Research
The Chair's research projects deal with individual behavioral adaptations to changing institutional framework conditions and economic incentive systems both in industrialized countries (Germany, Great Britain) and in emerging and developing countries (Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Vietnam). The focus is often on the question of how individuals and households react to income fluctuations and uncertainty. The methodological focus of the work is on the econometric estimation of behavioral parameters using quasi-experimental approaches. This involves estimating the causal effects of policy interventions (e.g. raising the legally guaranteed minimum pension in Ukraine) or environmental disasters.
At the same time, the team at the Chair is involved in the design, implementation and analysis of household surveys and surveys on employment. In recent years, for example, a household panel survey on labor market and poverty issues has been conducted in Tajikistan in international research collaboration with the World Bank and the Institute for East European Studies in Regensburg. Further research collaborations exist with economists and geographers from the universities of London, Munich, Sussex, Tartu, Umeå and Zurich.