Bombs, brains, and science : the role of human and physical capital for the creation of scientific knowledge [pre-print]

This paper analyzes the effects of human capital (HC) and physical capital (PC) for the productivity of science departments. To address the endogeneity of input choices I use two extensive but temporary shocks to the HC and PC of science departments. As HC shock I use the dismissal of mostly Jewish scientists in Nazi Germany. As PC shock I use the destruction of facilities by Allied bombings during WWII. In the short run, a 10 percent to HC lowered departmental productivity by about 0.21sd. A 10 percent shock to PC lowered departmental productivity by about 0.05sd in the short run. While the HC shock persisted until the end of my sample period (1980), departments experiencing a PC shock recovered very quickly (by 1961). Additional results show that the dismissal 'star scientists' was particularly detrimental, and that a fall in the quality of hires was an important mechanism for the persistence of the HC shock

Quality Matters - the Expulsion of Professors and Ph.D. Student Outcomes in Nazi Germany

I investigate the effect of faculty quality on Ph.D. student outcomes. To address the endogeneity of faculty quality I use exogenous variation provided by the expulsion of mathematics professors in Nazi Germany. I find that faculty quality is a very important determinant of short and long run Ph.D. student outcomes. A one standard deviation increase in faculty quality increases the probability of publishing the dissertation in a top journal by 13 percentage points, the probability of becoming full professor by 10 percentage points, the probability of having positive lifetime citations by 16 percentage points, and the number of lifetime citations by 6.3.PhD students, university quality, faculty quality, Nazi Germany, dismissal of professors

Studying abroad and the effect on international labor market mobility: evidence from the introduction of Erasmus

We investigate the e¤ect of studying abroad on international labor market mobility later in life for German university graduates. As a source of identifying variation, we exploit the introduction and expansion of the ERASMUS student exchange program, which significantly increases a student's probability of studying abroad. Using an Instrument Variable approach we control for unobserved heterogeneity between individuals who studied abroad and those who did not. Our results indicate that student exchange mobility is an important determinant of later international labor market mobility: We find that studying abroad increases an individual's probability of working in a foreign country by about 15 to 20 percentage points, suggesting that study abroad spells are an mportant channel to later outmigration. The results are robust to a number of specification checks

Studying Abroad and the Effect on International Labor Market Mobility: Evidence from the Introduction of Erasmus

We investigate the e¤ect of studying abroad on international labor market mobility later in life for German university graduates. As a source of identifying variation, we exploit the introduction and expansion of the ERASMUS student exchange program, which significantly increases a student's probability of studying abroad. Using an Instrument Variable approach we control for unobserved heterogeneity between individuals who studied abroad and those who did not. Our results indicate that student exchange mobility is an important determinant of later international labor market mobility: We find that studying abroad increases an individual's probability of working in a foreign country by about 15 to 20 percentage points, suggesting that study abroad spells are an mportant channel to later outmigration. The results are robust to a number of specification checks.

Studying Abroad and the Effect on International Labor Market Mobility: Evidence from the Introduction of ERASMUS

We investigate the effect of studying abroad on international labor market mobility later in life for university graduates. As a source of identifying variation, we exploit the introduction and expansion of the European ERASMUS student exchange program, which significantly increases a student’s probability of studying abroad. Using an Instrument Variable approach we control for unobserved heterogeneity between individuals who studied abroad and those who did not. Our results indicate that student exchange mobility is an important determinant of later international labor market mobility: We find that studying abroad increases an individual’s probability of working in a foreign country by about 15 to 20 percentage points, suggesting that study abroad spells are an important channel to later migration. We investigate heterogeneity in returns and find that studying abroad has a stronger effect for credit constrained students. Furthermore, we suggest mechanisms through which the effect of studying abroad may operate. Our results are robust to a number of specification checks.international mobility, migration, student exchange, education

Peer Effects in Science - Evidence from the Dismissal of Scientists in Nazi Germany

