Biographical sketch

Britta Gehrke is professor of macroeconomics at Freie Universität Berlin since April 2023. She is further affiliated with IAB (Institute for Employment Research) Nuremberg and IZA - Institute of Labor Economics.  From 2020 to 2023, she was a professor at the University of Rostock and from 2015 to 2020, she was an assistant professor at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg and the IAB. She holds a doctoral degree from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg and obtained her diploma in economics from the University of Kiel. She was a visiting researcher at the Universities of Queensland and Adelaide and at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Her research interest focuses on macroeconomics, labor markets and business cycles. Her projects investigate the role of policies such as fiscal policy or short-time work over the business cycle, structural reforms and the interaction of financial and labor markets. Her work has been published in international economic journals and is discussed in policy pieces. She is associate editor of the Journal for Labour Market Research, a member of the scientific advisory board of Wirtschaftsdienst and a member of the standing field committee "Macroeconomics" of the Verein für Socialpolitik (German Economic Association).

Full CV

Research interests

• Applied macroeconomics
• Business cycles
• Labor markets
• Monetary and fiscal policy
• International macroeconomics
• Applied econometrics

Publications in refereed journals

Minimum Wages, Wage Dispersion and Financial Constraints in Firms, 2024, (with Hamzeh Arabzadeh, Almut Balleer and Ahmet Ali Taskin), European Economic Review, Volume 163, April, doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104678.

Counteracting Unemployment in Crises: Non-linear Effects of Short-time Work Policy, 2021, (with Brigitte Hochmuth), Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Volume 123, Issue 1, pp. 144-183, doi: 10.1111/sjoe.12395.

Fiscal Rules and Unemployment, 2019, Macroeconomic Dynamics, Volume 23, Nummer 8, Dezember, pp. 3293–3326, doi: 10.1017/S1365100518000044.

The German Labor Market during the Great Recession: Shocks and Institutions, 2019, (with Christian Merkl and Wolfgang Lechthaler), Economic Modelling, Volume 78, May, doi: 10.1016/j.econmod.2018.09.022.

Identifying Asymmetric Effects of Labor Market Reforms, 2018, (with Enzo Weber), European Economic Review, Volume 110, pp. 18–40, doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2018.07.006.

Are Supply Shocks Important for Real Exchange Rates? A Fresh View from the Frequency-Domain, 2017, (with Fang Yao), Journal of International Money and Finance, Volume 79C, pp. 99–114, doi: 10.1016/j.jimonfin.2017.09.008.

Some Surprising Facts about Working Time Accounts and the Business Cycle in Germany, 2017, (with Almut Balleer and Christian Merkl), International Journal of Manpower, Volume 38(7), pp. 940–953, doi: 10.1108/IJM-05-2017-0100.

Does Short-Time Work Save Jobs? A Business Cycle Analysis, 2016, (with Almut Balleer, Wolfgang Lechthaler and Christian Merkl), European Economic Review, Volume 84, pp. 99–122, doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2015.05.007.

Book contributions

Reforming the Labor Market in Good and Bad Times: Any Differences?, 2018, (with Enzo Weber), in “The Political Economy of Structural Reforms in Europe,” edited by Nauro F. Campos, Paul de Grauwe, and Yuemei Ji, Oxford University Press, New York.

Working Papers

Uncovering the Mechanism(s): Financial Constraints and Wages, with Almut Balleer and Hamzeh Arabzadeh, IZA Discussion Papers, 13979, Dezember 2020. https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/13979/uncovering-the-mechanisms-financial-constraints-and-wages.

Short-Time Work and Precautionary Savings, with Thomas Dengler, IZA Discussion Papers, 14329, April 2021. http://ftp.iza.org/dp14329.pdf.

