Personal page of Davud Rostam-Afschar

Welcome!

I'm an economist mainly interested in research on

decisions of households and firms in the context of public economics.

Check out some of my latest work

More Survey: How Firms Cope with COVID19-Induced Uncertainty

More Occupational Licensing and the Gender Wage Gap

More Income Taxation and Investments

And my recent articles on

LICENSING:
LABOR: How Important is Precautionary Labor Supply?
TAXATION: Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? (Learning Ricardian Equivalence)

You can contact me by email:

rostam-afschar(at)uni-mannheim.de (GPG-Key).

5: The German Business Panel: Insights on Corporate Taxation and Accounting during the Covid-19 Pandemic [read]
Co-authors: Jannis Bischof, Philipp Dörrenberg, Dirk Simons, Johannes Voget

We introduce the German Business Panel (GBP), a novel large-scale survey of German firms. The GBP periodically surveys executives and key decision-makers in a representative sample of German firms, taking stock of their perceptions, views, and expectations. A particular focus of the survey is on the role of accounting and tax regulation for companies. We present findings from the first wave of the GBP which was in the field over the summer 2020 and addressed the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic for companies in Germany. Relying on more than 10,000 complete responses, we disentangle how the economic impact of Covid-19 hits industries with varying intensity. We also document that state aid was insufficient for the hardest-hit firms. As a consequence, firms systematically took additional measures like cost-cutting or reducing cash outflows. The state interventions did not lead to managers expecting a substantial increase in future tax rates. We conclude by providing an outlook on how researchers can access and use the survey data for their own research questions.
4: Occupational Licensing and the Gender Wage Gap [read]
Co-authors: Maria Koumenta, Mario Pagliero

We use a unique survey of the EU labor force to investigate the relationship between occupational licensing and the gender wage gap. We find that the gender wage gap is canceled for licensed self-employed workers. However, this closure of the gender wage gap is not mirrored by significant changes in the gender gap in hours worked. Our results are robust using decomposition methods, quantile regressions, different datasets, and selection correction.
3: Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Co-authors: Kurt Schmidheiny

This paper analyzes the effects of i) top personal income tax rates, ii) top corporate income tax rates, and iii) movement costs on international migration. We provide evidence based on income tax events for the 28 EU Member countries, Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland from 1995–2017. We compare effects of taxation to those of migration costs identified through events in intercountry mobility barriers. While large tax cuts in destination countries increase migration, we estimate the long-run tax elasticity of mobility to be around 1 for personal income taxes and not significantly different from zero for corporate income taxes. In contrast, adoption of freedom of movement for workers increases the migration probability by more than 50% the long run. We show that tax incentives matter in interaction with lower migration costs but less on their own. This suggests that regulation of professionals is much more important than taxation when individuals decide where to locate and that the massive tax incentives in Eastern European countries could not slow down the talent drain.
2: Flexible Work Arrangements and Precautionary Behavior: Theory and Experimental Evidence [read] [slides]
Co-authors: Andreas Orland

We examine the relationship of saving and work time flexibility, i.e. workers can choose the relative length of work-shifts. We generalize the standard model to allow for endogenous non-separability over periods and show that allocation of work time and saving are perfect substitutes. Results from a laboratory experiment show that most of the predictions derived from the extended model are correct but that substantial heterogeneity between subjects exists. In particular, we show that (not predicted) static-model-behavior and predicted precautionary behavior coexist and that our most flexible model can explain a much larger part of observed behavior than the standard model.
1: Optimal Taxation Under Different Concepts of Justness[read] [slides] [poster]
Co-authors: Maria Metzing and Robin Jessen

A common assumption in the optimal taxation literature is that the social planner maximizes a welfarist social welfare function with weights decreasing with income. However, high transfer withdrawal rates in many countries imply very low weights for the working poor in practice. We reconcile this puzzle by generalizing the optimal taxation framework by Saez (2002) to allow for alternatives to welfarism. We calculate weights of a social planner's function as implied by the German tax and transfer system based on the concepts of welfarism, minimum absolute and relative sacrifice, as well as subjective justness. For the latter we use a novel question from the German Socio-Economic Panel. We find that the minimum absolute sacrifice principley is in line with social weights that decline with net income. Absolute subjective justness is roughly in line with decreasing social weights, which is reflected by preferences of men, West Germans, and supporters of the grand coalition parties.
8: Can Taxes Raise Output and Reduce Inequality? The Case of Lobbying[read]
Co-authors: Klaus Prettner
Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 2020, .

