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 - Leander Heldring (Northwestern Kellogg)
Title: The Cost of State Building: Evidence from Germany
Abstract: I examine the potential of pro-development state (capacity) building projects to be coopted for repression. I leverage the natural experiment created by the differential build-up of capacity between formerly Prussian and formerly non-Prussian parts of unified Germany, and the radical policy shifts instigated by the Nazi regime. Across a geographical discontinuity, and across different stops of the \textit{same} train transport to the East, I find that Prussian municipalities are significantly more efficient at deporting Germany's Jews. They are also better at providing public goods and at collecting taxes, facilitated by a legacy of better organization and information management. Just before the Nazis came to power, Prussian municipalities provide more public goods as well, but they are not differentially involved with anti-Semitism. I show that democratic oversight and aspects of bureaucratic culture can mitigate the potential for future abuse of state building projects. Ideologically fanatic principals and hierarchical local bureaucracies may exacerbate repression.