RFBerlin Talks

Project leader Andrea Weber, a professor of economics at the Central European University in Vienna, brings the first season of RFBerlin Talks to a close with her work on intra-European Union migration, specifically between Austria and Germany. Andrea highlights the lack of comprehensive data on these movements, emphasizing the importance of understanding their effects and policy implications. Her research aims to explore how labor mobility aligns with the European Union's principles while addressing the challenges stemmed from institutional differences across member countries. 

Project leader Jan Nimczik, an assistant professor of economics at the European School of Management Technology (ESMT) in Berlin, discusses his research on labor markets and migration. How did the German reunification, a major shock to the East German labor market, influence migration decisions? How personal connections act as a driver of mobility, especially in times of rapid changes? Join us in this episode to learn more about network effects and migration responses.

In this podcast, project leader Albrecht Glitz, an associate professor at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, shares his journey as a labor economist with a unique twist: a research interest in espionage. Albrecht's research is based on a remarkable data set from the East German secret service during the Cold War, offering unprecedented insights into espionage activities. How did they get access to such data? What is the connection between economic espionage, globalisation, and welfare? Join us in this episode to find out more.

Project Leader Guido Friebel, professor of human resources at Goethe University in Frankfurt,  discusses his research on co-determination within firms with a focus on Denmark's model of worker committees. These committees, distinct from traditional worker councils, emphasize cooperation and trust between management and employees.  Tune in to explore the complex relationship between workers and firms in Europe, and the impact of co-determination on profitability, worker well-being and workplace quality.

Project Leader Sascha Becker is a professor of economics and Xiaokai Yang Chair of Business and Economics at Monash University, Melbourne and part-time professor at the University of Warwick in England. In this podcast, Sascha discusses project at RFBerlin, which aims to unravel the historic roots of regional disparities, tracing economic development over 150 years in Germany. To find out how this fascinating study is carried out and its implications, join us in this episode.

In this podcast, Project Leader Thomas Cornelissen, Professor of Economics from the University of Essex, discusses his research project funded by the ROCKWOOL Foundation. Thomas is motivated by the evolving nature of work and the increasing importance of peer effects and social interactions, especially in today's changing work environment, including remote work. He highlights the complex interplay between learning from co-workers and competition among colleagues and its implications for businesses seeking to harness these effects for workforce improvement.

In this podcast, we explore the research of Jérôme Adda, an Economics professor at Bocconi and Project Leader at RFBerlin. Jérôme discusses his ROCKWOOL Foundation-funded projects, combining his background in biology with economics. The first project tackles the pressing issue of antibiotics resistance, an extensively studied medical challenge that remains relatively unexplored in economics. The second project focuses on changes in population health as economies shift from manufacturing to service jobs. Tune in to gain insights into these thought-provoking studies at the intersection of economics, biology, and societal dynamics.

Tommaso Frattini is a Deputy Director of RFBerlin and a Professor of Economics at University of Milan. In this episode he introduces Global Migration Information Hub (GMIH), an initiative to disseminative knowledge on migration. By piecing together data and information from different sources, GMIH aims to bridge the gap between facts and perception. Tommaso talks about critical issues related to migration and refugees, and how GMIH strives to facilitate research on this topic. In addition, the interactive visualisation dashboard, available on the hub, provides a comprehensive picture to a wider audience, from journalists and policy makers to the general public. Join us on this episode to learn how GMIH intends to contribute to the heated debate on migration in a politically neutral way.

Alexandra Spitz-Oener, Deputy Director of RFBerlin, Professor of Economics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and a research associate at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg, talks about her research on how machines and workers interact in the workplace from a long term perspective. From the introduction of computers in the late 1970s and the 1980s, robots in the 1990s, to artificial intelligence in more recent time, what implications technology adoption have on the nature of work: disappearing jobs and/or arrival of new jobs, changing quality of jobs and task contents over time? Alexandra's research aims to answer questions of this type and address (lack of evidence-based) concerns over displacement of workers. Join us on this episode to learn more about the data employed, the upside and downside of technological changes, as well as challenges faced by firms in order to fully reap the benefits of machines and technologies.

Christian Dustmann, Director of ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin Institute for the Economy and the Future of Work (RFBerlin), Professor of Economics at University College London, Director at Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), opens our podcast series by introducing the Institute, its stellar team, its research focuses, and its mission on development of the next generation of scholars. 

Our series will then go on with interviews of our Project Leaders, who briefly talk about their own research and the projects they are currently working on at RFBerlin. Join us as we explore a diverse range of topics, including employment trends, wage dynamics, labor market inequalities, technological advances, migration, the gig economy, skills development, and the future of work.