One of the key institutional elements for reducing inequality is the tax and transfer system. However, economists and policy makers usually view high taxes as detrimental to economic growth. We isolate one important mechanism by which higher taxes reduce inequality and raise per capita GDP at the same time. This mechanism operates in the presence of unproductive lobbying. Higher taxes induce a reallocation from lobbying toward production. This raises overall output and reduces the consumption gap between those who benefit from lobbying and those who bear its negative effects.
7: The Effects of Taxation on Entrepreneurial Investment: A Puzzle?[read] [slides]
Co-authors: Frank Fossen, Ray Rees and Viktor Steiner
International Tax and Public Finance, 2020, .

We investigate how personal income taxes affect the portfolio share of personal wealth that entrepreneurs invest in their own business. In a portfolio choice model that allows for tax sheltering, we show that lower tax rates may increase investment in entrepreneurial equity at the intensive margin, but decrease it at the extensive margin. Using German panel data, we identify tax effects on the portfolio shares of six asset classes by exploiting tax and entry regulation reforms. Our results indicate that lower taxes drive out businesses that are viable only due to tax sheltering, but increase investment in productive entrepreneurial businesses.
6: Does Regulation Trade-Off Quality against Inequality?[read] [slides]
Co-authors: Kristina Strohmaier [Online Appendix]
British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2018, Vol. 57(4), pp. 870–893.

We exploit an exogenous price increase by about 10% for architectural services to answer the question how price regulation affects income inequality and service quality. Using individual-level data from the German microcensus for the years 2006 to 2012, we find a significant reform effect of 8% on personal net income for self-employed architects and construction engineers. This group moved from the second lowest to the highest quintile of the net income distribution. This increase in inequality is associated with a deterioration of service quality. The reform reduced average scores of a peer ranking for architects by 18%.
5: How Important is Precautionary Labor Supply?[read] [slides] [poster]
Co-authors: Robin Jessen and Sebastian Schmitz [Online Appendix]
Oxford Economic Papers, 2018, Vol. 70(3), pp. 868–891.

We quantify the importance of precautionary labour supply defined as the difference between hours supplied in the presence of risk and hours under perfect foresight. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2001 to 2012 we estimate the effect of wage risk on labour supply and test for constrained adjustment of labour supply. We find that married men choose on average about 2.8% of their hours of work to shield against wage shocks. The effect is strongest for self-employed who we find to be unconstrained in their hours choices, but also relevant for other groups with more persistent hours constraints. If the self-employed faced the same wage risk as the median civil servant, their hours of work would reduce by 4.5%.
4: Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence (Learning Ricardian Equivalence) [read] [slides] [poster]
Co-authors: Thomas Meissner [Online Appendix][FED Philadelphia]
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 2017, Vol. 82, pp. 273-288.

This paper tests whether subjects learn to comply with the Ricardian Equivalence proposition in a life cycle consumption laboratory experiment. Our results suggest that Ricardian Equivalence does not hold on average: tax changes have a significant and strong impact on consumption choice. Using individual consumption time series, the behaviour of 56% of our subjects can be classified as inconsistent with the Ricardian Equivalence proposition. Classifying subjects according to rules of thumb that best describe their behaviour, we find that subjects switch less to rules that theoretically violate Ricardian Equivalence in later rounds compared to earlier rounds. This implies that some subjects learn to comply with Ricardian Equivalence by changing their consumption strategy. However, the aggregate effect of taxation on consumption persists, even after eight rounds of repetition.
3: Getting the Poor to Work: Three Welfare Increasing Reforms for a Busy Germany [read] [slides] [poster]
Co-authors: Robin Jessen and Viktor Steiner [Ökonomenstimme]
Public Finance Analysis, 2017, Vol. 73(1), pp. 1-41.

