Achim Hagen’s primary research focus is to enhance the understanding of the economic implications of domestic and international climate policy-making, particularly in relation to the political economy, transition risks, and the interaction with financial regulation. He aims to provide insights that can aid the transition towards a sustainable, carbon-neutral future. At the ifo Institute he will collaborate with Waldemar Marz to study the role of endogenous state capacity on the provision of environmental and other public goods in a politico-economic setting, taking into consideration the role of elections.

In recent work, Anca Cristea investigates whether labor unions influence how local labor markets respond to international trade shocks, particularly to import competition from low wage countries. While a large literature has examined the local labor market effects of trade exposure, less is known about the role played by labor unions in shaping employment outcomes in response to trade. In her analysis, Ms. Cristea uses data from the United States during the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and finds that import competition from Mexico impacted manufacturing employment relatively more in locations that were less represented by labor unions. A rationalization of this finding points to the use of concession bargaining by labor unions, which allowed them to trade off future wage growth in exchange for employment protection. Such leverage was not available in locations characterized by weak union presence.