Lecture with Max Marczinek at the University of St. Gallen [21.04.26]
Our new postdoc at the Chair of Public Economics will be visiting the University of St. Gallen on April 22
Image: Pixabay/Broesis
In his paper "Labour Scarcity and Productivity Growth: Insights from the Last Nordic Plague" Max Marczinek studies the relationship between labour scarcity and productivity in the context of a 1710s plague outbreak.
While higher wages should have led to an export contraction, exports grew after plagued regions shifted into capital-intensive production. Using a Ricardian model, he shows that productivity growth in capital-intensive sectors is best suited to explain this export boom. He argues that labour scarcity incentivises capital-intensive production which raises productivity growth.