We study three budget-neutral reforms of the German tax and transfer system designed to improve work incentives for people with low incomes: a feasible flat tax reform that provides a basic income which is equal to the current level of the means tested unemployment benefit, and two alternative reforms that involve employment subsidies to stimulate participation and full-time work, respectively. We estimate labor supply reactions and welfare effects using a microsimulation model based on household data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and a structural labor supply model. We find that all three reforms increase labor supply in the first decile of the income distribution. However, the flat tax scenario reduces overall labor supply by 4.9%, the reform scenario designed to increase participation reduces labor supply by 1%, while the reform that provides improved incentives to work full-time has negligible effects on overall labor supply. With equal welfare weights, aggregate welfare gains are realizable under all three reforms.
2: Entry Regulation and Entrepreneurship: A Natural Experiment in German Craftsmanship [read] [slides]
Co-authors: - [Ökonomenstimme]
Empirical Economics, 2014, Vol. 47(3), pp. 1067-1101.
Reprinted in Holtemöller, O. (ed.), How Can We Boost Competition in the Services Sector?, [read]
2017, Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 89-133.

This paper uses the 2004 amendment to the German Trade and Crafts Code as a natural experiment for assessing the causal effects of this reform on the probabilities of being self-employed and of transition into and out of self-employment. This is achieved by using repeated cross-sections (2002-2009) of German microcensus data. I apply the difference-in-differences technique for three groups of craftsmen which were subject to different intensities of treatment. The results show that the complete exemption from the educational entry requirement has fostered self-employment significantly by substantially increasing the entry probabilities, while exit rates have remained unaffected. I find similar, though weaker relative effects for the treatment groups that were subject to a reduction of entry costs or a partial exemption from the entry requirements. Moreover, I consider effect heterogeneity within each of the treatment groups with respect to gender and vocational training, and show that the deregulation of entry requirements has been most effective for untrained workers.
1: Precautionary and Entrepreneurial Savings: New Evidence from German Households [read]
Co-authors: Frank Fossen
Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2013, Vol. 75(4), pp. 528–555.

Various studies interpret the positive correlation between income risk and wealth as evidence of significant precautionary savings. However, these high estimates emerge from pooling non-entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, without controlling for heterogeneity. This article provides evidence for Germany based on representative panel data that includes private wealth balance sheets. Entrepreneurs, who face high income risk, hold more wealth than employees, but this tendency is not because of precautionary motives. Instead, they appear to save more for their old age, because they are usually not covered by statutory pension insurance. The analysis accounts for endogeneity in entrepreneurial choice and heterogeneous risk attitudes.
2: Effects of regulation on service quality: Evidence from six European cases [read]
European Commission, 2018, Research Report, Directorate General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.
1: Regulatory Effects of the Amendment to the HwO in 2004 in German Craftsmanship [read]
European Commission, 2015, Research Report, Directorate General Internal Market and Services.
3: How Risk Averse and how Prudent are Workers?[latest version]
Co-authors: Robin Jessen

Analogous to the widely studied concept of precautionary savings, our study contributes to the burgeoning literature on precautionary labor supply behavior when wages are subject to uninsurable wage risk. We estimate the parameters of a dynamic structural model of labor supply of men. We test whether workers are risk averse and prudent in the sense that they increase labor supply in anticipation of higher wage risk. The specification provides a direct test of the widely used CRRA utility function and could identify the Frisch elasticity. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we are able to replicate the findings of the previous literature. However, with an extended specification that includes variability of leisure and wage, we reject restrictions implied by CRRA utility for both countries.
2: Labor Income Uncertainty and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel[latest version]
Co-authors: Sebastian Schmitz

How does household fertility relate to labor income uncertainty? A large literature shows how household saving reacts to income uncertainty but only few studies recognize how fertility decisions are affected. We aim to shed some light on this relationship using data from the socio-economic panel from Germany. Our preliminary results indicate that our quantitative measure of income uncertainty is positively related to the number of children on average. A possible explanation for this pattern is specialization within the household.
1: Progressive Taxation and Precautionary Saving Over the Life Cycle[latest version]
Co-authors: Jiaxiong Yao

We study the effect of taxes and transfers on precautionary saving over the life cycle. We estimate idiosyncratic labor income risks and structural parameters of an incomplete-markets model for heterogeneous groups. Our simulated model shows that progressive taxation, compared to a revenue-neutral flat taxation, reduces the average savings by 24.6% for a household with median wealth. Despite crowding out part of savings, households are better insured against income shocks under progressive taxation. 60% of permanent shocks and 30% of transitory shocks to pre-government labor income are insured against under progressive taxation. There are sizeable welfare gains on average with progressive taxation but considerable heterogeneity among different subgroups.