Post-merger Restructuring of the Labor Force, with Ernst Maug, Stefan Obernberger and Christoph Schneider, European Corporate Governance Institute - Finance Working Paper, 753 (2021), May 2021. ecgi.global/sites/default/files/working_papers/documents/gehrkemaugobernbergerschneiderfinal_1.pdf. 

Policy reports and general interest activities

Kaufkraft kehrt zurück - Politische Unsicherheit hoch, Gemeinschaftsdiagnose Herbst 2023, 2023. https://gemeinschaftsdiagnose.de/2023/09/28/gemeinschaftsdiagnose-herbst-2023-kaufkraft-kehrt-zurueck-politische-unsicherheit-hoch/.

Arbeitsmarkt - Was für die Zukunft wichtig ist, RHI Impulse Spezial, 2023. https://www.romanherzoginstitut.de/publikationen/detail/impulse-spezial.html.

Was die bisherigen Corona-Programme gebracht haben, with Marius Clemens, Geraldine Dany-Knedlik and Claus Michelsen, Makronom, 2020. https://makronom.de/was-die-bisherigen-corona-programme-gebracht-haben-37433.

Wie die Wirtschaftspolitik auf die zweite Infektionswelle reagieren sollte, with Marius Clemens, Geraldine Dany-Knedlik and Claus Michelsen, Makronom, 2020, https://makronom.de/wie-die-wirtschaftspolitik-auf-die-zweite-infektionswelle-reagieren-sollte-37434.

Guidelines for cost-effective use of SURE: Rule-based short-time work with workers’ consent and aligned replacement rates, with Almut Balleer, Brigitte Hochmuth und Christian Merkl, Vox CEPR Policy Portal, 2020. https://voxeu.org/article/guidelines-cost-effective-use-sure.

Kurzarbeit, Entlassungen, Neueinstellungen: Wie sich die Corona-Krise von der Finanzkrise 2009 unterscheidet, with Enzo Weber, IAB-Forum, 2020. https://www.iab-forum.de/kurzarbeit-entlassungen-neueinstellungen-wie-sich-die-corona-krise-von-der-finanzkrise-2009-unterscheidet/.

Autonomes Fahren statt Stop and Go: Vorschläge zur effektiven Gestaltung der deutschen Kurzarbeit, with Almut Balleer, Brigitte Hochmuth und Christian Merkl, Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, 68(3), 252–260. https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/zfwp/68/3/article-p252.xml?language=de.

Mit Kurzarbeit erfolgreich durch die nächste Rezession?, with Almut Balleer, Brigitte Hochmuth und Christian Merkl, ifo Schnelldienst 18/2019. https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/sd-2019-18-2019-09-26_1.pdf.

Structural Labour Market Reforms in Europe: Timing Matters, with Enzo Weber, LSE Business Review, June 4th, 2018. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/90866/1/Gehrke_Structural-labour-market_Author.pdf.

Überschätzte Rolle von Arbeitszeitkonten in der großen Rezession?, with Almut Balleer and Christian Merkl, Ökonomenstimme, October 2017. https://www.oekonomenstimme.org/artikel/2017/10/ueberschaetzte-rolle-von-arbeitszeitkonten-in-der-grossen-rezession/.

Rettet Kurzarbeit in Rezessionen Arbeitsplätze?, 2017, (with Brigitte Hochmuth), Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Volume 43, Number 1, pp. 93–116. http://wug.akwien.at/WUG_Archiv/2017_43_1/2017_43_1_0099.pdf.

Short-Time Work: Does It Save Jobs?, with Almut Balleer, Wolfgang Lechthaler and Christian Merkl, VoxEU, July 2013. https://voxeu.org/article/short-time-work-does-it-save-jobs.

Rettet Kurzarbeit wirklich Arbeitsplätze?, with Almut Balleer, Wolfgang Lechthaler and Christian Merkl, Ökonomenstimme, September 2013. https://www.oekonomenstimme.org/artikel/2013/09/rettet-kurzarbeit-wirklich-arbeitsplaetze/.