My research studies how businesses and households respond to taxation, subsidies, and regulatory thresholds.
I use rich administrative data and quasi-experimental methods to identify behavioral responses and
study their implications for the design, efficiency, and distributional consequences of taxation and public policies.
We study how firms adjust their behavior around tax thresholds using detailed German administrative tax data. Exploiting bunching at the local business tax threshold, we examine how firms manage to remain below the profit threshold, investigating adjustments in revenues and in individual cost components.
We estimate the compliance costs of tax filing using German administrative income tax data and a revealed-preference approach. Exploiting the 2022 increase in the employee standard deduction from €1,000 to €1,200, we study taxpayers’ itemization decisions to infer the private costs of documenting and claiming deductions.
Using administrative data on the universe of vehicle registrations in Germany, we study how firms respond to the phase-out of electric vehicle subsidies and how this changes their role in the diffusion of electric vehicles in the German market.
Using administrative tax data covering the near-universe of German firms, we study the consequences of entering the VAT regime for small businesses. Exploiting the VAT registration threshold, we examine how firms adjust their behavior and performance when they become subject to VAT.