Research

Refereed Journals:

 

8. Peers with Special Needs: Effects and Policies (2022) Review of Economics and Statistics, 104(3), 602-618 (with Simone Balestra and Helge Liebert)

In light of the debate over inclusive education, this paper evaluates the impact of exposure to special needs (SN) peers. More classroom peers with SN lower performance, the probability of entering post-compulsory education, and income at ages 17-25. SN students and students at the lower end of the achievement distribution suffer most from higher inclusion. We analyze the effects of reallocation policies to alleviate negative externalities, and demonstrate that inclusion is preferable to segregation in terms of maximizing average test scores.

 

7. Summer-Born Struggle: The Effect of School Starting Age on Health, Education, and work (2020) Health Economics, 29, 591-607 (with Simone Balestra and Helge Liebert)

This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the impact of school starting age (SSA) from childhood through the labor market. We first study the effect of SSA on a child's probability of developing special educational needs in early grades. Children with a higher SSA are less likely to develop behavioral problems and speech impediments, whereas learning disabilities, ADHD, and dyslexia/dyscalculia remain unaffected. The SSA-effect persists throughout compulsory schooling, resulting inhigher test scores in grade eight and better-quality vocational training contracts. However, we find no effect on earnings and employment.

 

  

6. Disability, Gender and Race: Does Educational Attainment Reduce Earnings Disparity for All or Just Some? (2019) Personell Assessment and Decisions, 5(2), 91-99 (with David Baldridge, Mukta Kulkarni, and Richard Dirmyer)

While interest in research on persons with disabilities has grown steadily, these individuals continue to encounter workplace discrimination and remain marginalized and understudied. We draw on human capital and discrimination theories to propose and test hypotheses on the effects of educational attainment on earnings (in)equality for persons with disabilities and the moderating influence of gender and race using 885,950 records, including 40,438 persons with disabilities from the American Community Survey 2015. Consistent with human capital theory, we find that persons with disabilities benefit from greater educational attainment. yet consistent with discrimination theory, we find evidence that they are less likely to convert educational gains for master's and higher degrees into earning gains, and that women with disabilities may be doubly disadvantaged. These results, however, are mixed and complex. Considering the importance of harnessing diverse talent in organizations, we outline implications for research and practice toward reducing workplace discrimination.

 

5. Culture and Taxes (2019) Journal of Political Economy, 127(1), 296-337 (with Raphaël Parchet)

 

4. Income and substitution effects of a disability insurance reform (2019) Journal of Public Economics, 170, 1-14 (with Eva Deuchert)

 

3. Culture, Work attitudes, and job search: Evidence from the Swiss language border (2017) Journal of the European Economic Association, 15 (5), 1056-1100 (with Rafael Lalive, Andreas Steinhauer, and Josef Zweimüller)

 

2. Effects of a higher replacement rate on unemployment durations, employment, and earnings (2015) Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, 151 (1), 1-25

 

1. The Demand for Social Insurance. Does Culture Matter? (2011) Economic Journal, 121, F413-F448 (with Rafael Lalive, Andreas Steinhauer, and Josef Zweimüller)

 

 

Working Papers:

 

 

Work in Progress / Preparation:

  • Child health and parental labor market outcomes (with Caroline Chuard, Samuel Jong Kang, Sofia Sierra Vasquez)
  • Inclusive childcare and school trajectories of children with disabilities (with Joel Frischknecht and Sofia Sierra Vasquez)
  • On the mechanisms of ability peer effects (with Andrea Burro and Elisabeth Essbaumer)
  • Gender differences in the assessment of gifted students (with Kelli Marquardt and Aurélien Sallin)