Dear colleagues,

The Department of Economics cordially invites you to the WU Economics Research Seminar on Wednesday, January 25^th, with

Katharina Erhardt

(DICE)

on

" Winners and losers of the 2015 Swiss exchange rate shock: Unveiling heterogeneous worker responses"

Abstract: This paper studies the heterogeneous responses of workers to the large and sudden appreciation of the Swiss Franc in January 2015. To that end, we combine detailed firm-level information on exports and imports with a monthly panel of employees linked to their respective employers. We exploit the varying degrees of trade exposure of Swiss firms to identify the causal effect of the exchange rate shock on adjustment strategies, employment and wages. We show that both firm-level exposure and worker heterogeneity play an important role for understanding heterogeneous worker outcomes. Workers who are – a priori – equally exposed to trade are affected differently by the exchange rate shock. We find that workers that are in the top quartile of the within-firm wage distribution experience are particularly strongly affected. Our findings shed new light on the unequal consequences of trade shocks and the role of adjustment strategies for aggregate income inequality.

Date: Wednesday, January 25^th

Time: 4.30 to 6 pm (CET)

Location: building TC, 3^rd floor, room TC.3.07

With best regards,

Harald Oberhofer

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Univ.-Prof. Dr. Harald Oberhofer

Department of Economics 

WU Vienna University of Economics and Business

Phone: +43/1/31336-4984

Email: harald.oberhofer@wu.ac.at

Webpage: https://www.wu.ac.at/ie/mitarbeiter/harald-oberhofer/

Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)

Phone: +43/1/7982601-468

Email: harald.oberhofer@wifo.ac.at

Webpage: http://www.wifo.ac.at/harald_oberhofer