Research

RFBerlin’s research has a strong economic focus, with an emphasis on applied and data driven research on significant and relevant challenges to the welfare state in a global world. Our work is carried out impartially and based on objective scientific principles, adhering to the highest standards of academic excellence. The goals of our research are to inform, to raise the standard of public debate and to create the best possible basis for political decision making.

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ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin
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Agenda

RFBerlin’s research agenda is organised into 3 main themes.

Equity, Inclusion & Opportunity
Equity, Inclusion & Opportunity
Migration & Global Collaboration
Migration & Global Collaboration
Technology, Trade & Human Capital
Technology, Trade & Human Capital

Discussion papers

No. 152/25 - December 2025

From Root Causes to Shared Gains: Migration Policy for Low-Income Countries in a Labor-Scarce World

Michael A. Clemens

No. 151/25 - December 2025

Online Tutoring, School Performance, and School-to-Work Transitions: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Silke Anger, Bernhard Christoph, Agata Galkiewicz, Shushanik Margaryan, Malte Sandner, Thomas Siedler

No. 150/25 - December 2025

Expected Asylum Seekers and Far-Right Voting: Effects of a Dispersal Act

Joop Adema

No. 149/25 - December 2025

How Early Career Choices Adjust to Economic Crises

Julien Grenet, Hans Grönqvist, Edvin Hertegård, Martin Nybom, Jan Stuhler

Publications

American Economic Journal, August 2025

Terrorism and Voting: The Rise of Right-Wing Populism in Germany

Navid Sabet, Marius Liebald, Guido Friebel

Social Forces, June 2025

Competing social influence in contested diffusion: contention and the spread of the early reformation

Sascha Becker, Yuan Hsiao, Steven Pfaff, Jared Rubin

Journal of Labor Economics, April 2025

Permanent Residency and Refugee Immigrants’ Skill Investment

Jacob Nielsen Arendt, Christian Dustmann & Hyejin Ku

Journal of Political Economy, March 2025

There’s More to Marriage Than Love: The Effect of Legal Status and Cultural Distance on Intermarriages and Separations

Jérôme Adda, Paolo Pinotti & Giulia Tura

Journal of Public Economics, February 2025

The big sell: Privatizing East Germany’s economy

Moritz Lubczyk, Moritz Hennicke, Lukas Mergele

Journal of Labor Economics, January 2025

Permanent Residency and Refugee Immigrants’ Skill Investment

Jacob Nielsen Arendt , Christian Dustmann , and Hyejin Ku