Mar 2020: University of Konstanz
Flexible Work Arrangements and Precautionary Behavior: Theory and Experimental Evidence
Nov 2019: University of Navarra
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Nov 2019: Banca d'Italia
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Oct 2019: Oslo Fiscal Studies and Statistics Norway
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Oct 2019: OECD
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Apr 2019: University of Maastricht
Occupational Licensing, Taxation, and Job Mobility in Europe
Mar 2019: University of Exeter
How Do Entrepreneurial Portfolios Respond to Income Taxation?
Mar 2019: RWI Essen
Flexible Work Arrangements and Precautionary Behavior: Theory and Experimental Evidence
Feb 2019: European Commission, Brussels
Effects of regulation on service quality: Evidence from six European cases
Oct 2018: University of Basel
Flexible Work Arrangements and Precautionary Behavior: Theory and Experimental Evidence
Sept 2018: Federal Reserve Banks of Minneapolis and Chicago [video]
Flexible Work Arrangements and Precautionary Behavior: Theory and Experimental Evidence
Sept 2018: San Francisco State University
Flexible Work Arrangements and Precautionary Behavior: Theory and Experimental Evidence
Sept 2018: University of California, Berkeley
Flexible Work Arrangements and Precautionary Behavior: Theory and Experimental Evidence
Apr 2018: University of Nevada, Reno
Flexible Work Arrangements and Precautionary Behavior: Theory and Experimental Evidence
Mar 2018: University of California, Berkeley
How Do Entrepreneurial Portfolios Respond to Income Taxation?
Oct 2017: University of Hohenheim
How Do Entrepreneurial Portfolios Respond to Income Taxation?
Oct 2017: Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin
Does Regulation Trade-Off Quality against Inequality? The Case of German Architects and Construction Engineers
Nov 2017: Linnaeus University, Växjö
How Do Entrepreneurial Portfolios Respond to Income Taxation?
Nov 2017: European Commission, Brussels
Professional Services: How does Regulation Matter?
June 2017: Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim
Is our Income too Risky to have a(nother) Baby? Evidence from German Micro Data
July 2016: SRH University Berlin, Berlin
Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Policy Evaluation: The Case of Basic Income
July 2016: Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) and Representation of the European Commission in Germany, Berlin
Past Reforms in the Services Sector in Germany and their Effects
May 2016: Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt
Progressive Taxation and Precautionary Saving Over the Life Cycle
Jan 2016: Technische Universität Chemnitz, Chemnitz
Auswirkungen von Lohnunsicherheit auf die jährlichen Arbeitsstunden
June 2015: Universitat de Barcelona, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona, Barcelona
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption
June 2015: European Commission (Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications), Brussels
Mutual Evaluation of Regulated Professions
May 2015: World Bank, Warsaw
Seminar on Deregulation of Access to Professions
Jan 2015: European Commission (Representation of the European Commission in Germany), Brussels
In-Depth Session on Services in Germany
Jan 2020: LERA@ASSA 2020 San Diego, California
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Dec 2019: CESifo Norwegian-German Seminar, München
Fiscal Stimulus and Intratemporal Consumption Spending Evidence from a 5 Billion Euro Experiment
Dec 2019: Tübingen-Hohenheim-Economics, Hohenheim
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Sept 2019: Verein für Socialpolitik, Leipzig
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Sept 2019: European Association of Labour Economists, Uppsala
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Sept 2019: 9th ifo Dresden Workshop on Regional Economics
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
April 2019: European Economic Association and Econometric Society European Meeting, Manchester
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
April 2019: Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, Paris
Optimal Taxation Under Different Concepts of Justness
June 2019: International Association for Applied Econometrics, Nicosia
Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
June 2019: GSE Summer Forum, Barcelona
Occupational Licensing, Taxation, and Job Mobility in Europe
June 2019: Workshops on Public Economics, Barcelona
Occupational Licensing, Taxation, and Job Mobility in Europe
April 2019: Brown Bag Seminar, Hohenheim
Occupational Licensing, Taxation, and Job Mobility in Europe
Nov 2018: Tübingen-Hohenheim-Economics, Hohenheim
Does Regulation Trade-Off Quality vs. Inequality?
Nov 2018: National Tax Association, New Orleans
Optimal Taxation Under Different Concepts of Justness
Oct 2018: G-Forum, Hohenheim
How Do Entrepreneurial Portfolios Respond to Income Taxation?
Sept 2018: COMPIE, BERLIN
Does Regulation Trade-Off Quality against Inequality? The Case of German Architects and Construction Engineers
June 2018: IAAE, Montreal
How Do Entrepreneurial Portfolios Respond to Income Taxation?
Nov 2017: Tübingen-Hohenheim-Economics, Hohenheim
How Important is Precautionary Labour Supply?
Sept 2017: MaTax, Mannheim
How Do Entrepreneurial Portfolios Respond to Income Taxation?
Sept 2017: Verein für Socialpolitik, Wien
Consumption Insurance, Welfare, and Optimal Progressive Taxation
