Document Actions
Sebastian Braun
CV and Research
Full Curriculum Vitae
Research
A. Selected Articles in Refereed Journals
Braun, Sebastian (2011), "Unionisation Structures, Productivity and Firm Performance: New Insights from a Heterogeneous Firm Model", Labour Economics, 18(1), pp. 120-129.
Bachmann, Ronald and Sebastian Braun (2011), "The Impact of International Outsourcing on Labour Market Dynamics in Germany", Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 58(1), pp. 1-28.
Braun, Sebastian, Nadja Dwenger and Dorothea Kübler (2010), "Telling the Truth May Not Pay Off: An Empirical Study of Centralised University Admissions in Germany", The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy (Advances), 10(1), Article 22.
Braun, Sebastian (2008), "Economic Integration, Process and Product Innovation, and Relative Skill Demand", Review of International Economics, 16(5), pp. 864-873.
Braun, Sebastian (2006), "Core Labour Standards and FDI: Friends or Foes? The Case of Child Labour", Review of World Economics / Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, 142(4), pp. 765-791.
B. Selected current research projects
Braun, Sebastian, Nadja Dwenger, Dorothea Kübler and Alexander Westkamp (2012). Implementing Quoats in University Admissions: An Experimental Analysis. Kiel Working Papers 1761 (status: submitted). Abstract: Quotas for special groups of students often apply in school or university admission procedures. This paper studies the performance of two mechanisms to implement such quotas in a lab experiment. The first mechanism is a simplified version of the mechanism currently employed by the German central clearinghouse for university admissions, which first allocates seats in the quota for top-grade students before allocating all other seats among remaining applicants. The second is a modified version of the student-proposing deferred acceptance (SDA) algorithm, which simultaneously allocates seats in all quotas. Our main result is that the current procedure, designed to give top-grade students an advantage, actually harms them, as students often fail to grasp the strategic issues involved. The modified SDA algorithm significantly improves the matching for top-grade students and could thus be a valuable tool for redesigning university admissions in Germany.
Braun, Sebastian and Toman Omar Mahmoud (2011). The Employment Effects of Immigration: Evidence from the Mass Arrival of German Expellees in post-war Germany. Kiel Working Papers 1725 (status: submitted).
Abstract: This paper studies the employment effects of the influx of millions of German expellees to West Germany after World War II. The expellees were forced to relocate to post-war Germany. They represented a complete cross-section of society, were close substitutes to the native West German population, and were very unevenly distributed across labor market segments in West Germany. We find a substantial negative effect of expellee inflows on native employment. The effect was, however, limited to labor market segments with very high inflow rates. IV regressions that exploit variation in geographical proximity and in pre-war occupations confirm the OLS results.
Bauer, Thomas K., Sebastian Braun and Michael Kvasnicka (2011). The Economic Integration of Forced Migrants. Evidence for Post-War Germany. Kiel Working Papers 1719 (status: revise and resubmit).
Abstract: The flight and expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe after World War II constitutes one of the largest forced population movements in history. We analyze the economic integration of these migrants and their offspring in West Germany. A quarter century after displacement, first generation migrants still tend to fare worse economically. Displaced agricultural workers, however, exhibit higher incomes than natives, as displacement caused large-scale transitions out of low-paid agriculture. Differences in economic outcomes of second generation migrants resemble those of the first generation. Displacement also weakened the intergenerational transmission in education between fathers and children, especially among the low skilled.
Braun, Sebastian and Michael Kvasnicka (2010), "Men,Women, and the Ballot. Gender Imbalances and Suffrage Extensions in US States", Kiel Working Papers 1625, revised 2011 (status: submitted).
The revised version can be found here.
Abstract: Woman suffrage led to one of the greatest enfranchisement in the history of the United States. Voting rights, however, were not won by force or threats thereof, a fact leading political economy theories find hard to explain. Studying the timing of suffrage extensions in US states between 1869 and 1919, we find that a scarcity of women strongly promoted early transitions to woman suffrage. Such scarcity, it appears, significantly reduced the political costs and risks for male grantors of the suffrage. It might also have made woman suffrage attractive as a means to attract more women.