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Sascha O. Becker

University of Warwick, UK, Monash University, Australia, and IZA, Germany

IZA World of Labor is a useful reference for academics and policymakers alike

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Professor of Economics, University of Warwick, UK and Xiaokai Yang Chair of Business and Economics at Monash University, Australia

Research interest

Economic history, labor economics, education economics, public economics

Website

http://www.sobecker.de/

Past positions

Professor, University of Stirling, 2008–2010; Assistant Professor, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2002–2008

Qualifications

PhD Economics, European University Institute, 2001

Selected publications

  • “Multiplex Network Ties and the Spatial Diffusion of Radical Innovations: Martin Luther's Leadership in the Early Reformation” (with Yuan Hsiao, Steven Pfaff and Jared Rubin), 2020, American Sociological Review 85(5): 857-894. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122420948059

  • “Forced Migration and Human Capital: Evidence from Post-WWII Population Transfers” (with Irena Grosfeld, Pauline A. Grosjean, Nico Voigtländer and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya), 2020, American Economic Review, 110 (5): 1430–1463. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20181518

  • “Religion, Division of Labor and Conflict: Anti-Semitism in Germany over 600 Years” (with Luigi Pascali), 2019, American Economic Review, 109 (5): 1764–1804. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20170279

  • “Margins of multinational labor substitution.” American Economic Review 100:5 (2010): 1999–2030 (with M.-A. Muendler). https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.100.5.1999

  • “Was Weber Wrong? A human capital theory of protestant economic history.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124:2 (2009): 531–596 (with L. Woessmann) https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2009.124.2.531

article(s)

  • Using instrumental variables to establish causality Updated

    Even with observational data, causality can be recovered with the help of instrumental variables estimation

    Grigory AleksinSascha O. Becker, September 2024
    Randomized control trials are often considered the gold standard to establish causality. However, in many policy-relevant situations, these trials are not possible. Instrumental variables affect the outcome only via a specific treatment; as such, they allow for the estimation of a causal effect. However, finding valid instruments is difficult. Moreover, instrumental variables (IV) estimates recover a causal effect only for a specific part of the population. While those limitations are important, the objective of establishing causality remains; and instrumental variables are an important econometric tool to achieve this objective.
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  • Using instrumental variables to establish causality

    Even with observational data, causality can be recovered with the help of instrumental variables estimation

    Sascha O. Becker, April 2016
    Randomized control trials are often considered the gold standard to establish causality. However, in many policy-relevant situations, these trials are not possible. Instrumental variables affect the outcome only via a specific treatment; as such, they allow for the estimation of a causal effect. However, finding valid instruments is difficult. Moreover, instrumental variables estimates recover a causal effect only for a specific part of the population. While those limitations are important, the objective of establishing causality remains; and instrumental variables are an important econometric tool to achieve this objective.
    MoreLess