Do Unions Shape Political Ideologies at Work? (with Johannes Matzat)

Latest version, CESifo Working Paper No. 10301 (2023)

Abstract: Labor unions’ greatest potential for political influence likely arises from their direct connection to millions of individuals at the workplace. There, they may change the ideological positions of both unionizing workers and their non-unionizing management. In this paper, we analyze the workplace-level impact of unionization on workers’ and managers’ political campaign contributions over the 1980-2016 period in the United States. To do so, we link establishment-level union election data with transaction-level campaign contributions to federal and local candidates. In a difference-in-differences design that we validate with regression discontinuity tests and a novel instrumental variables approach, we find that unionization leads to a leftward shift of campaign contributions. Unionization increases the support for Democrats relative to Republicans not only among workers but also among managers, which speaks against an increase in political cleavages between the two groups. We provide evidence that our results are not driven by compositional changes of the workforce and are weaker in states with Right-to-Work laws where unions can invest fewer resources in political activities. 

Presentations: [2024] Verein für Socialpolitik (Berlin), IZA Summer School (Bonn), Midwest Political Science Association (Chicago), Harvard Political Economy Workshop (Cambridge), [2023] EALE Conference (Prague), EEA-ESEM Congress (Barcelona), ESPE Annual Conference (Belgrade), Society for Institutional & Organizational Economics (Frankfurt), IAAEU Colloquium on Economics (Trier), Research Seminar in Economics (Potsdam), [2022] ifo Workshop on Political Economy (Dresden), Development Economics Seminar (Göttingen), GlaD-DENeB Workshop (Göttingen), Beyond Basic Questions Workshop (Bern), BSoE Summer Workshop (Berlin), Research Seminar for Applied Microeconomics (FU Berlin)

Awards: 2nd place of the European Public Choice Society Wicksell Prize 2023 

Coverd in The Hammer by Hamilton Nolan 

Racial Peer Effects at Work: Evidence from Worker Deaths in Brazil (with Katharina Fietz)

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 10899

Abstract: This paper studies the impact of working with same-race coworkers on individuals’ retention at firms. Using administrative employer-employee data from Brazil, the paper exploits unexpected deaths of workers from different racial groups as exogenous shocks to peer group composition. The findings show that a decrease in the non-white share of coworkers reduces the retention of non-white workers but does not affect the retention of white workers. The effects are driven by non-whites quitting and moving to new jobs with more peers of the same race than in their old jobs. The findings highlight how peer dynamics can contribute to racial segregation across workplaces.

Presentations: [2024] EEA-ESEM Congress (Rotterdam), ICDE (Aix-en-Provence), ESPE Annual Conference (Rotterdam), Economics PhD Conference (Warwick), GDE Conference (Hanover), RIDGE Workshop on Public Economics (Santiago de Chile), EUDN PhD Workshop (Paris), Doctorissimes PhD Conference (Paris), BeNA 20 Year Conference (Berlin), RGS Doctoral Conference (Essen), ROCKWOOL Foundation Graduate Student Seminar (Berlin), DENeB Workshop (Berlin)

The Accuracy of Job Seekers' Wage Expectations (with Marco Caliendo, Robert Mahlstedt, and Sophie Wagner)

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17198

Abstract: We study the accuracy of job seekers’ wage expectations by comparing subjective beliefs to objective benchmarks using linked administrative and survey data. Our findings show that especially job seekers with low objective earnings potential and those predicted to face a penalty compared to their pre-unemployment wage display overly optimistic wage expectations. Moreover, wage optimism is amplified by increased job search incentives and job seekers with overoptimistic wage expectations tend to overestimate their reemployment chances. We discuss the labor market implications of wage optimism, as well as the role of information frictions and motivated beliefs as sources of overoptimism.

Presentations: [2024] SOLE Annual Meeting (Portland), [2023] EALE Conference (Prague), ESPE Annual Conference (Belgrade), [2022] BeNA Winter Workshop (Berlin), Verein für Socialpolitik (Basel)