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Professor Dr Simon Wiederhold

Professor Dr Simon Wiederhold
Current Position

since 4/23

Senior Research Advisor in the Department of Structural Change and Productivity

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association

since 4/23

Professor of Labour Economics

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

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Research Interests
  • labour economics
  • education economics
  • behavioural and experimental economics

Simon Wiederhold is Professor of Labour Economics at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Senior Research Advisor at the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) since 2023. In his research, he investigates causes and consequences of inequality in the education system. He is also interested in the future of the labour market.

Simon Wiederhold received his master's degree and his PhD from Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Between 2011 and 2017, he was a post-doc at the ifo Institute Munich. Prior to joining IWH, he was a Professor of Macroeconomics at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. Simon Wiederhold stayed at Duke University during his PhD studies and visited Harvard University as a post-doc.

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Professor Dr Simon Wiederhold
Professor Dr Simon Wiederhold
Mitglied - Department Structural Change and Productivity
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Publications

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Males Should Mail? Gender Discrimination in Access to Childcare

Henning Hermes Philipp Lergetporer Fabian Mierisch Frauke Peter Simon Wiederhold

in: American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, forthcoming

Abstract

We construct country-level measures of teacher cognitive skills using unique assessment data for 31 countries. We find substantial differences in teacher cognitive skills across countries that are strongly related to student performance. Results are supported by fixed-effects estimation exploiting within-country between-subject variation in teacher skills. A series of robustness and placebo tests indicate a systematic influence of teacher skills as distinct from overall differences among countries in the level of cognitive skills. Moreover, observed country variations in teacher cognitive skills are significantly related to differences in women’s access to high-skill occupations outside teaching and to salary premiums for teachers.

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Can Mentoring Alleviate Family Disadvantage in Adolescence? A Field Experiment to Improve Labor-Market Prospects

Sven Resnjanskij Jens Ruhose Simon Wiederhold Ludger Woessmann

in: Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming

Abstract

We study a mentoring program that aims to improve the labor-market prospects of school-attending adolescents from disadvantaged families by offering them a university-student mentor. Our RCT investigates program effectiveness on three outcome dimensions that are highly predictive of later labor-market success: math grades, patience/social skills, and labor-market orientation. For low-SES adolescents, the mentoring increases a combined index of the outcomes by over half a standard deviation after one year, with significant increases in each dimension. Part of the treatment effect is mediated by establishing mentors as attachment figures who provide guidance for the future. Effects on grades and labor-market orientation, but not on patience/social skills, persist three years after program start. By that time, the mentoring also improves early realizations of school-to-work transitions for low-SES adolescents. The mentoring is not effective for higher-SES adolescents. The results show that substituting lacking family support by other adults can help disadvantaged children at adolescent age.

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Returns to ICT Skills

Oliver Falck Alexandra Heimisch-Roecker Simon Wiederhold

in: Research Policy, No. 7, 2021

Abstract

How important is mastering information and communication technology (ICT) on modern labor markets? We answer this question with unique data on ICT skills tested in 19 countries. Our two instrumental-variable models exploit technologically induced variation in broadband Internet availability that gives rise to variation in ICT skills across countries and German municipalities. We find statistically and economically significant returns to ICT skills. For instance, an increase in ICT skills similar to the gap between an average-performing and a top-performing country raises earnings by about 8 percent. One mechanism driving positive returns is selection into occupations with high abstract task content.

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Working Papers

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Discrimination on the Child Care Market: A Nationwide Field Experiment

Henning Hermes Philipp Lergetporer Fabian Mierisch Frauke Peter Simon Wiederhold

in: CESifo Working Paper, No. 10368, 2023

Abstract

We provide the first causal evidence of discrimination against migrants seeking child care. We send emails from fictitious parents to > 18, 000 early child care centers across Germany, asking if there is a slot available and how to apply. Randomly varying names to signal migration background, we find that migrants receive 4.4 percentage points fewer responses. Responses to migrants also contain substantially fewer slot offers, are shorter, and less encouraging. Exploring channels, discrimination against migrants does not differ by the perceived educational background of the email sender. However, it does differ by regional characteristics, being stronger in areas with lower shares of migrants in child care, higher right-wing vote shares, and lower financial resources. Discrimination on the child care market likely perpetuates existing inequalities of opportunities for disadvantaged children.

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Where Do STEM Graduates Stem From? The Intergenerational Transmission of Comparative Skill Advantages

Eric A. Hanushek Babs Jacobs Guido Schwerdt Rolf van der Velden Stan Vermeulen Simon Wiederhold

in: NBER Working Paper, No. 31186, 2023

Abstract

The standard economic model of occupational choice following a basic Roy model emphasizes individual selection and comparative advantage, but the sources of comparative advantage are not well understood. We employ a unique combination of Dutch survey and registry data that links math and language skills across generations and permits analysis of the intergenerational transmission of comparative skill advantages. Exploiting within-family between-subject variation in skills, we show that comparative advantages in math of parents are significantly linked to those of their children. A causal interpretation follows from a novel IV estimation that isolates variation in parent skill advantages due to their teacher and classroom peer quality. Finally, we show the strong influence of family skill transmission on children’s choices of STEM fields.

