Professor Dr Christian Dustmann

Research priorities: economics of migration and integration, labour economics, family economics, education economics, wage structures, income mobility
Christian Dustmann is an economist and one of the leading scientists in the field of labour market research. He is a Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists, the British Academy as well as the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Dustmann was ranked number one in the 2019 Handelsblatt ranking of all economists from German-speaking countries and German-speaking economists abroad. A renowned expert on the economics of migration, his research covers areas such as the role of language in determining economic and social integration, immigration’s impact on wages, employment, technology, and election outcomes, factors determining attitudes towards immigration, and analysis of segregation and racial harassment. His other research areas include income mobility, wage dynamics and inequality, the economics of crime, the economics of education, social networks in the labour market, and the economics of the family.
Dustmann’s research contributions on migration cover areas such as analysis of immigrants’ careers and the role of language in determining economic and social integration, immigration’s impact on wages, employment, technology, and election outcomes, the effects of welfare reform on immigrants’ social and economic integration, the determinants of attitudes towards immigration policies, and analysis of segregation and racial harassment.
His work on migration has not only opened up new research avenues but also frequently influenced the public debate on immigration. Dustmann’s examination of the fiscal impact of immigration to the UK remains the most thorough in methodology, the broadest in terms of data, and the most specific in results conducted for the UK on this topic to date, and has importantly shaped policy discussions and informed public debate.
The methodology developed in this research was subsequently used, among others, in the influential report by the US National Academy of Sciences Panel on the “Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration”, [Blau & Mackie (eds), 2017]. His recent work with Anderson and Landersø on the effects of welfare cuts to refugees attracted large public attention, led to debates in Parliament, and contributed to establishment of a commission that reviews the social assistance system in Denmark.
Dustmann made also many important contributions to other areas of labour economics. His research was the first to illustrate the dramatic increase in wage inequality in Germany since the mid-1990s, contradicting the dominant view that inequality had increased in Anglo-Saxon countries but not in Germany.
Dustmann further developed this research agenda in the paper “From sick man of Europe to Economic superstar” where he and his co-authors argue that the stark increase in competitiveness of German industry from the mid 1990s onwards was mainly due to Germany’s flexible wage setting institutions and autonomous negotiations between employers and employees rather than the Hartz reforms. This work not only influenced domestic public debate but attracted considerable attention by policy makers abroad. Findings of his recent research, showing that the introduction of the minimum wage in Germany led to re-allocation of workers from low paying, smaller firms to high paying and high productivity firms is highly cited in academic as well as public debate.
Dustmann was the first to provide causal analysis of the effects of increases in maternity leave in Germany on children. His findings that such extensions had no effect on children’s educational and long-term economic outcomes was first controversial but has now been confirmed by follow up studies for many other countries. His work on the economics of crime shows for the first time convincingly that influence of a criminal environment in early adolescence increases criminal activity of young men.