The GSME welcomes new faculty member Prof. Dr. Katharina Spieß. This is a joint appointment with the Federal Insitute for Population Research (BiB) Wiesbaden where she is the new director since October.
Katharina Spieß is an applied micro economist. In her research, she mainly focuses on family and education related issues, with a particular focus on the economics of early childhood. She graduated from the Universiy of Mannheim and received her doctorate from the Ruhr-University Bochum. Her “Habilitation” was received by the Technical University in Berlin. Before moving to Mainz, she was professor at the Freie Universität Berlin and a guest professor and researcher abroad, for instance at the Cornell University, the University of Washington and the Syracuse University. Since 2000 she worked at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), first as a member of the SOEP-group and then as the head of the department for education and family. She received several awards and grants, including a prestiogous grant by the Einstein Foundation Berlin. Her research was published in internationally renowned scientific journals such as Labour Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Economic Psychology and Journal for Health Economics. She also serves as an advisor on several scientific advisory boards, for instance those for the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs (BMFSFJ) or the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).