Aug 2017: European Economic Association, Lisbon
How Do Entrepreneurial Portfolios Respond to Income Taxation?
Jan 2017: Allied Social Sciences Associations (ASSA) Annual Meeting, Chicago
How Important is Precautionary Labour Supply?
Jan 2017: Allied Social Sciences Associations (ASSA) Annual Meeting, Chicago
A Just and Optimal Tax Schedule
Sept 2016: European Association of Labour Economists, Ghent
How Important is Precautionary Labour Supply?
Sept 2016: Verein für Socialpolitik, Augsburg
Uncertainty and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from German Micro Data
Aug 2016: European Economic Association, Geneva
How Risk Averse and how Prudent are Workers?
Aug 2016: International Institute of Public Finance, Lake Tahoe
A Just and Optimal Tax System
June 2016: Society for Social Choice and Welfare, Lund
A Just and Optimal Tax System
June 2016: Early-Career Behavioral Economics Conference, Behavior and Inequality Research Institute, Bonn
Harnessing the Wisdom of Crowds by Da and Huang
June 2016: International Association for Applied Econometrics, Milan
Uncertainty and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from German Micro Data
May 2016: Hohenheim Spring School, Universitaet Hohenheim
Bias in Idiosyncratic Income Inequality
May 2016: Brown Bag Seminar, Universitaet Hohenheim
Progressive Taxation and Precautionary Saving Over the Life Cycle
Dec 2015: Public Finance Workshop WZB Berlin, Berlin
Getting the Poor to Work: Three Welfare Increasing Reforms for a Busy Germany?
Dec 2015: Simposio of the Spanish Economic Association, Girona
How Risk Averse and how Prudent are Workers?
Aug 2015: European Economic Association, Mannheim
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence
June 2015: International Association for Applied Econometrics, Thessaloniki
How Risk Averse and how Prudent are Workers?
June 2015: 1st BeNA Labor Economics Workshop, Berlin
How Important is Precautionary Labour Supply?
Apr 2015: Brown Bag Seminar, Humboldt Universitaet Berlin
How Risk Averse and how Prudent are Workers?
Apr 2015: Network for Integrated Behavioural Science, Nottingham
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence
Dec 2014: Simposio of the Spanish Economic Association, Palma de Mallorca
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence
Nov 2014: Public Finance Workshop WZB Berlin, Berlin
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence
Nov 2014: BeNA Seminar on Labor Research, Berlin
Uncertainty and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from German Micro Data
Oct 2014: PhD Workshop Public Economics DIW Berlin, Berlin
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence
Sept 2014: CenEA Research Workshop on Optimizing Over the Lifetime, Warsaw
Progressive Taxation and Precautionary Saving Over the Life Cycle
Sept 2014: Berlin Behavioral Economics Workshop, Berlin
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence
Sept 2014: Verein für Socialpolitik, Hamburg
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence
Sept 2014: Economic Science Association, Prague
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence
Aug 2014: International Institute of Public Finance, Lugano
Do Tax Cuts Increase Consumption? An Experimental Test of Ricardian Equivalence
June 2014: International Association for Applied Econometrics, London
Progressive Taxation and Precautionary Saving Over the Life Cycle
June 2014: Journées Louis-André Gérard-Varet, Aix-en-Provence
Progressive Taxation and Precautionary Saving Over the Life Cycle
June 2014: European Society for Population Economics, Braga
Progressive Taxation and Precautionary Saving Over the Life Cycle
May 2014: Economic Policy Seminar, Berlin
Uncertainty and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from German Micro Data
Oct 2013: Economic Policy Seminar, Berlin
Taxation and Precautionary Savings over the Life Cycle
Aug 2013: European Economic Association and Econometric Society European Meeting, Gothenburg
Entry Regulation and Entrepreneurship: A Natural Experiment in German Craftsmanship
Aug 2013: International Institute of Public Finance, Taormina
Taxation and Precautionary Savings over the Life Cycle
July 2013: PhD Workshop Public Economics, DIW Berlin
Taxation and Precautionary Savings over the Life Cycle
June 2013: Brown Bag Seminar, Humboldt Universitaet Berlin
Taxation and Precautionary Savings over the Life Cycle
Feb 2013: BeNA Seminar on Labor Research, Berlin
Taxation and Precautionary Savings over the Life Cycle
Jan 2013: Economic Policy Seminar, Berlin
Taxation and Precautionary Savings over the Life Cycle
Sept 2012: Verein für Socialpolitik, Annual Meeting, Göttingen
Entry Regulation and Entrepreneurship: A Natural Experiment in German Craftsmanship
May 2012: Economic Policy Seminar, Berlin
Entry Regulation and Entrepreneurship: A Natural Experiment in German Craftsmanship
Dec 2011: Economic Policy Seminar, Berlin
Taxes and Entrepreneurial Portfolio Investment
Feb 2011: Ruhr Graduate School Doctoral Conference in Economics, Dortmund
Entry Regulation and Entrepreneurship: A Natural Experiment in German Craftsmanship
Oct 2010: BeNA Seminar on Labor Research, Berlin
Entry Regulation and Entrepreneurship: A Natural Experiment in German Craftsmanship
Jan 2010: Economic Policy Seminar, Berlin
Entry Regulation and Entrepreneurship: A Natural Experiment in German Craftsmanship
Jan 2009: Economic Policy Seminar, Berlin
Precautionary Saving and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from German Households

