Welcome to my webpage!
I am an economist in the Structural Policy Research Division of the OECD Economics Department.
I recently graduated from Brown University with a PhD in Economics. My dissertation research deals with empirical and theoretical questions at the intersection of demography and economic inequality. My broader research interests are in economic growth, macroeconomics, labor economics, and political economy. You can find more information in my CV and in the research sections of this website.
Feel free to reach out at matthias.schief@gmail.com.
The views expressed in this website are solely those of the author and should not be interpreted as reflecting those of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Research Papers
Population Aging, Cohort Replacement, and the Evolution of Income Inequality in the United States with Vesa-Matti Heikkuri [most recent version]
We study how demographic change affects the evolution of household income inequality in the United States, both historically and prospectively. We emphasize the distinct roles of population aging and cohort replacement and develop a methodology to study their joint compositional effect on income inequality.
Subgroup Decomposition of the Gini Coefficient: A New Solution to an Old Problem with Vesa-Matti Heikkuri [most recent version] Revise and Resubmit at Econometrica
We derive a novel decomposition of the Gini coefficient into within and between-group inequality terms that sum to the aggregate Gini coefficient. This decomposition is derived from a set of axioms that ensure desirable behavior for the within and between-group inequality terms.
Anticipation of Discrimination and Misperceptions in Cooperation Dilemmas with Devesh Rustagi [most recent version]
Does anticipation of discrimination undermine cooperation? We develop an experimental design to study this question and apply it in the context of affective polarization.
Work in Progress
- Institutional Changes and the Allocation of Talent. Macroeconomic Effects of a School Reform in Finland with Vesa-Matti Heikkuri and Cosimo Petracchi
- Tight Bounds for the Gini Coefficient of Composite Populations with Vesa-Matti Heikkuri
- Success-biased Cultural Evolution in a Panel of Countries
- Optimal Transport and the Measurement of Inequality with Vesa-Matti Heikkuri
- Isolating a Culture of Son Preference among Armenian, Georgian, and Azeri Parents in Soviet-era Russia with Sonja Vogt, Elena Churilova, and Charles Efferson
Publications
Investigating the Structure of Son Bias in Armenia With Novel Measures of Individual Preferences. Matthias Schief, Sonja Vogt, and Charles Efferson. Demography. 2021; 58 (5):1737-1764. [doi]