Research
The research conducted at the Chair for Microeconomics focuses on individual behavioural responses to changes in institutional settings and economic incentives, both in industrialized countries (Germany, UK) as well as in developing and emerging economies (Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Vietnam). A major research interest alludes to questions of how individuals and households respond to shifts in income levels and income variability.
The methodological focus is on the econometric estimation of behavioural parameters in the framework of quasi-experimental approaches. This includes the estimation of causal effects of policy interventions (e.g., the increase of the legal national minimum pension level in Ukraine) and environmental disasters.
At the same time, the team of the Chair designs, implements and analyzes household and labour force surveys. Over the past years, Prof. Danzer has established a household panel survey in Tajikistan in collaboration with the World Bank and the Institute for Eastern European Studies in Regensburg. The panel facilitates research on poverty and labour market issues. Furthermore, Prof. Danzer is affiliated with several research networks and Institutes (IZA Bonn, CESifo Munich, CReAM London, NIESR London) and cooperates with economists and geographers at the Universities of London, Munich, Sussex, Tartu, Umeå and Zurich.
Recent Publications:
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The economic value of bilingualism
In a new study published in the Journal of Development Studies, Alisher Aldashev and Alexander M. Danzer investigate whether bilingual workers earn more or less than monolingual workers. They examine wages and language skills of workers in Kazakhstan, a country which switched its official language from Russian to Kazakh. The results show that a national language policy can imply regionally heterogeneous effects depending, for instance, on the local language distribution and industrial structure as well as on quality differences in the educational system.
- Do workers in developing countries benefit from trade?
Can workers in developing countries take advantage of trade?
Alexander M. Danzer and Robert Grundke (OECD) answer this question by using fluctuations in the world market price for cotton and identifying the effects of higher export prices on the wages of poor agricultural workers in the cotton harvest, using the example of Tajikistan. The increased demand for workers during the high price episode doubles wages for cotton pickers on small private farms, but has no impact on wages on large parastatal farms. The different treatment of workers is due to market power and the continued use of coerced labor in large companies during the cotton harvest. Their work, which has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Development Economics, concludes that trade in developing countries produces winners and losers.
- New publication in Economic Development and Cultural Change
Alexander M. Danzer published his paper "Can Secondary Jobs Smooth Consumption? Evidence from Unanticipated Wage Arrears" in the Journal Economic Development and Cultural Change. The article can be accessed here.
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New publication in the Journal of Comparative Economics
Alexander M. Danzer and Barbara Dietz published their paper "Migrants’ well-being during the global financial crisis: Economic and social predictors" in the Journal of Comparative Economics. The article can be accessed here.
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New publication in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organisation
Alexander M. Danzer and Firat Yaman published the research paper "Ethnic concentration and language fluency of immigrants: Evidence from the guest-worker placement in Germany" in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. The article and its abstract can be found here.
- New publication in the Journal of Public Economics
Alexander M. Danzer Danzer and Natalia have published their research paper "The Long-Run Consequences of Chernobyl: Evidence on Subjective Well-Being, Mental Health and Welfare" in the prestigious Journal of Public Economics. The article can be found here.
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Call for papers: Special issue on The Future of Pensions: Reforms and Their Consequences
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) is devoting the May 2016 Issue of the National Institute Economic Review to The Future of Pensions: Reforms and Their Consequences, co-edited by Prof. Alexander Danzer (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt), Prof. Richard Disney (University of Sussex), Prof. Peter Dolton (University of Sussex) and Dr. Chiara Rosazza Bondibene (NIESR).
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Prof. Danzer participates in research project funded by the ESRC
Prof. Dr. Alexander M. Danzer participates in a research project funded by the British Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) on “Total Reward, the Great Recession and the Proposed Public Sector Pension Reforms: Evidence from the Public vs. Private Sectors in the UK”. The project, which is under the auspices of the University of Sussex, has a funding volume of more than €145,000. Co-investigators are Prof. Dolton (University of Sussex) and Dr. Rosazza-Bondibene (NIESR London).
Further information regarding the research project can be found here.