Recent Positions

: Assistant Professor (Akademischer Rat), Universitaet Mannheim
: Fellow, Università degli Studi di Torino
: Research Visit
invited by Stefanie Stantcheva (Harvard University)
: Assistant Professor (Akademischer Rat), Universitaet Stuttgart-Hohenheim
: Visiting scholar,
invited by Alan J. Auerbach (University of California, Berkeley)

Education

: Dr. rer. pol. (PhD in Economics), Freie Universitaet Berlin
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Viktor Steiner, Prof. Sir Richard Blundell
summa cum laude
: Visiting PhD student,
invited by Christopher D. Carroll (Johns Hopkins University)
: Diploma in Economics (Diplom Volkswirt), Freie Universitaet Berlin

Detailed Curriculum Vitae

: cv_rostamafschar.pdf

: German Business Panel

The German Business Panel (GBP) is a representative panel of managers bearing responsibilities for accounting and tax matters in German firms. These representatives are surveyed on a semi-annual basis on topics in the area of financial accounting, managerial accounting and taxation.

[read more]
: Survey Questions "Measuring prevalence and labour market impacts of occupational regulation in the EU"

List of suggested questions that help to better assess the effects of regulations of professions. Some of the questions have been used in the Eurobarometer questionnaire "occupational regulation" and conducted by TNS opinion on behalf of the European Commission.

