Outside options and worker motivation with Alexander Ahammer & Matthias Fahn
AEJ: Applied Economics, forthcoming
Abstract We study how outside options affect workers’ incentives to exert effort. We exploit quasi-experimental variation from age- and experience-based cutoffs in Austria’s unemployment insurance (UI), and proxy effort with absenteeism. Extending potential UI benefit duration increases absenteeism, with larger effects for workers facing higher unemployment risk, those employed at declining or low-wage firms, or those on flatter wage profiles. These results are consistent with a relational contracting model where effort reductions caused by higher outside options are more pronounced if the perceived relationship value is small.
The labor and health economics of breast cancer with Alexander Ahammer & Gerald Pruckner
Journal of Health Economics (2026)
Abstract We estimate the long-run labor market and health effects of breast cancer among Austrian women. Compared to a random sample of same-aged non-affected women, those diagnosed with breast cancer face a 22.8 percent increase in health expenses, 9 percent lower unconditional earnings, 5.8 lower employment probability, and an earnings penalty conditional on employment of 6.4 percent five years after diagnosis. We discuss changes in job quality, hours, incapacitation, and employer discrimination as potential mechanisms behind these labor market adjustments.
When women take over: Physician gender and health care provision with Gerald Pruckner & Katrin Zocher
Journal of Health Economics (2025)
Best paper award of the 2nd CINCH-dggö Academy in Health Economics
Abstract The share of female physicians has risen in OECD countries in recent decades, but we know little about the effects of physician gender on patient health care use. We exploit quasi-random assignment of primary care providers (PCPs) to existing PCP practices and patients and estimate the causal effect of female PCPs on health care provision. Using Austrian register data and a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that female PCPs generate 15% less revenue and see 7% fewer patients than male PCPs. Shifting the focus to patient-level outcomes, we observe that health care utilization remains largely unchanged following assignment to a female physician. However, results show that patients are more likely to leave PCP practices with female successors. Our results do not support the idea that the decision to change PCP is driven by preferences against being treated by female physicians. Instead, our analysis suggests that the observed differences are partly explained by female PCPs working fewer hours, especially those facing working time restrictions. As the share of female physicians continues to rise, measures to increase work flexibility may be necessary to maintain broad access to outpatient health care.
(Mis-)Allocation of Managerial Attention with Anik Ashraf & Matthias Fahn
Abstract Managers must split their time between producing output directly and coordinating the work of others, yet how they resolve this trade-off, and whether they do so efficiently, is largely unobserved. Using task-level time-use data on 327 team leads across 343 software development teams at a large technology firm, we document enormous and persistent dispersion in the share of attention leads devote to coordination, most of which is attributable to the individual lead rather than the team. Exploiting lead turnover in a difference-in-differences design, we find that exposure to a more coordination-intensive lead reduces team output by over eleven percent, with no offsetting gains in code quality or team health. The loss operates by taxing members' time and crowding out their own preparation. The evidence indicates that many managers over-provide coordination, revealing a within-firm misallocation of managerial attention distinct from the misallocation of factors across production units.
Searching for Care: Chronic Disease, the Labor Market, and General Practitioners with Dominika Kocánová
Disruptions in medication availability and physician responses with Gabriella Conti, Rita Ginja, and Sonja Spitzer
Sick Leave and Return to Work with Katrin Zocher
Outside options and mass layoffs with Kai Miele
Temporary work with Elisabeth Wurm
Collective bargaining agreements in Austria with Elisabeth Wurm
The health and labor consequences of flooding with Alex Ahammer, Lea-Karla Matić, and Ivan Žilić
Selbstbeteiligung und Patient:innensteuerung with Gerald J. Pruckner, Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspolitik, 2026