Ludger Woessmann

🚨 Now out in the Economic Journal:

“Patience and Subnational Differences in Human Capital:
Regional Analysis with Facebook Interests”
w/ Hanushek, @kinnelavinia.bsky.social ‪& Sancassani

💡 Patience accounts for ¾ of regional achievement diffs in Italy, ⅓ US

👉 doi.org/10.1093/ej/u...

📣 Thrilled to announce our 5th Workshop on Field Experiments in Economics and Business, 7-8 Sept 2026, @tum.de, Campus Heilbronn.

Keynotes: @peterbergman.bsky.social (University of Texas at Austin) & Esther Duflo (@mit.edu, University of Zurich) 🫶🏻

Submission deadline May 15, 2026 🚨

#EconSky

Munich in September, great colleagues, and a field that matters. If you're working on economics of education, please join us at the CESifo Economics of Education conference!

Rick and Ludger (woessmann.bsky.social) always put together a very stimulating conference.

👆 CESifo call for papers - please distribute @cesifo.org @dynarski.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @peterbergman.bsky.social @kirabojackson.bsky.social @singhabhi.bsky.social @henninghermes.com @simonwiederhold.bsky.social @tomdee.bsky.social @rationalitycrc.bsky.social @ifoeducation.bsky.social

📢 Call for papers:

CESifo Area Conference on Economics of Education
co-organized w/ Eric Hanushek (Stanford)

🏛️ 11-12 Sept 2026, Munich

🧑‍🏫 Keynote: John List (Chicago) @johnlist.bsky.social

👉 www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/ev...

⏰ Deadline: 11 May 2026

🖼️ Past programs:
sites.google.com/view/woessma...

In just over eight months, Berlin will hold its 20th state election since 1946. While its well known East West divide in voting behaviour is often attributed to the city’s former split into capitalist and socialist halves, these differences existed even before the city’s division. A thread. 🧵

I am saddened beyond words to learn that Jon Temple, the profound investigator of the economics of growth, has passed away.   https://lnkd.in/d9KMSE7B   We must have first met at several conferences…... I am saddened beyond words to learn that Jon Temple, the profound investigator of the economics of growth, has passed away.   https://lnkd.in/d9KMSE7B   We must have first met at several conferences ...

Extremely saddened to learn about the passing of Jon Temple. He was a leading thinker on the economics of growth, and such a decent person.

Here’s a few fond memories of our interactions, for which I’ll always be profoundly grateful:

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

R.I.P., dear Jon.

🚨 Deadline on Sunday:

🚀 4th CESifo Junior Workshop on the Economics of Education 🤩

👇

📣SAVE-THE-DATE 📣

Our Workshop on Field Experiments in Economics and Business celebrates its 5th anniversary with FANTASTIC keynote speakers: @peterbergman.bsky.social (UT Austin) and Esther Duflo (MIT) 🎉🙌

📍 Sept 7–8, 2026 at TUM Campus Heilbronn (pre-workshop get-together Sept 6).

🎅🎁Our last newsletter of 2025 is out!

✨What Facebook data reveal about patience & educational achievement
✨Religious education has long-term effects
✨Good schools help disadvantaged children
...& more!

👉 sendlx.com/display.php?M=111332033&C=ff6ce63f422bb23d840c4ce5648c1c70&S=201333&L=1198&N=111605

I'm very happy that this paper has found a home and has been published just in time for the holidays. Free access for 50 days: authors.elsevier.com/a/1mI6Bc24bB...

Strong Public Support To Restrict Social Media for Children in Germany A huge majority of adults favors a minimum age for social media – and even adolescents themselves see harm from social media.

📢Our piece on @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social's "After Babel" Substack:

Strong public support to restrict social media for children in Germany

www.afterbabel.com/p/strong-pub...

