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.

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. 120/26 - April 2026

Asymmetric Fertility Elasticities

Sam Engle, Chong Pang, Anson Zhou

No. 119/26 - April 2026

Cultural Adaptation and the Uneven Emergence of Large-Scale Cooperation

Oded Galor

No. 118/26 - April 2026

Pre-AI Sorting, Post-AI Inequality: Generative AI and the Gender Wage Gap

Joacim Tåg, Fredrik Heyman, Malin Gardberg, Martin Olsson

No. 117/26 - April 2026

Buying Out the Means of Production: Wages and Productivity in Labor-Managed Firms

Elia Benveniste

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