We identify the causal effect of compulsory military service on conscripts’ subse-quent labour-market outcomes by exploiting the regression-discontinuity design of the military draft in Germany during the 1950s. Unbiased estimates of military ser-vice on lifetime earnings, wages, and...

Einflussreiche Studien gehen davon aus, dass sich die Bedingungen beim Berufseinstieg langfristig auf den Berufsverlauf von Arbeitskräften im Betrieb auswirken. Obwohl es unter Wirtschaftswissenschaftlern seit langem umstritten ist, ob die anhaltenden Lohnunterschiede zwischen Betrieben und...

We show that workers displaced from their stable jobs during mass-layoffs in 1982 recession in Germany suffered permanent earnings losses of 10-15% lasting at least 15 years. These estimates are obtained using data and methodology comparable to similar studies for the United States. Exploiting...

We study the impact of social ties on the migration of inventors from East to West Germany, using the fall of the Iron Curtain and German reunification as a natural experiment. We identify East German inventors via their patenting track records prior to 1990 and their social security records in...