Sönke Hendrik Matthewes

Sönke Hendrik Matthewes serves as Assistant Professor of Applied Economics at Utrecht University’s School of Economics, with additional affiliations as Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance (LSE), Research Affiliate at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Fellow of the College for Interdisciplinary Education Research (CIDER), and member of Verein für Socialpolitik’s economics of education committee.

His academic background includes:

• Ph.D. in Economics from WZB Berlin Social Science Centre, Freie Universität Berlin, and Berlin School of Economics
• Postdoctoral research at University of Potsdam / Berlin School of Economics

Specializing in Economics of Education and Labor Economics, Dr. Matthewes applies quasi-experimental econometric methods to investigate how school system features—particularly ability tracking and vocational curricula—shape educational achievement, labor market outcomes, and inequality. His research provides critical evidence for educational policy design through rigorous causal analysis of institutional structures.

His publication record reveals consistent focus on tracking policies’ heterogeneous impacts, using natural experiments to challenge assumptions about tracking benefits. Recent work examines de-tracking marginal effects and vocational pathway alternatives, demonstrating sophisticated methodological approaches to disentangle complex educational dynamics across diverse student populations.

Dr. Matthewes teaches advanced graduate courses including ‘Causal Inference for Policy Evaluation’ and ‘Research Skills 2: Literature Study and Academic Writing’, supervising student research projects in applied econometrics. He contributes to Utrecht University’s ‘Dynamics of Youth’ interdisciplinary research theme, collaborating across social science disciplines to study developmental trajectories from childhood through adulthood.