This paper analyzes peer effects among university scientists. Specifically, it investigates whether the number of peers and their average quality affects the productivity of researchers in physics, chemistry, and mathematics. The usual endogeneity problems related to estimating peer effects are addressed by using the dismissal of scientists by the Nazi government as a source of exogenous variation in the peer group of scientists staying in Germany. Using a newly constructed panel dataset covering the universe of physicists, chemists, and mathematicians at all German universities from 1925 until 1938 I investigate peer effects at the local level and among co-authors. There is no evidence for localized peer effects, as neither department level (e.g. the physics department) nor specialization level (e.g. all theoretical physicists in the department) peers affect a researcher's productivity. Among co-authors, however, there is strong and significant evidence that peer quality affects a researcher's productivity. Loosing a co-author of average quality reduces the productivity of an average scientist by about 13 percent in physics and 16.5 percent in chemistry.peer effects, Nazi Germany, science, university, higher education, spillovers, co-authors

Studying abroad and the effect on international labour market mobility: evidence from the introduction of ERASMUS

We investigate the effect of studying abroad on international labour market mobility later in life for university graduates. We exploit the introduction and expansion of the European ERASMUS student exchange programme as an instrument for studying abroad. We find that studying abroad increases an individual's probability of working in a foreign country by about 15 percentage points. We investigate heterogeneity in returns according to parental education and the student's financial situation. Furthermore, we suggest mechanisms through which the effect of studying abroad may operate

Frontier knowledge and scientific production: evidence from the collapse of international science

We show that WWI and the subsequent boycott against Central scientists severely interrupted international scientific cooperation. After 1914, citations to recent research from abroad decreased and paper titles became less similar (evaluated by Latent Semantic Analysis), suggesting a reduction in international knowledge flows. Reduced international scientific cooperation led to a decline in the production of basic science and its application in new technology. Specifically, we compare productivity changes for scientists who relied on frontier research from abroad, to changes for scientists who relied on frontier research from home. After 1914, scientists who relied on frontier research from abroad published fewer papers in top scientific journals, produced less Nobel Prize-nominated research, introduced fewer novel scientific words, and introduced fewer novel words that appeared in the text of subsequent patent grants. The productivity of scientists who relied on top 1% research declined twice as much as the productivity of scientists who relied on top 3% research. Furthermore, highly prolific scientists experienced the starkest absolute productivity declines. This suggests that access to the very best research is key for scientific and technological progres

Education and mobility

This thesis analyses interconnections between educational policies and different aspects of mobility. In the first chapter I use the dismissal of scientists in Nazi Germany to analyse peer effects among university scientists. The usual problems related to estimating peer effects are addressed by using the dismissal of researchers by the Nazi government as a source of exogenous variation in the scientists' peer group. Using a dataset of all physicists, chemists, and mathematicians at all German universities from 1925 until 1938 I investigate spillovers at different levels of peer interactions. There is no evidence for peer effects at the department level or the specialization level. I find, however, that peer quality matters for coauthors. Losing a coauthor of average quality reduces the productivity of a scientist by about 12.5 percent in physics and 16.5 percent in chemistry. The second chapter analyses the effect of studying abroad on international labour market mobility later in life. I have collaborated with Matthias Parey for this research project. We exploit the introduction of the ERASMUS student exchange programme as a source of exogenous variation in student mobility. Our results indicate that student exchange mobility is an important determinant of international labour market mobility: Studying abroad increases an individual's probability of working in a foreign country by about 15 to 20 percentage points. We investigate heterogeneity in returns and find that studying abroad has a stronger effect for credit constrained students. The last chapter of the thesis investigates the effect of school tracking on social mobility of students. In particular I investigate whether ability tracking exacerbates the role of parental background for students' educational achievement. Using microdata from different educational studies I exploit cross-country variation in tracking policies to identify the effect of tracking. Controlling for unobserved country level variables using difference-in-differences, I find no increase in the importance of a student's family background after tracking has taken place. This result runs contrary to the findings of the current literature. I show that the results of the existing literature are not robust to slight changes in specification

Does Ability Tracking Exacerbate the Role of Family Background for Student's Test Scores?

This study investigates whether ability tracking exacerbates the role of parental background for studentseducational test scores. Using microdata from di¤erent edu-cational studies, PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS, this paper exploits the cross-country vari-ation in tracking policies to identify the e¤ect of tracking. Controlling for unobserved country level variables using di¤erence-in-di¤erences, I \u85nd that family background is more important in early tracking countries but that the importance of family back-ground does not increase after actual tracking has taken place. This suggests that tracking does not augment the role of family background for students test scores. Factors other than tracking are more likely to be responsible for the fact that family background is more important in early tracking countries. This result runs contrary to the \u85ndings of the current literature. In support of my \u85ndings, I show that the results of the current literature are not robust to slight changes in speci\u85cation.