I am a labor/housing/urban economist at the Institute for Employment Research in Nuremberg (IAB). I work at the intersection of local labor and housing markets, with a focus on low-income households, unemployment, and housing affordability. In my current projects, I investigate the effects of housing assistance on labor market outcomes, the role of housing supply for local housing and labor markets, and determinants of local homeownership rates. My personal page on the IAB website is here.
Current projects
The Labor Market Consequences of Living in Social Housing
joint with Wolfgang Dauth and Matthias Wrede
Using a novel data set that combines the Integrated Labor Market Biographies (IEB) of IAB Nürnberg with social housing address data, we investigate how workers‘ wages and employment prospects develop after having been admitted to a social housing unit. We follow workers over up to 16 years after admission and hence can shed light on the long-run consequences for labor market outcomes of living in social housing. Working paper available soon.
Secondary Housing Supply
This study investigates the impact of new housing supply on the local distribution of rents. It is part of the DFG-funded project „Who Benefits from New Housing Supply?“. The main question is whether new housing supply by private markets does effectively reduce rental prices of relatively cheaper housing units. I find that this is the case. This suggests that relaxing constraints to new housing supply can help greatly to reduce the housing cost burden of low-income households. Most recent version
Why have House Prices Risen so Much More than Rents in Superstar Cities?
joint with Christian Hilber
Recent Publications
Rent Control, Market Segmentation, and Misallocation: Causal Evidence from a Large-Scale Policy Intervention
joint with Claus Michelsen and Konstantin Kholodilin