Benjamin Elsner
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View article: The political fallout of air pollution
The political fallout of air pollution Open
This paper studies the effect of air pollution on voting outcomes. We use data from 60 federal and state elections in Germany from 2000 to 2018 and exploit plausibly exogenous fluctuations in ambient air pollution within counties across el…
View article: Replication Data for: "The Political Fallout of Air Pollution"
Replication Data for: "The Political Fallout of Air Pollution" Open
This dataset contains replication data and code for "The Political Fallout of Air Pollution" based on publicly available data on voting outcomes, pollution, weather and regional economic and demographic data. Codes for the analysis with tw…
View article: Forced Migration and Local Public Policies: Evidence from Post-War West Germany
Forced Migration and Local Public Policies: Evidence from Post-War West Germany Open
We study the effect of forced migration on public policy setting in the migrant-receiving country. After World War II, eight million expelled Germans arrived in West Germany within 5 years. We use regional variation in the population share…
View article: Forced Migration and Social Cohesion: Evidence from the 2015/16 Mass Inflow in Germany
Forced Migration and Social Cohesion: Evidence from the 2015/16 Mass Inflow in Germany Open
A commonly expressed concern about immigration is that it undermines social cohesion in the receiving country. In this paper, we study the impact of a large and sudden inflow of asylum seekers on several indicators of social cohesion. In 2…
View article: Does emigration increase the wages of non-emigrants in sending countries
Does emigration increase the wages of non-emigrants in sending countries Open
How migration affects labor markets in receiving countries is well understood, but less is known about how migration affects labor markets in sending countries, particularly the wages of workers who do not emigrate. Most studies find that …
View article: Air Pollution Affects Decision-Making: Evidence from the Ballot Box
Air Pollution Affects Decision-Making: Evidence from the Ballot Box Open
Does poor air quality affect decision-making? We study this question based on elections, in which millions of people decide on the same issue on the same day in different locations. We use county-level data from 64 federal and state electi…
View article: Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College
Achievement Rank Affects Performance and Major Choices in College Open
In this paper we study how a student's ordinal rank in a peer group affects performance and specialisation choices in university. By exploiting data with repeated random assignment of students to teaching sections, we find that a higher ra…
View article: The Human Capital Cost of Radiation: Long-run Evidence from Exposure outside the Womb
The Human Capital Cost of Radiation: Long-run Evidence from Exposure outside the Womb Open
This paper studies the long-term effect of radiation on cognitive skills. We use regional variation in nuclear fallout caused by the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, which led to a permanent increase in radiation levels in most of Europe. To id…
View article: Tax Refunds and Income Manipulation - Evidence from the EITC
Tax Refunds and Income Manipulation - Evidence from the EITC Open
Welfare programs are important in terms of reducing poverty, although they create incentives for recipients to maximize their income by either reducing their labor supply or manipulating their taxable income. In this paper, we quantify the…
View article: The Human Capital Cost of Radiation: Long-Run Evidence from Exposure Outside the Womb
The Human Capital Cost of Radiation: Long-Run Evidence from Exposure Outside the Womb Open
This paper studies the long-term effect of radiation on cognitive skills. We use regional variation in nuclear fallout caused by the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, which led to a permanent increase in radiation levels in most of Europe. To id…
View article: Control Group Paradigms in Studies Investigating Acute Effects of Exercise on Cognitive Performance–An Experiment on Expectation-Driven Placebo Effects
Control Group Paradigms in Studies Investigating Acute Effects of Exercise on Cognitive Performance–An Experiment on Expectation-Driven Placebo Effects Open
Introduction: Many studies report improvements in cognitive performance following acute endurance exercise compared to control group treatment. These cognitive benefits are interpreted as a result of a physiological response to exercise. H…
View article: The Gain from the Drain - Skill-biased Migration and Global Welfare
The Gain from the Drain - Skill-biased Migration and Global Welfare Open
High-skilled workers are four times more likely to migrate than low-skilled workers. This skill bias in migration - often called brain drain - has been at the center of a heated debate about the welfare consequences of emigration from deve…
View article: Migration 10 Years After: EU Enlargement, Closed Borders, and Migration to Germany
Migration 10 Years After: EU Enlargement, Closed Borders, and Migration to Germany Open
Almost a decade has passed since the Eastern enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004. Germany has been a special case among the old member states of the EU for at least two reasons. First, the country restricted access to its labor …