A huge majority of adults favors a minimum age for social media – and even adolescents themselves see harm from social media

Erreichen dieser Ziele erhöht volkswirtschaftliches Wachstum:

💶 20,9 Billionen Euro an zusätzlichem BIP bis 2105 (aktuelle Lebenserwartung)
≈ 5x derzeitiges BIP
≈ 10% des diskontierten BIP

➡️ So sehr lohnt es sich, Verbesserung der Bildungsleistungen zu priorisieren
3/3

Bildungsziele von Ministerinnen Hubig (SPD), Prien (CDU) & Schopper (Grüne) bis 2035:

1️⃣ 50% weniger Schüler:innen, die Mindeststandards in Deutsch & Mathematik nicht erreichen
2️⃣ 20% mehr, die Regelstandards erreichen
3️⃣ 30% mehr, die Optimalstandards erreichen
2/3

🚨 Unsere neue Studie zeigt:

👉 Das Erreichen der Ziele „Bessere Bildung 2035“ würde rund 21 Billionen Euro an zusätzlicher Wirtschaftsleistung bringen

"Volkswirtschaftliche Erträge besserer Bildung"
mit Katia Werkmeister für die @bertelsmannst.bsky.social

www.ifo.de/publikatione...
1/3

1/ 📣 BIG News!

It’s finally official: I’m starting a new job – and it’s the BEST! 🥳

I’ve joined the ifo Institute Munich as Deputy Director of the @ifoeducation.bsky.social (tenured) and have been appointed Associate Professor (tenure-track) at @lmumuenchen.bsky.social / @econmunich.bsky.social.

Ich freue mich, wieder beim “Top of the Table” von Bildung.Table dabei zu sein!

"Bildungsökonomen, so sagt es zumindest der Soziologe Aladin El-Mafaalani, seien derzeit die lautesten Bildungsaktivisten."

table.media/heads/ludger...

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

@table.media

Ein Video ist auf der Webpage verfügbar:

www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/ev...

und auf www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4P7...

The workshop was held in conjuntion with David’s outstanding Munich Lecture on

Expertise, Artificial Intelligence, and Work of the Future

www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/ev...

Our fantastic workshop with @davidautor.bsky.social on

Skills, Tasks & Technologies in the AI Era

has come to a close. What a blast of outstanding research, new insights & lively discussion! Tremendous thanks to all contributors!

Check out the exciting program:
www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/ev...

How much does out-of-school learning influence foreign-language acquisition? Our new analysis shows that historical national decisions to subtitle imported TV content systematically result in a large positive effect on English-language skills.

open.substack.com/pu...

📢 FYI: 🧵 on 🆕 paper on training & early retirement: @hhsievertsen.bsky.social @lindseymacmillan.bsky.social @marirege.bsky.social @ingoisphording.bsky.social @raphaelbrade.bsky.social @econmunich.bsky.social ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬@rationalitycrc.bsky.social @cesifo.org ‬@ifoeducation.bsky.social

📢 FYI: 🧵 on 🆕 paper on training & early retirement: @massimo-anelli.bsky.social @profdaviddorn.bsky.social @winterebmer.bsky.social @caspalh.bsky.social @simonjaeger.bsky.social @michelebelot.bsky.social @henninghermes.com @simonwiederhold.bsky.social @lergetporer.bsky.social

Finding that robot exposure led to labor market exit of elderly workers adds important nuance to literature on labor market effects of robots in Germany

Overall, findings highlight scope for policy to promote adjustment mechanisms conducive to aggregate productivity
9/9

➡️ Training & retiring are relevant adjustment mechanisms used by firms & workers in intricate ways to react to disruptions

➡️ Structural change induces both productivity-enhancing & -reducing responses

➡️ Challenges simple narratives of labor market adaptation
8/9

I.e., response to robot 🤖 adoption:
⬆️ training 🧠 in indirectly affected services 🏢 but
⬆️ early retirement 👴 in directly affected manufacturing 🏭

Response to import 🌏 competition:
⬇️ training 🧠
⬆️ early retirement 👴 in manufacturing 🏭
Opposite response to export expansion 🔁
7/9

4️⃣ Robot 🤖 exposure raises early retirement among manufacturing workers 🧑‍🏭🏖️
5️⃣ Same for import 🌏 exposure
6️⃣ Opposite for export exposure 🔁
6/9

Results:
1️⃣ Robot 🤖 exposure increases training 🧠—particularly in indirectly affected services 🧑‍💼
2️⃣ Import 🌏 exposure reduces training—particularly in manufacturing 🏭
3️⃣ Opposite for export exposure 🔁
5/9

Established methods:

Shift-share measures of local exposure to
➡️ Trade integration with China & Eastern Europe 🗺️
➡️ Industrial robot adoption 🤖

Identification
➡️ Instrument local exposure using industry-specific changes in other high-income countries 🌐
4/9

Novel data construction for German local labor markets, 1994-2014:
1️⃣ Training participation from Microcensus 📊
2️⃣ Early retirement from IAB employment records 🗂️
3/9