Refereed Journals:
9. Ethnic Clustering in Schools and Early Career Outcomes (conditionally accepted) Economics of Education Review (with Caroline Chuard, Annatina Aerne, and Roland Hodler)
This study examines the impact of ethnic clustering during compulsory schooling on the career paths of ethnic minority students. We observe whether students upon completing compulsory school join an academic track, and field vocational education, a transition year or no further education. We show that the effect of foreign language peers depends on whether or not they speak the same foreign language as the observed student. A higher overall share of foreign language peers in a cohort increases the probability of these students entering vocational education at the expense of academic education. It also leads to lower projected earnings. Peers speaking the same foreign language as the student observed also increase the student's chances of joining vocational education, but at the expense of a transition year. Looking at mechanisms, we provide evidence that foreign language peers affect language acquisition negatively, but can provide positive network effects.
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)
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: