Ben Kriechel

Economics - Research, Teaching and Writings

About me

I am managing partner at Economix Research. As an expert in labour market research and research methodology, I am specialized in personnel and labour economics, education economics. In my work I am combining economic theory, empirical methods, and qualitative techniques.

I graduated from Maastricht University, where he also obtained his PhD. My Ph.D. research focused on large scale displacement of workers combining firm-level and survey data. I have been visiting Brandeis University, the NORC at the University of Chicago, and the IZA in Bonn.

I am a research fellow at the IZA, ROA, associate research fellow at the IER, and a council member of the Scottish Economic Society (SES).

My Job

Teaching

I have been teaching courses in (business) economics, research methodology, and statistics since my graduation in 1998. I have taught at Maastricht University, Utrecht School of Economics, Munich School of Management at the LMU,and atBamberg University.

Research

Most of the projects mentioned here are contract research projects. These are paid by the contracting authority. The main intention is not to have a scientific publication. Other projects are solemly scientific projects. These not sponsored by any contracting authority. Ideally, they lead to one or several publications in refereed journals.

Cedefop Skills Forecasting Project

The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) has asked the consortium under the lead of the Institute for Employment Research (IER) to continue the forecast on future skills needs in Europe.

Core forecasting team

• Institute for Employment Research (IER), Warwick University (UK)
• Cambridge Econometrics (CE). Cambridge (UK)
• Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), Maastricht (NL)
• Economix Research & Consulting, München (DE)
• Alphametrics, Brussels (BE)

Methodology

The demand forecast is produced for 41 industrial sectors (compatible with NACE rev 2.0), 27 occupational groups (based on ISCO08 classification) and three broad qualification levels (based on ISCED classification).

The supply forecast is broken down by five year age groups (starting from 15-19, 20-24, etc up to 65 and over), by gender and by three broad qualification levels (based on ISCED classification).

The forecast includes various indicators to identify potential labour market imbalances (skills mismatch). The results were produced initially for all EU Member States and Norway and Switzerland. For latest forecast covers pilot exercises were carried out for candidate countries Croatia, Iceland, Macedonia and Turkey.

Links: Further information & links at Economix site

The German Labour Market 2030

The German minstry of labour and social affairs has asked Economix to provide an analysis of future labour demand and supply by developing a new skills forecating model for Germany. The project should provide "regular, transparent and detailed evaluations about the future developments on the labour markets for Germany. To this end a forecasting model was developed together with a international consortium that consist of Institute for Employment Research at Warwick University, Cambridge Econometrics and ROA at Maastricht University that should identify future labour market imbalances and to suggest policies to insure sufficient qualified labour supply.

Links: The German Labour Market 2030 - A strategic view on demography, employment and education

Public Sector Pay

The study compares gross and net hourly wages in subsectors of the public sector using a common methodology across five European countries. The subsectors differentiate by main occupations and deals with the period 2003-2010.

The study was commissioned to SEOR by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in 2012. Its main purpose is to compare public sect or wages between the Netherlands and a number of other European countries. The countries involved are France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Links: [English Summary] [Report (in Dutch)]

Vocational Education and Training

In collaboration with the BiBB, I am investigating labour market issues of vocational education and training. The first series of papers was in the context of the cost and benefits of VET. This aspect has culminated in several papers that compare Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Current research investigates the instutional aspects of VET in Germany. An early part of the work has looked into the influence of works councils

Dynamics within the firm

Using firm level (administrative) data, I investigate personnel economics issues based on several data sets. I have worked with firm data from various countries and time frames.

Links:

• Frederiksen, Anders & Lange, Fabian & Kriechel, Ben, 2012. "Subjective Performance Evaluations and Employee Careers," IZA Discussion Papers 6373, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). REPEC .
• Kriechel, Ben & G. A. Pfann, 2013. "Workforce reorganization and the worker," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(13), pages 1719-1729, May. [REPEC Link]
• Dohmen, Thomas J.; Ben Kriechel: Gerard A. Pfann (2004): "Monkey bars and ladders: The importance of lateral and vertical job mobility in internal labor market careers," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 193-228, 06. [REPEC Link]

Recent Publications

The following list of publications summarizes my output since 2010. A full list of scientific publications can be found at my REPEC pages. For more reports see also the reports at ROA or the publications of Economix Research & Consulting.

Reports

• SEOR (2013): Wages in the Public Sector, Report, SEOR Rotterdam. [English Summary Report]
• Vogler-Ludwig, Kurt; Nicola Düll; Bernd Dworschak; Ben Kriechel; Pamela Meil; Hector Pollitt; Rob Wilson; Helmut Zaiser (2013): Arbeitsmarkt 2030 - Eine strategische Vorausschau auf Demografie, Beschäftigung und Bildung in Deutschland, Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Soziales, wbv, Bielefeld. [wbv]
• Ben Kriechel, Kurt Vogler-Ludwig (2013): Arbeitsmarkt 2030 - Methodenbericht - Beschreibung der quantitativen Modelle Study on behalf of the German Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales), wbv, Bielefeld [Download]
• Kriechel, Ben (et al.), 2008-2012 (annually): Arbeidsmarktmonitor Metalektro (Labour market monitor for the Dutch 'Metalektro' sector), ROA, Maastricht
• Kriechel, Ben; Wilson, Rob (2010): Forecasting skill supply and demand in Europe: Imbalances and Mismatches - Reconciling the Demand for and Supply of Skills Cedefop Skills Forecasting Project. Technical Report no: 008, February 2010.
• Kriechel, Ben; Jan Sauermann (2010): Forecasting skill supply and demand in Europe to 2020: Replacement demand - methods and results Cedefop; Technical Report no: 005, February 2010, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market, Maastricht University
• Cörvers, Frank; Dijksman, Sander; Kriechel, Ben; Montizaan, Raymond (2010), Vervangingsvraag naar beroep en stromen op de arbeidsmarkt, ROA-TR2010/3.

Working Papers

• Skriabikova, Olga; Ben Kriechel; Thomas Dohmen (2013): Risk attitude and occupational choice, Paper presented at the Society of Labour Economists annual conference.
• Skriabikova, Olga; Ben Kriechel; Thomas Dohmen (2013): Civic capital and preferences for economic and political systems, Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the Scottish Economic Society, Perth (UK).

Books and Chapters

• Kriechel, Ben (2013): "Replacement demand and personnel planning on the sectoral level: Challenges of an ageing workforce", Chapter 2 in Conference Procedings, Joint OECD- EUSAV Conference on the Impact of Ageing on Public Finances and Labour Markets in EU Regions, Bratislava.
• Korvorst, M.; Kriechel, B.; Smits, W. (2013): Internationale oriëntatie van bedrijven en baanzekerheid van werknemers. Chapter 10 in: van Gaalen, Goudswaard, Sanders, Smits (Eds.): Dynamiek op de Nederlandse Arbeidsmarkt, Dutch Statistics, Voorburg.
• Kriechel, Ben (2010): Displaced Workers, Unemployed and Vocational Education and Training, in: Penelope Peterson, Eva Baker and Barry McGaw (eds), International Encyclopedia of Education, 3rd Edition, 275-279. [ Elsevier (paywall)]

Journal Publications

• Fouarge, Didier; Ben Kriechel; Thomas Dohmen (2014): Occupational sorting of school leavers: The role of economic preferences, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 106, 335-351. [REPEC Link]
• Skriabikova, Olga; Dohmen, Thomas; Kriechel, Ben (2014): "New Evidence on the Relationship between Risk Attitudes and Self-Employment", Labour Economics; [REPEC Link]
• Kriechel, Ben & Mühlemann, Samuel & Pfeifer, Harald & Schuette, Miriam (2014) "Works Councils, Collective Bargaining and Apprenticeship Training", Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 53(2), 199-222. [Journal Link]
• Kriechel, Ben & G. A. Pfann, 2013. "Workforce reorganization and the worker," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(13), pages 1719-1729, May. [Journal link]
• Bertrand-Cloodt, D. & Frank Cörvers & Ben Kriechel & Jesper Thor, 2012. "Why Do Recent Graduates Enter into Flexible Jobs?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 157-175, June. [REPEC Link]
• Fouarge, D.; Kriechel, B.; Dohmen, T.J. (2012): Risicoattitude en beroepskeuze van schoolverlaters, Tijdschrift voor Arbeidsvraagstukken, 28(2), 207-223. [Link to Journal]
• van Breugel, Gerla; Ben Kriechel (2010): Sociale Innovatie in de Praktijk, Economisch Statistische Berichten, jaargang 95, nummer 4594, 1 oktober, pp. 589-590.

A full list of scientific publications can be found at my REPEC pages