Applied Microeconomics
Applied Microeconomics
The Applied Microeconomics research group unites researchers working on a broad array of topics within such areas as labour economics, economics of education, health economics, family economics, urban economics, environmental economics, and the economics of science and innovation. The group operates in close collaboration with the CAGE Research Centre.
The group participates in the CAGE seminar on Applied Economics, which runs weekly on Tuesdays at 2:15pm. Students and faculty members of the group present their ongoing work in two brown bag seminars, held weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1pm. Students, in collaboration with faculty members, also organise a bi-weekly reading group in applied econometrics on Thursdays at 1pm. The group organises numerous events throughout the year, including the Research Away Day and several thematic workshops.
Our activities
Work in Progress seminars
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1-2pm
Students and faculty members of the group present their work in progress in two brown bag seminars. See below for a detailed scheduled of speakers.
Applied Econometrics reading group
Thursdays (bi-weekly) 1-2pm
Organised by students in collaboration with faculty members. See the Events calendar below for further details
People
Academics
Academics associated with the Applied Microeconomics Group are:
Research Students
Events
PEPE (Political Economy & Public Economics) Seminar - Peter Schwardmann (Carnegie Mellon)
Title: Social Anxiety and Evaluative Interviews, with Samantha Horn and Egon Tripodi
As social skills command ever rising labor-market returns, fear and avoidance of social interactions are poised to become an increasingly important source of inequality. We study how social anxiety shapes behavior and beliefs in evaluative interviews using a controlled online experiment (N = 922). Participants complete a performance task and then take part in a face-to-face interview with an evaluator attempting to hire high performers. Socially anxious individuals disproportionately avoid interviewing and hold significantly more pessimistic beliefs about how competent, likable, and hirable they will appear. This pessimism is unfounded: socially anxious individuals perform just as well as others in the interview. Yet the experience of a non-discriminatory interview does not correct their pessimism, nor does random assignment to a particularly warm or non-judgmental interviewer. Social anxiety is a strong and distinct predictor of avoidance and pessimism, even relative to depression, generalized anxiety, personality measures, and social-skill indices commonly used in labor economics. Lowering the cost of interviewing increases the share of socially anxious applicants, highlighting the removal of frictions as a promising intervention point.