Research

Peer-reviewed publications, working papers, and ongoing projects in urban and regional economics, development economics, and income inequality.

Journal Publications in Economics13

  1. Headwind in Sight? Wind Turbine Visibility Spillovers and Support for Renewable Energy Policy

    Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · joint work with Vincent F. Stegmaier

    Forthcoming
  2. Unraveling a Vicious Cycle: The Interplay Between Extreme Weather Events, Urban Expansion, and Deforestation

    Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A · joint work with Leonie Ratzke and Sebastian Sippel

    Forthcoming
  3. Regional Dependencies and Local Spillovers: Insights from Commuter Flows

    Journal of Regional Science 65(3), 2025, pp.565–585 · joint work with Sebastian Kripfganz

  4. Unlocking Neighborhood Density

    Journal of Urban Economics 144, 2024, article 103708 · joint work with André Seidel

  5. The Emperor's Geography — City Locations, Nature and Institutional Optimization

    Economic Journal 133, 2023, pp.1067–1105 · joint work with Christian Düben

  6. Top Lights — Bright Cities and Their Contribution to Economic Development

    Journal of Development Economics 157, 2022, article 102880 · joint work with Richard Bluhm

  7. Air Pollution in an Urban World: A Global View on Density, Cities, and Emissions

    Ecological Economics 189, 2021, article 107153 · joint work with David Castells-Quintana and Elisa Dienesch

  8. The Urbanising Force of Global Warming: The Role of Climate Change in the Spatial Distribution of Population

    Journal of Economic Geography 21(4), 2021, pp.531–556 · joint work with David Castells-Quintana and Tom McDermott

  9. Population, Light, and the Size Distribution of Cities

    Journal of Regional Science 61(1), 2021, pp.189–211 · joint work with Christian Düben

  10. Rising Mean Incomes for Whom?

    PLOS ONE 15(12), 2020, e0242803 · joint work with Liang Frank Shao

  11. Convergence vs. The Middle Income Trap: The Case of Global Soccer

    Applied Economics 51(27), 2019, pp.2980–2999 · joint work with Stefan Szymanski

  12. The Millennium Peak in Club Convergence — A New Look at Distributional Changes in the Wealth of Nations

    Journal of Applied Econometrics 32(3), 2017, pp.621–642

  13. Parametric Lorenz Curves and the Modality of the Income Density Function

    Review of Income and Wealth 60(4), 2014, pp.905–929

Short Notes1

  1. Corrigendum to “Elliptical Lorenz Curves” [J. Econom. 40 (1989) 327–338]

    Journal of Econometrics 174, 2013, p.44

Contributions to Publications in the Natural Sciences2

  1. Inequality in Human Development Amplifies Climate-Related Disaster Risk

    Nature Communications 17(1), 2026, 5067 · joint work with Khalil Teber, Sebastian Sippel, Jakob Zscheischler, and Miguel D. Mahecha

  2. A Belowground Perspective on the Nexus between Biodiversity Change, Climate Change, and Human Well-Being

    Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment 3(2), 2024, e212108 · joint work with Nico Eisenhauer, Karin Frank, Alexandra Weigelt, Rémy Beugnon, Katja Liebal, Miguel Mahecha, Martin Quaas, and Johannes Quaas & 38 further co-authors

Work in Progress4

  1. Bright and Green? A Global View on Density and the Trade-Off Between Economic Activity and Urban Greenness for over 1000 Cities

    joint work with Konstantin Reisner and David Castells-Quintana

  2. Zeroing in on the Zero Waste City

    joint work with Jane Torbert

  3. With Open Eyes: Valuing Visual Perception of Neighborhood Aesthetics

    joint work with Vincent F. Stegmaier

  4. The Path of Pollution and Destruction — Tracing Historical Drivers of Inequality in German Cities

    joint work with Anna Hanitzsch and Clara Seidel