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Dr Matthias Brachert

Dr Matthias Brachert
Current Position

since 5/20

Economist at the Centre for Evidence-based Policy Advice (IWH-CEP)

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association

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Research Interests
  • economic geography
  • urban economics
  • economic policy

Matthias Brachert joined the institute in November 2007. His research focuses on economic geography, urban economics, and economic policy.

Matthias Brachert earned a diploma from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and University of Reunion Island in France. He received his PhD from Utrecht University.

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Dr Matthias Brachert
Dr Matthias Brachert
- Department Präsidialbereich
Send Message +49 345 7753-870

Publications

Citations
914

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Urban Occupational Structures as Information Networks: The Effect on Network Density of Increasing Number of Occupations

Shade T. Shutters José Lobo Rachata Muneepeerakul Deborah Strumsky Charlotta Mellander Matthias Brachert Teresa Farinha Luis M. A. Bettencourt

in: Plos One, forthcoming

Abstract

Urban economies are composed of diverse activities, embodied in labor occupations, which depend on one another to produce goods and services. Yet little is known about how the nature and intensity of these interdependences change as cities increase in population size and economic complexity. Understanding the relationship between occupational interdependencies and the number of occupations defining an urban economy is relevant because interdependence within a networked system has implications for system resilience and for how easily can the structure of the network be modified. Here, we represent the interdependencies among occupations in a city as a non-spatial information network, where the strengths of interdependence between pairs of occupations determine the strengths of the links in the network. Using those quantified link strengths we calculate a single metric of interdependence–or connectedness–which is equivalent to the density of a city’s weighted occupational network. We then examine urban systems in six industrialized countries, analyzing how the density of urban occupational networks changes with network size, measured as the number of unique occupations present in an urban workforce. We find that in all six countries, density, or economic interdependence, increases superlinearly with the number of distinct occupations. Because connections among occupations represent flows of information, we provide evidence that connectivity scales superlinearly with network size in information networks.

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Are Rural Firms Left Behind? Firm Location and Perceived Job Attractiveness of High-skilled Workers

Matthias Brachert Sabrina Jeworrek

in: Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, No. 1, 2024

Abstract

We conduct a discrete choice experiment to investigate how the location of a firm in a rural or urban region affects the perceived job attractiveness for university students and graduates and, therewith, contributes to the rural–urban divide. We characterize the attractiveness of a location based on several dimensions (social life, public infrastructure and connectivity) and vary job design and contractual characteristics of the job. We find that job offers from companies in rural areas are generally considered less attractive, regardless of the attractiveness of the region. The negative perception is particularly pronounced among persons of urban origin and singles. In contrast, for individuals with partners and kids this preference is less pronounced. High-skilled individuals who originate from rural areas have no specific regional preference at all.

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Regional Effects of Professional Sports Franchises – Causal Evidence from Four European Football Leagues

Matthias Brachert

in: Regional Studies, No. 2, 2021

Abstract

The locational pattern of clubs in four professional football leagues in Europe is used to test the causal effect of relegations on short-run regional development. The study relies on the relegation mode of the classical round-robin tournament in the European model of sport to develop a regression-discontinuity design. The results indicate small and significant negative short-term effects on regional employment and output in the sports-related economic sector. In addition, small negative effects on overall regional employment growth are found. Total regional gross value added remains unaffected.

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Working Papers

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Where to Go? High-skilled Individuals’ Regional Preferences

Sabrina Jeworrek Matthias Brachert

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 27, 2022

Abstract

We conduct a discrete choice experiment to investigate how the location of a firm in a rural or urban region affects job attractiveness and contributes to the spatial sorting of university students and graduates. We characterize the attractiveness of a location based on several dimensions (social life, public infrastructure, connectivity) and combine this information with an urban or rural attribution. We also vary job design as well as contractual characteristics of the job. We find that job offers from companies in rural areas are generally considered less attractive. This is true regardless of the attractiveness of the region. The negative perception is particularly pronounced among persons with urban origin and singles. These persons rate job offers from rural regions significantly worse. In contrast, high-skilled individuals who originate from rural areas as well as individuals with partners and kids have no specific preference for jobs in urban or rural areas.

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Identifying the Effects of Place-based Policies – Causal Evidence from Germany

Matthias Brachert Eva Dettmann Mirko Titze

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 18, 2016

Abstract

The German government provides discretionary investment grants to structurally weak regions to reduce regional disparities. We use a regression discontinuity design that exploits an exogenous discrete jump in the probability of receiving investment grants to identify the causal effects of the investment grant on regional outcomes. We find positive effects for regional gross value-added and productivity growth, but no effects for employment and gross wage growth.

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On the Stability of Preferences: Repercussions of Entrepreneurship on Risk Attitudes

Matthias Brachert Walter Hyll

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 5, 2014

Abstract

The majority of empirical studies make use of the assumption of stable preferences in searching for a relationship between risk attitude and the decision to become and stay an entrepreneur. Yet empirical evidence on this relationship is limited. In this paper, we show that entry into entrepreneurship itself plays a decisive role in shaping risk preferences. We find that becoming self-employed is indeed associated with a relative increase in risk attitudes, an increase that is quantitatively large and significant even after controlling for individual characteristics, different employment status, and duration of entrepreneurship. The findings suggest that studies assuming that risk attitudes are stable over time suffer from reverse causality; risk attitudes do not remain stable over time, and individual preferences change endogenously.

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Topics

Innovations Policy Evaluation
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