Research
Our team applies quantitative methods to the study of economic history.
Core research areas are the labour market effects of immigration (Research Area I), social mobility and the integration of immigrants in historical perspective (Research Area II) and the causes of regional differences in economic development (Research Area III). As quantitative economic historians, we typically use microeconometric methods for identifying cause-effect relationships.
Recent and current research projects have, for instance, addressed the following question:
How did the West German labour market adjust to one of the largest forced population movements in history, the mass inflow of German expellees after World War II?
How did the local environment in receiving counties affect the economic, social, and political integration of expellees?
To what degree did the social status of ancestors (parents, grandparents and great-grandparents) predict one’s own social status in 19th and 20th century Germany?
What was the effect of the railway on the economic development of the Kingdom of Wurttemberg in the 19th and early 20th century?
How persistent is the economic integration between European regions in the very long run (from antiquity to the present)?
Our current research on the economic integration of forced migrants in post-war Germany and their effects on the German economy is supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation.