Prof. Dr. Ludger Wößmann

Ludger Woessmann is Professor of Economics at the University of Munich and Director of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education at the ifo Institute. His main research interests are the determinants of long-run prosperity and of student achievement. He uses microeconometric methods to answer applied, policy-relevant questions of the empirical economics of education, often using international student achievement tests. Special focusses address the importance of education for economic prosperity – individual and societal, historical and modern – and the importance of institutions of the school systems for efficiency and equity. Further research topics cover aspects of economic history, economics of religion, and the Internet. His work was rewarded, among others, with the Hermann Heinrich Gossen Award and the Gustav Stolper Award of the German Economic Association, the Young Economist Award of the European Economic Association, the EIB Prize of the European Investment Bank, and the Bruce H. Choppin Memorial Award of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

Woessmann studied economics at Marburg University, the University of Kent at Canterbury, and the Advanced Studies Program of the Kiel Institute for World Economics, where he subsequently worked. He received his PhD from the University of Kiel. He held the 2010 National Fellowship at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and spent extended research visits at Harvard University and the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is Fellow of the International Academy of Education, Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), and the Academic Advisory Council of the German Federal Ministry of Economics, former Chairman of the Research Committee on Economics of Education of the German Economic Association, and coordinator of the European Expert Network on the Economics of Education (EENEE). He is co-editor of the Handbook of the Economics of Education and co-organizer of the annual CESifo Area Conference on the Economics of Education and held over 250 invited presentations. Among his over 250 academic publications are 75 articles in refereed journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Economic Literature, the Economic Journal, and the Journal of Public Economics, as well as several books. His research is regularly covered by the national and international media.

05/2006 Habilitation in Economics, Technische Universität Munich (Habilitation: “Efficiency in Public Production: Essays on its Econometric Identification with Applications to Educational Production“; Reporters: Prof. Dr. Robert K. Frhr. von Weizsäcker, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Werner Sinn)

10/2001 Ph.D. in Economics, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel ("Summa cum laude"; Dissertation: "Schooling and the Quality of Human Capital”; Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Horst Siebert)

08/1998 - 06/1999 Advanced Studies Program (ASP) in International Economic Policy Research, Kiel Institute for World Economics (Advanced Studies Certificate)

10/1993 - 07/1998 M.A. in Economics (Dipl.-Volkswirt), Philipps-Universität, Marburg, incl. Supplementary Program "International Economics ("Sehr gut")

09/1995 - 06/1996 University Diploma in Economics, University of Kent at Canterbury ("with Merit")

08/1983 - 06/1992 Abitur (High School Diploma), Bischöfliches Gymnasium St. Michael, Ahlen (Grade: 1,0)

2017 Gustav Stolper Prize

since 2015 Member, Editorial Board, Education Economics

since 2013 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

2013 - 2017 Chairman, Research Committee Economics of Education, German Economic Association

since 2012 Member, German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech)

2014 Gossen Prize, German Association of Economists (Verein für Socialpolitik)

2012 Listed among “Young Elite: 4 times 40 below 40” (top talents from economy, politics, science, and society) by business magazine “Capital”

since 2012 Research Associate, Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE), Department of Economics, University of Warwick

2011 - 2014 Member, Executive Committee, German Economic Association (Verein für Socialpolitik)

2011 - 2016 Member, Questionnaire Expert Group, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 cycle

2011 Member, Programme Committee, European Economic Association Annual Congress (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)

2010 Prize for Academic Research Awarded by the Friends of the Ifo Institute

2010 Prize for outstanding success in the management of contract studies

2009 Prize for outstanding success in the management of contract studies

since 2009 Co-organization (with E.A. Hanushek), Annual CESifo Area Conference on the Economics of Education

since 2009 Member, Academic Advisory Council, Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology

2009 - 2013 Member, Advisory Board, Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Germany

2009 Member, Scientific Committee of the 65th Annual Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance

since 2008 Member, Board of Trustees, Roland Berger Foundation

2007 - 2010 Founding Member of the Teaching Committee of the European Economic Association

since 2007 Fellow of the International Academy of Education
2006 - 2016 Speaker of the Advisory Board of the Swiss Leading House “Economics of Education: Firm Behaviour and Training

2006 - 2010 Member of the Questionnaire Expert Group of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 cycle

since 2005 Member, Editorial Board, Economics of Education Review

since 2005 Member of the Expert Group Education, founded on initiative of the Vereinigung der Bayerischen Wirtschaft

2005 IEA Bruce H. Choppin Memorial Award of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)

2005 Top 10 of the Wirtschaftswoche Ranking of the best German economists below the age of 40

2004 Academic Prize of the Society for the Promotion of Economic Research (Friends of the Ifo Institute)ichen Forschung (Freunde des ifo Instituts)

since 2004 Member of the Research Committee Economics of Education of the German Economic Association (Verein für Socialpolitik)

2003 Young Economist Award of the European Economic Association

since 2003 Research Fellow, CESifo, Munich

since 2003 IZA Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn (2001-2003 Research Affiliate)

07/2003 Visiting Fellow, Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission, Brussels

2002 Bernhard Harms Prize for Young Economists of the Kiel Institute for World Economics at the University of Kiel

since 2002 Research Affiliate, Program on Education Policy and Governance, Harvard University, Cambridge MA
2001 EIB Prize 2001 (1st Prize) of the European Investment Bank (with E. Gundlach)

2000 Friedwart Bruckhaus Prize 1999/2000 of the Hanns Martin Schleyer Foundation

1998/99 Scholarship of the Möllgaard Foundation for the Advanced Studies Program (ASP) in International Economic Policy Research at the Kiel Institute for World Economics

1995/96 Erasmus Scholarship at the University of Kent at Canterbury

I. What Determines Long-Run Prosperity?

A. Educational Achievement and Economic Growth

• Knowledge Capital, Growth, and the East Asian Miracle (with E.A. Hanushek). Science 351 (6271): 344-345, 2016
• The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development (with E.A. Hanushek). Journal of Economic Literature 46 (3): 607-668, 2008
• Do Better Schools Lead to More Growth? Cognitive Skills, Economic Outcomes, and Causation (with E.A. Hanushek). Journal of Economic Growth 17 (4): 267-321, 2012
• Schooling, Educational Achievement, and the Latin American Growth Puzzle (with E.A. Hanushek). Journal of Development Economics 99 (2): 497-512, 2012
• Knowledge Capital and Aggregate Income Differences: Development Accounting for U.S. States (with E.A. Hanushek and J. Ruhose). American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 9 (4): 184-224, 2017
   

B. Education and Individual Prosperity

• Returns to Skills around the World: Evidence from PIAAC (with E.A. Hanushek, G. Schwerdt, and S. Wiederhold). European Economic Review 73: 103-130, 2015
• General Education, Vocational Education, and Labor-Market Outcomes over the Life-Cycle (with E.A. Hanushek and L. Zhang). Journal of Human Resources52 (1): 48-87, 2017
• The Impact of an Adult Education Voucher Program: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment (with G. Schwerdt, D. Messer, and S.C. Wolter). Journal of Public Economics 96 (7-8): 569-583, 2012
   

C. Education and Historical Development 

• Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History (with S.O. Becker). Quarterly Journal of Economics 124 (2): 531-596, 2009
• Education and Catch-up in the Industrial Revolution (with S.O. Becker and E. Hornung). American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 3 (3): 92-126, 2011
• The Trade-off between Fertility and Education: Evidence from before the Demographic Transition (with S.O. Becker and F. Cinnirella). Journal of Economic Growth 15 (3): 177-204, 2010
• Education and Religious Participation: City-Level Evidence from Germany’s Secularization Period 1890-1930 (with S.O. Becker and M. Nagler). Journal of Economic Growth, 22 (3), 273-311, 2017
   

D. Religion, Culture, and Historical Development 

• Not the Opium of the People: Income and Secularization in a Panel of Prussian Counties (with S.O. Becker). American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 103 (3): 539-544, 2013
• The Empire Is Dead, Long Live the Empire! Long-Run Persistence of Trust and Corruption in the Bureaucracy (with S.O. Becker, K. Boeckh and C. Hainz). Economic Journal 126 (590): 40-74, 2016
• Social Cohesion, Religious Beliefs, and the Effect of Protestantism on Suicide (with S.O. Becker). Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming
   

E. The Internet and Societal Prosperity 

• Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth (with N. Czernich, O. Falck, and T. Kretschmer). Economic Journal 121 (552): 505-532, 2011
• Surfing Alone? The Internet and Social Capital: Evidence from an Unforeseeable Technological Mistake (with S. Bauernschuster and O. Falck). Journal of Public Economic 117: 73-89, 2014

II. What Determines Student Achievement?

A. Resources, Teachers, and Student Achievement

• Class-Size Effects in School Systems around the World: Evidence from Between-Grade Variation in TIMSS (with M.R. West). European Economic Review 50 (3): 695-736, 2006
• The Decline of Schooling Productivity in OECD Countries (with E. Gundlach and J. Gmelin). Economic Journal 111 (471): C135-C147, 2001
• The Impact of Teacher Subject Knowledge on Student Achievement: Evidence from Within-Teacher Within-Student Variation (with J. Metzler). Journal of Development Economics 99 (2): 486-496, 2012
• Educational Production in Europe. Economic Policy 20 (43): 445-504, 2005
• Virtually No Effect? Different Uses of Classroom Computers and their Effect on Student Achievement (with O. Falck and C. Mang). Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 80 (1): 1-38, 2018
   

B. Institutions and Efficiency: External Exams, Autonomy, and Competition

• The Importance of School Systems: Evidence from International Differences in Student Achievement. Journal of Economic Perspectives 30 (3): 3-31, 2016
• ‘Every Catholic Child in a Catholic School’: Historical Resistance to State Schooling, Contemporary School Competition and Student Achievement across Countries (with M.R. West). Economic Journal 120 (546): F229-F255, 2010
• Does School Autonomy Make Sense Everywhere? Panel Estimates from PISA (with E.A. Hanushek and S. Link). Journal of Development Economics 104: 212-232, 2013
• Schooling Resources, Educational Institutions, and Student Performance: The International Evidence. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 65 (2): 117-170, 2003
• Central School Exit Exams and Labor-Market Outcomes (with M. Piopiunik and G. Schwerdt). European Journal of Political Economy 31: 93-108, 2013
• The Information Value of Central School Exams (with G. Schwerdt). Economics of Education Review 56: 65-79, 2017
   

