We study how performance metrics affect the allocation of talent by exploiting the introduction of the first citation database in science. For technical reasons, it only covered citations from certain journals and years, creating quasi-random variation: some citations became visible, while others remained invisible. We identify the effects of citation metrics by comparing the predictiveness of visible to invisible citations. Citation metrics increased assortative matching between scientists and departments by reducing information frictions over geographic and intellectual distance. Highly cited scientists from lower-ranked departments (“hidden stars”) and from minorities benefited more. Citation metrics also affected promotions and NSF grants, suggesting Matthew effects.

This paper investigates superiors’ revealed preference for diversity. I study the effect of ministers who differ in their gender attitudes on the career trajectories of women in German ministries. I develop a novel measure of gender attitudes: the extent to which a person speaks gender-inclusively. Based on thirty years of parliamentary speeches, I construct a politician-level score measuring the degree of gender-inclusive language. I calculate each minister’s score and relate it to self-collected employee-level data from German ministries. Superiors’ gender attitudes matter for women’s career outcomes: ministers with one standard deviation higher gender attitudes increase women’s probability of being promoted. This effect is driven by both male and female ministers.

After the defeat of Germany in the Second World War, the United Kingdom and the United States engaged in a large-scale program of “intellectual reparations.” British and U.S. experts investigated firms and production plants across Germany to collect technological expertise that could benefit their private industries. In this paper, we provide the first systematic and quantitative analysis of this unprecedented program of intellectual reparations. We present a newly assembled dataset on the universe of the investigations, which allows us to map the extent of the resulting knowledge transfers. We provide facts on the German firms, industries, and technologies that were investigated. Moreover, we link the investigated German firms to the investigating U.S. firms to directly observe knowledge transfers.

We study how war grievances affect individual behavior when faced with post-war assimilation policy. We focus on the German-speaking region of South Tyrol, which after World War I (WWI) was annexed by Italy. Many South Tyroleans fought against Italy in WWI; yet, after losing the war, they were rendered a German-speaking minority in Italy and faced oppressive assimilation policiy. In 1939, all South Tyroleans were forced to choose either to assimilate into Italian culture or to emigrate to Germany. Using historical administrative data and WWI casualty lists, we compare behavior of individuals whose families have suffered a casualty fighting the Italian army to those with a casualty resulting from another enemy. We find that these grievances mostly do not affect behaviors indicating assimilation avoidance, such as emigration decisions and naming patterns of children. We conclude that enemy-specific grievances were not a salient factor in individuals’ reactions to oppressive assimilation policy.

This project studies how the introduction of citation metrics affected assortative matching in research teams. The introduction of the first citation database, the Science Citation Index (SCI), in the 1960s revolutionized the discovery of other scientists’ work: it became possible to know which scientists work on specific topics without having to consult the current issues of hundreds of journals. In the first part of the project, we analyze whether the introduction of the SCI impacted team formation of academics by allowing for the discovery of other researchers. In the second part, we exploit quasi-random variation in the visibility of citations in the SCI to identify how being perceived as a high-quality researcher affects assortative matching with other high-quality researchers. In the third part, we study whether these effects on assortative matching in team formation increased productivity.