[coming soon], [coming soon]: Replication files for "Flexible Work Arrangements and Precautionary Behavior: Theory and Experimental Evidence"
Stata dofile, dataset
[download code]: Replication files for "How Important is Precautionary Labor Supply?"
Stata dofiles, SOEP data available at http://www.diw.de/en/soep
[download data], [download code]: Replication files for "Learning Ricardian Equivalence"
Stata dofile, dataset
[download code]: GRAPH3D: Stata module to draw colored, scalable, rotatable 3D plots
Stata user written command, RePEc
[download code]: Lorenz Curves with World Bank data: all countries, all years
Stata dofile
[download code]: Labor Income Inequality and Redistribution
Stata dofile

: Empirical Public Economics (Master Level)

This course gives an introduction to the main subjects and methodologies of empirical taxation research. The aim is to familiarize students with basic empirical methods and theoretical models in applied microeconomics, with a focus on reconciling theory with data. Topics include various behavioral responses to taxation including efficiency costs and incidence of taxation, inequality and mobility, and consequences for welfare analysis.

What students like about the course:

"Competent, dedicated, and helpful teacher! Explains complicated material in a clear and simple way. Is always open for questions and critical discussions."
"Understanding the problems through data analysis and reading research papers is a great way of learning how to tackle real works questions. I enjoy the course and learned a lot!"

Best Teaching Award 2019, University of Hohenheim
: Advanced Econometrics (PhD, Master Level)

Students will analyze individual behavior on the basis of micro data (cross-section and panel data) of individuals, households, and firms and work through an advanced treatment of econometric theory and applications. Topics covered include: Repetition of ordinary least squares and generalized least squares, instrumental variables estimation, simultaneous equations, generalized method of moments and maximum likelihood estimation, time series and panel data econometrics. Students will learn how to apply these methods using real-world micro data.

What students like about the course:

"Excellent, detailed explanations of a highly motivating lecturer! Great selection of topics and very interactive teaching."
"Going deep into the mechanics, discussing highly relevant applications, and at the same time providing a broad overview. Thank you for your energy and passion and for making me interested in your research area!"

Public Economics: 5 lectures, 7 classes, 2 seminars
Macroeconomics: 9 classes
Microeconomics: 4 classes
Microeconometrics: 2 lectures, 4 classes

Media

Sept 7, 2020: Büros stellen Lohnerhöhungen auf den Prüfstand
Competitionline
Aug 10, 2020: SWR Aktuell
Aug 10, 2020: WDR 5 Profit
Aug 10, 2020: Staatshilfe rettet in der Krise viele Betriebe
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Nov 14, 2019: Freedom of Movement, Taxation and Job Mobility in Europe
Universidad de Navarra
Oct 11, 2019: The economic consequences of occupational licensing
OECD
Mar 6, 2018: "How will universal basic income change our lives?"
Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute.
Sept 15, 2016: "Die Zukunft des Handwerks: Lehren aus der "Handwerksnovelle" von 2004"
Ökonomenstimme - The New Web Platform for German-speaking Economists.
May 24, 2016: Interview von Dr. Johannes Klenk (Uni Hohenheim)
Forschung hautnah: Forschungsprojekte an der Universitaet Hohenheim.
May 2, 2016: "Schweiz bringt Schwung in deutsche Debatte", "L’Allemagne débat aussi du revenu de base"
SWI swissinfo.ch - international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).
Mar 09, 2016: WebTalk Bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen
Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb.
Jan 11, 2016: "Die Menschen von der Arbeit befreien"
Der Tagesspiegel.
Dec 8, 2015: "800 Euro für alle: Bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen in Deutschland"
DRadio Wissen.
Sept 15, 2015: "Welche Effekte hätte ein bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen für Deutschland?"
Ökonomenstimme - The New Web Platform for German-speaking Economists.
July 8, 2015: "Die Expertise des Internationalen Währungsfonds"
Blog of Heiner Flassbeck, a German economist and publicist.
Oct 22, 2014: "Hoe de Europese groeimotor weer aanzwengelen"
Knack.be, a Belgian (Flemish) weekly news magazine
May 17, 2010: Soziale Gerechtigkeit in den USA: Ein Land, das so nicht sein sollte
Süddeutsche Zeitung

Contact

Email: rostam-afschar(at)uni-mannheim.de

Phone: +49 (621) 181 1645

Davud Rostam-Afschar

Assistant Professor (AR), Universitaet Mannheim

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