C. Institutions and Equity: Tracking and Early Childhood Education

• Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences-in-Differences Evidence across Countries (with E.A. Hanushek). Economic Journal 116 (510): C63-C76, 2006
• Education Policy and Equality of Opportunity (with G. Schütz and H.W. Ursprung). Kyklos 61 (2): 279-308, 2008
   

D. Public Opinion and the Political Economy of Education Policy

• How Information Affects Support for Education Spending: Evidence from Survey Experiments in Germany and the United States (with M.R. West, P. Lergetporer, and K. Werner). NBER Working Paper 22808, 2016
• Information and Preferences for Public Spending: Evidence from Representative Survey Experiments (with P. Lergetporer, G. Schwerdt, and K. Werner). CESifo Working Paper 5938, 2016

ifo Prussian Economic History Database (iPEHD)

Datasets and Codes of Several Published Papers using Prussian Historical Data

International Data on Cognitive Skills (Excel format | Stata format)
For details see: Eric A. Hanushek, Ludger Wößmann, "Do Better Schools Lead to More Growth? Cognitive Skills, Economic Outcomes, and Causation", Journal of Economic Growth 17 (4), 2012, 267-321, Information, Working paper version available as: NBER Working Paper 14633 (PDF)

TIMSS 1995 Student Performance Database for Education Production Functions in Europe (Stata format)
For details see: "Educational Production in Europe", Economic Policy 20 (43), 2005, 445-504

Ph.D. Course, Microeconomic Foundations of Economics of Education, Zurich University, Swiss Leading House on the Economics of Education, Winter Semester 2015/16.

Ph.D./Master Course, Econometric Evaluation of Education Policies, Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Winter Semester 2015/16.

Bachelor Seminar, Feldexperimente in der Bildungsökonomik, Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Summer Semester 2015.

Ph.D./Master Course, Econometric Evaluation of Education Policy, Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Winter Semester 2013/14.

Ph.D. Course, Microeconomic Foundations of Economics of Education, Zurich University, Swiss Leading House on the Economics of Education, Winter Semester 2013/14.

Advanced Seminar, Teachers and Teaching in Educational Production, Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Winter Semester 2012/13.

Ph.D./Master Course, Econometric Evaluation of Education Policy, Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Summer Semester 2012.

2nd EERA Spring School on Advanced Methods in Educational Research, Methods for Causal Inference from Observational Data (with G. Schwerdt), European Educational Research Association (EERA), Gothenburg University, February 2012.

Seminar, The Long Shadow of History for Current Economic Development, Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Summer Semester 2011.

Lecture, Economics of Education (with Dr. O. Falck), Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Winter Semester 2010/11.

Ph.D. Course, Microeconomic Foundations of Economics of Education, Zurich University, Swiss Leading House on the Economics of Education, Winter Semester 2009/10.

Seminar, Economic Returns to Human Capital Accumulation, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Summer Semester 2009.

Lecture, Economics of Education (with Dr. Guido Schwerdt), Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Winter Semester 2008/09.

Ph.D. Course, Econometric Evaluation of Education Policy, Munich Graduate School of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Winter Semester 2007/08.

Seminar, Efficiency and Equal Opportunities in Educational Systems, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Summer Semester 2007.

Ph.D. Course, Microeconomic Foundations of Economics of Education, Doctoral Program of the Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education", University of Zurich, Winter Semester 2006/07.

Lecture, Labor Economics (with Dr. Sascha Becker), Munich Graduate School of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Winter Semester 2006/07.

Lecture, Economics of Education (with Dr. S. Becker), Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Winter Semester 2006/07.

Lecture, Economics I: Microeconomics, Department of Economics, Technical University, Munich, Winter Semester 2005/06.

Lecture, Economics of Education (with Prof. Dr. R.K. Frhr. von Weizsäcker and Dr. B. Süßmuth), Department of Economics, Technical University, Munich, Summer Semester 2005.

Lecture, Labor Economics (with Dr. Sascha Becker), Munich Graduate School of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Summer Semester 2005.

Lecture, Economics of Education (with Dr. S. Becker), Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Winter Semester 2004/05.

Lecture, Intergenerational Redistribution (with Dr. M. Werding), Munich Graduate School of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Summer Semester 2004.

Lecture, Theory of Regulation (with PD Dr. V. Meier), Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Winter Semester 2003/04.

Seminar, Current Issues in Employment Policy (Prof. R. Fehn), Department of Economics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Summer Semester 2003.

Tutorial, The Economics of Education and Education Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Spring Semester 2002.

Seminar, International Economic Relations and Development Economics (with Prof. R. Langhammer), Department of Economics, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Summer Semester 2000.

Tutorial, Macroeconomics (Prof. U. Fehl), Department of Economics, Philipps-University, Marburg, Summer Semester 1995.