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.
Discussion papers
No. 52/26 - February 2026
Internal Pay Equity and the Quantity-Quality Trade-Off in Hiring
Michael Amior, Shmuel San
No. 51/26 - February 2026
Using distributional random forests for the analysis of the income distribution
Martin Biewen, Stefan Glaisner, Simon Zeller
No. 50/26 - February 2026
Classrooms as Workplaces: How Student Composition Affects Teacher Health
Krzysztof Karbownik, Helena Svaleryd, Jonas Vlachos, Xuemeng Wang
No. 49/26 - February 2026
Extractive Taxation and the French Revolution
Tommaso Giommoni, Gabriel Loumeau, Marco Tabellini
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
