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About the Author(s)

Hannes Schwandt

Hannes Schwandt is an empirical economist working at the intersection of health economics, labor economics, and economic demography. His research focuses on the economic causes and consequences of health over the lifecycle. Schwandt’s work has been published in leading economic and interdisciplinary journals, including the Review of Economic Studies, Journal of the American Medical Association, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Science and it is regularly featured in leading national and international media. Schwandt received his PhD at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in 2012, completed postdoctoral studies at Princeton University, and started as an assistant professor at the University of Zurich in 2015. He visited at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research in 2018 and joined Northwestern University in 2019. He is now an associate professor in Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy and associate director of the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics in the Feinberg School of Medicine. He is a research fellow at IZA Institute of Labor Economics, a research affiliate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and an NBER faculty research fellow affiliated with the Program on Children and the Health Care Program.

This is a protrait photo of Till M. von Wachter

Till von Wachter is a professor of economics, faculty director of the California Policy Lab, and director of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a research associate in NBER’s Aging and Labor Studies Programs. He is also Research Professor at the German Social Security Agency. Von Wachter’s publications span numerous topics in labor economics and the economics of aging. He has written extensively about how labor market conditions, institutions, and firms affect the careers and well-being of workers throughout the life cycle. This includes analyses of how unemployment and job loss affect career and health outcomes, and the role of unemployment insurance and disability insurance in buffering such shocks. Von Wachter also has studied the role of firms in explaining increasing earnings inequality, how lack of competition in the labor market affects the impact of minimum wages, and how firms are impacted by policies increasing retirement ages. Von Wachter’s research has been published in leading journals, such as the American Economic Review, the Q uarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. He has been an advisor to the US Department of Labor, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Bank, the Government of Canada, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and the City of Los Angeles, among others.

Endnotes

1. "Socioeconomic Decline and Death: Midlife Impacts of Graduating in a Recession," Schwandt H and von Wachter T,  NBER Working Paper 26638, January 2020; “Who Suffers during Recessions?” Hoynes H, Miller D, Schaller J. Journal of Economic Perspectives 26(3), Summer 2012, pp. 27–48.   Go to ⤴︎
2. “The Persistent Effects of Initial Labor Market Conditions for Young Adults and their Sources,” von Wachter T, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34(4), 2020, pp. 168–194. “The Long-Term Labor Market Consequences of Graduating from College in a Bad Economy,” Kahn L. Labour Economics 17(2), 2010, pp. 303–316; “Initial Labor Market Conditions and Long-Term Outcomes for Economists,” Oyer P. Journal of Economic Perspectives 20(3), Summer 2006, pp. 143–160; “The Short- and Long-Term Career Effects of Graduating in a Recession,” Oreopoulos P, von Wachter T, Heisz A. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 4(1), January 2012, pp. 1–29; “Unlucky Cohorts: Estimating the Long-Term Effects of Entering the Labor Market in a Recession in Large Cross-Sectional Data Sets,” Schwandt H, von Wachter T. Journal of Labor Economics 37(S1), January 2019, pp. S161–S198; “The Lost Generation? Labor Market Outcomes for Post-Great Recession Entrants,” Rothstein J. Journal of Human Resources, online June 2021. Go to ⤴︎
3. Do Youth Employment Programs Work? Evidence from the New Deal,” Aizer A, Eli S, Lleras-Muney A, Lee K. NBER Working Paper 27103, July 2020.   Go to ⤴︎
4.  “The Health Effects of Leaving School in a Bad Economy,” Maclean J. Journal of Health Economics 32(5), September 2013, pp. 951–964; “Economic Conditions and Mortality: Evidence from 200 Years of Data,” Cutler D, Huang W, Lleras-Muney A. NBER Working Paper 22690, September 2016.   Go to ⤴︎
5.  “Unlucky Cohorts: Estimating the Long-Term Effects of Entering the Labor Market in a Recession in Large Cross-Sectional Data Sets,” Schwandt H, von Wachter T. Journal of Labor Economics 37(S1), January 2019, pp. S161–S198.   Go to ⤴︎
6. We find that SNAP and family welfare benefits (Aid to Families with Dependent Children and then Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) are initially elevated for non-White and lower-educated categories. However, these increases are not sufficient to offset a substantial decline in family income and a rise in poverty, or to prevent longer-term economic losses. The fact that the receipt of SNAP benefits among unlucky cohorts starts to increase again in middle age is a sign of social insurance at work. Go to ⤴︎

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