swiss institute for empirical economic research

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Empirical economics and econometrics, macroeconomics.

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All secondary employments of our professors and assistant professors are managed centrally by the University of St.Gallen:

Declared secondary occupations of HSG lecturers

Winfried Koeniger

Managing Director

Michael Lechner

Beatrix Eugster

Markus Kondziella

Assistant Professor

Johanna Kutz

Jana Mareckova

Arnau Valladares-Esteban

Hugo Bodory

Elisabeth Essbaumer

Sofia Sierra

Ana Paula Armendariz Pacheco

PhD student

Nora Bearth

Jonas Bruhin

Andrea Burro

Hannah Busshoff

Joel Frischknecht

Louisa Hizli

Samuel Jong Kang

Peter Kress

Federica Mascolo

Irène Meyer

Office Manager

Fabian Muny

Linda Fiorina Odermatt

Oleksandra Ricchello

Lion Szlagowski

Elin Zürcher

I am Professor of Economics at the Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research   at the University of St. Gallen . I studied economics at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) and the University of Skövde (Sweden). In 2012, I attained a PhD in economics from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and joined the University of St. Gallen.

My main areas of research include health and labor economics, applied econometrics, and public economics with a focus on disability and integration. I studied the importance of culture for different outcomes, such as unemployment durations and the demand for social insurance. I am also interested in optimal design of (social) insurances, especially unemployment, disability, and health insurance. Recent research focusses on the education of children with learning disabilities and their influence on non-disabled peers.

- The project "Climbing Together: Exploring the impact of Peer Influence on Study Effort and Intergenerational Income Mobility" (with E. Essbaumer) will be funded by the SNSF (2024-2026)

- The project "Child disability, parental employment, and inclusive childcare" (with C. Chuard) will be funded by the SNSF (2024-2027)

- Check out our CEPR working paper "Misclassification in Linear-in-Means Models: Theory and Application to Peer Effects Estimation" (with S. Balestra, F. Puljic)

- Check out our CEPR working paper "Ethnic Clustering in Schools and Early Career Outcomes" (with C. Chuard, A. Aerne, R. Hodler)

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• Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research

The Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research is linking scientific research and economic policy consultancy. The Institute is led and managed by the Directors and Professors Monika Bütler, Michael Lechner und Winfried Koeniger. .

The main activities at the Institute are scientific research and economic policy consultancy. The strategic success of the Institute lies in conducting intensive basic research which provides the foundation for consulting of governments and private organisations.

The research focuses on:

• Labor Economics
• Economic Policy
• Social Insurance
• Consumption and Household Finance
• Macroeconomics
• Microeconomics
• Political Economics
• Health Economics
• Sports Economics

For our analyses we use econometric methods and quantitative methods for simulations and computations based on general equilibrium models.  

For more information please look at our list of research projects on this website and the individual homepages of our members. Most of the recent papers, books and presentations are available for download.

The Insitute plays an important role in the education of students and the General public at the University of St. Gallen.

Our teaching activities focus on:

• Game Theory
• Econometrics and Applications in Labor and Financial Markets at the Bachelor, Master and Doctoral Levels at the University of St.Gallen.

We strongly emphasis on the practical application of the methods thaught, so that about a third of courses takes place at PCs in the laboratory.

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University of St.Gallen

• Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen

Contact Information

[email protected]

Contact Email

+41 (0)71 224 23 20

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Varnbüelstrasse 14

9000 Sankt Gallen , Switzerland

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Prof. Winfried Koeniger

Winfried Koeniger is Professor of Economics at the University of St.Gallen and Director of the Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research. He has received several grants and awards during his academic career.

Professor Koeniger studies how monetary and fiscal policies transmit to household portfolios and consumption. Concerning monetary policies, he finds that differences in homeownership account for much of the cross-country differences in consumption responses to policy rate changes. Regarding fiscal policies, he is particularly interested in the macroprudential implications of tax incentives that affect mortgage incidence and portfolio allocation. Tax deductions for mortgage interest payments, which exist in many developed economies, shift the tax burden from the young and indebted to old and wealthy homeowners. At the same time, more generous tax deductions for voluntary pension contributions change the portfolio of the working-age population toward less liquid pension savings. The analysis illustrates the macroprudential consequences of these effects.

Expertise Fields

• Central Banks and Monetary Policy
• Financial Crises
• Personal Finance and Household Choices
• Real Estate

Current Publications:

N°24-105: consumption expenditures in austria & germany: new evidence based on transactional data, n°24-58: the effect of unconventional fiscal policy on consumption – new evidence based on transactional data, n°22-86: the heterogeneous response of real estate asset prices to a global shock, swiss finance institute - geneva.

University of Geneva 42, Bd du Pont d`Arve CH-1211 Geneva 4

Swiss Finance Institute - Zurich

Walchestrasse 9 CH-8006 Zurich

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Negative effects of long parental leave on maternal health: Evidence from a substantial policy change in Austria

Affiliation.

• 1 University of St. Gallen, Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research, Varnbühlstrasse 14, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland. Electronic address: [email protected].
• PMID: 36702658
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2023.102726

I study the effect of parental leave duration on maternal health in the short- to medium-run leveraging variation in parental leave duration induced by an Austrian policy reform in the year 2000. Using rich administrative data and a regression discontinuity framework, I find that long parental leave of 2.5 years instead of 1.5 years deteriorates maternal health. Worse mental health mainly drives this effect. Alternative channels such as differential fertility, long-term employment effects, a change in disposable income or alternative mode of childcare are unlikely to be of main importance. There is substantial heterogeneity with longer leave spells being less harmful for mothers with unhealthy babies proxied by low birth weight.

Keywords: Maternal health; Mental health; Parental leave; Regression discontinuity.

Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Publication types

• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
• Austria / epidemiology
• Maternal Health*
• Mothers / psychology
• Parental Leave*