Benjamin Schoefer

Benjamin Schoefer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley, where he teaches courses in macroeconomic theory and labor economics. He serves as Director of the Macro Labor Center for the Study on Aggregate Labor Markets, Policies, and Institutions, collaborating with the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE).

• Editorial Roles: Associate Editor, Journal of Monetary Economics
• Affiliated Institutions: NBER (Research Associate), IWH Halle (Senior Research Fellow), Bundesbank (Research Professor), CEPR (Research Affiliate), IZA (Research Fellow), CESifo (Affiliate Member)

His research focuses on Labor Economics, Macroeconomics, and Public Economics, with recent work examining:

• Wage rigidity and efficiency wage models
• Labor market effects of employer subsidies
• Collective bargaining institutions across countries
• Firm growth through input substitution
• Employment protection policies
• Financial constraints in wage setting

Key findings include documenting how market power and monopsony influence labor shares, and how decentralized wage setting affects employment dynamics. His collaborative work spans institutions in Norway, Finland, and Italy.

As a NBER Working Paper author, he has published on topics like:

• Minimum wage impacts and misallocation
• Congestion theory in unemployment
• German industrial relations models
• Employer subsidies and hysteresis
• Payroll tax effects in Sweden