP20092 Abstract

  This paper establishes a link between labor market reforms and an increase in the reforming country’s net foreign asset position via a precautionary savings channel. Specifically, we evaluate the current account effects of a major German labor market reform that reduced the generosity of unemployment benefits. Using a heterogeneous agent model of a small open economy with labor market frictions, we show that accounting for precautionary savings is qualitatively and quantitatively important for current account dynamics. In the first five years following its implementation, the reform contributed 12 percent to the dynamics of the German current account. Furthermore, welfare gains and losses are distributed unequally among agents. Compared to a closed economy, the reform is more detrimental.

• Heterogeneous Risk Preferences, Entrepreneurship, and Wealth
  with Monika Merz and Fabian Prettenthaler
  Revise and Resubmit at the Journal of the European Economic Association · funded by the OeNB Anniversary Fund (project number 18885)
  PDF CEPR DP20286 Abstract

  This paper studies how individual risk attitudes shape occupational choice and wealth accumulation. Using self-reported individual risk preferences from the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP), we estimate that an increase in risk tolerance raises the probability of a worker transitioning to self-employment. We also develop a life-cycle model of occupational choice with Epstein-Zin preferences and heterogeneous risk attitudes to study how risk aversion interacts with entrepreneurial ability and wealth in determining entry into self-employment and its aggregate implications. Counterfactual simulations show that increasing business risk reduces entry but improves selection by entrepreneurial skills. In contrast, Germany’s “1-Euro GmbH” reform of 2008 weakened the role of risk tolerance for entry and increased participation by more risk-averse individuals.

• Financial Constraints, Firm Age, and the Labor Market
  Dwyer Ramsey Prize 2020 by the Society of Nonlinear Dynamics and Econometrics (SNDE)
  PDF Abstract

  I document the heterogeneous effects of credit supply shocks on the labor market over time and by firm age. During the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), a credit crunch caused young firms to reduce employment significantly more than old firms. The housing bust starting in 2006 eroded young firms' collateral, restricting their borrowing capacity. To disentangle the relative contributions of the credit supply and net worth channels, I develop a financial friction model with an explicit firm age structure. The model explains the empirical findings by showing how a simultaneous credit crunch and decline in young firms' net worth disproportionately affect their borrowing capacity and labor demand. While old firms shift toward equity financing in response to the shock, young firms rely heavily on debt financing and are forced to reduce labor demand. Given that young firms disproportionately drive aggregate job growth, these findings explain the sluggish labor market recovery after the GFC and highlight the critical role of firm age in amplifying macroeconomic shocks.

• Incomplete Insurance and Open-Economy Spillovers of Labor Market Reforms
  with Christian Merkl and Heiko Stüber
  PDF Abstract

  This paper shows that less generous unemployment benefits in one country may generate substantial negative long-run consumption spillovers to non-reforming countries under incomplete consumption insurance. While lower benefits reduce unemployment in the reforming country, employed workers increase their precautionary savings to compensate for reduced government-provided insurance. A portion of these additional savings flows to the non-reforming country and depresses long-term consumption due to the negative net foreign asset position. To discipline our quantitative model, we estimate the increase of Germany’s tradable sector in the aftermath of the Hartz unemployment insurance reform based on firm-level data. Our quantitative model matches a significant fraction of various macroeconomic trends after the reform, namely Germany’s persistent increase of aggregate savings and net foreign assets, the increase of net exports, the real exchange rate depreciation within the Eurozone, and the decline in unemployment. Conversely, Germany’s wage moderation before the reform appears to be unrelated to most of these phenomena.

Work in progress

• Fiscal Policy under Labor Shortages (with Gregor Böhl)
• Business Risk, Taxation, and Economic Welfare (with Monika Merz and Fabian Prettenthaler)
• The Macroeconomic and Distributional Consequences of Fiscal Policy in a Small-Open Economy (with Wolfgang Lechthaler and Clara de Luigi)
• Will Payment Innovations Disrupt Banking? Lessons from Prepaid Cards (with Paul Pichler and Philipp Ulbing)
• Overconfident CEOs and Monetary Policy (with Adelina Garamow)

Publications

• Hartz IV and the Decline of German Unemployment: A Macroeconomic Evaluation
  with Britta Kohlbrecher, Christian Merkl, and Hermann Gartner
  Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Vol. 127, June 2021, 104114
  Published Version IHS WP CESifo WP
  IZA Newsroom IZA Newsroom (DE) Makronom
• Counteracting Unemployment in Crises: Non-Linear Effects of Short-Time Work Policy
  with Britta Gehrke
  The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 123, Issue 1, January 2021, pp. 144–183
  Published Version IZA DP
  VoxEU ifo Schnelldienst WirtschaftsWoche Zeitschrift f. Wirtschaftspolitik

• Wenn die Wirtschaft schrumpft. Krisenfest trotz Rezession? Ö1 Punkt 1 (Radio Show), October 7, 2022.
• An die Arbeit! Falter 36/21 (Newspaper), September 8, 2021.

University of Copenhagen

• Macroeconomics B (MakØkB) · BSc Programme in Computer Science and Economics
• Programming for Economists · with Jeppe Druedahl
  Course website GitHub NumEconCPH

Supervision of Bachelor and Master theses

I supervise Bachelor and Master theses in macroeconomics.