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The Value of Early-Career Skills

Christina Langer Simon Wiederhold

in: CESifo Working Paper, No. 10288, 2023

Abstract

We develop novel measures of early-career skills that are more detailed, comprehensive, and labor-market-relevant than existing skill proxies. We exploit that skill requirements of apprenticeships in Germany are codified in state-approved, nationally standardized apprenticeship plans. These plans provide more than 13,000 different skills and the exact duration of learning each skill. Following workers over their careers in administrative data, we find that cognitive, social, and digital skills acquired during apprenticeship are highly – yet differently – rewarded. We also document rising returns to digital and social skills since the 1990s, with a more moderate increase in returns to cognitive skills.

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Do Role Models Matter in Large Classes? New Evidence on Gender Match Effects in Higher Education

Simon Wiederhold Stephan Maurer Guido Schwerdt

in: CESifo Working Paper, No. 10208, 2023

Abstract

We study whether female students benefit from being taught by female professors, and whether such gender match effects differ by class size. We use administrative records of a German public university, covering all programs and courses between 2006 and 2018. We find that gender match effects on student performance are sizable in smaller classes, but do not exist in larger classes. This difference suggests that direct and frequent interactions between students and professors are important for the emergence of gender match effects. Instead, the mere fact that one's professor is female is not sufficient to increase performance of female students.

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Early Child Care and Labor Supply of Lower-SES Mothers: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Henning Hermes Marina Krauss Philipp Lergetporer Frauke Peter Simon Wiederhold

in: CESifo Working Paper, No. 10178, 2022

Abstract

We present experimental evidence that enabling access to universal early child care for families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) increases maternal labor supply. Our intervention provides families with customized help for child care applications, resulting in a large increase in enrollment among lower-SES families. The treatment increases lower-SES mothers' full-time employment rates by 9 percentage points (+160%), household income by 10%, and mothers' earnings by 22%. The effect on full-time employment is largely driven by increased care hours provided by child care centers and fathers. Overall, the treatment substantially improves intra-household gender equality in terms of child care duties and earnings.

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Skill Mismatch and the Costs of Job Displacement

Frank Neffke Ljubica Nedelkoska Simon Wiederhold

in: CESifo Working Paper, No. 9703, 2022

Abstract

When workers are displaced from their jobs in mass layoffs or firm closures, they experience lasting adverse labor market consequences. We study how these consequences vary with the amount of skill mismatch that workers experience when returning to the labor market. Using novel measures of skill redundancy and skill shortage, we analyze individuals' work histories in Germany between 1975 and 2010. We estimate difference-in-differences models, using a sample in which we match displaced workers to statistically similar non-displaced workers. We find that displacements increase the probability of occupational change eleven fold, and that the type of skill mismatch after displacement is strongly associated with the magnitude of post-displacement earnings losses. Whereas skill shortages are associated with relatively quick returns to the counterfactual earnings trajectories that displaced workers would have experienced absent displacement, skill redundancy sets displaced workers on paths with permanently lower earnings.

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Individualism, Human Capital Formation, and Labor Market Success

Katharina Hartinger Sven Resnjanskij Jens Ruhose Simon Wiederhold

in: CESifo Working Paper, No. 9391, 2021

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate about the economic effects of individualism. We establish that individualism leads to better educational and labor market outcomes. Using data from the largest international adult skill assessment, we identify the effects of individualism by exploiting variation between migrants at the origin country, origin language, and person level. Migrants from more individualistic cultures have higher cognitive skills and larger skill gains over time. They also invest more in their skills over the life-cycle, as they acquire more years of schooling and are more likely to participate in adult education activities. In fact, individualism is more important in explaining adult skill formation than any other cultural trait that has been emphasized in previous literature. In the labor market, more individualistic migrants earn higher wages and are less often unemployed. We show that our results cannot be explained by selective migration or omitted origin-country variables.

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Behavioral Barriers and the Socioeconomic Gap in Child Care Enrollment

Henning Hermes Philipp Lergetporer Frauke Peter Simon Wiederhold

in: CESifo Working Paper, No. 9282, 2021

Abstract

Children with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to benefit more from early child care, but are substantially less likely to be enrolled. We study whether reducing behavioral barriers in the application process increases enrollment in child care for lower-SES children. In our RCT in Germany with highly subsidized child care (n > 600), treated families receive application information and personal assistance for applications. For lower-SES families, the treatment increases child care application rates by 21 pp and enrollment rates by 16 pp. Higher-SES families are not affected by the treatment. Thus, alleviating behavioral barriers closes half of the SES gap in early child care enrollment.

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The Effects of Graduating from High School in a Recession: College Investments, Skill Formation, and Labor-Market Outcomes

Franziska Hampf Marc Piopiunik Simon Wiederhold

in: CESifo Working Paper, No. 8252, 2020

Abstract

We investigate the short- and long-term effects of economic conditions at high-school graduation as a source of exogenous variation in the labor-market opportunities of potential college entrants. Exploiting business cycle fluctuations across birth cohorts for 28 developed countries, we find that bad economic conditions at high-school graduation increase college enrollment and graduation. They also affect outcomes in later life, increasing cognitive skills and improving labor-market success. Outcomes are affected only by the economic conditions at high-school graduation, but not by those during earlier or later years. Recessions at high-school graduation narrow the gender gaps in numeracy skills and labor-market success.

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Keywords

Labour Market Behaviour
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