Simon Wiederhold

About

Simon Wiederhold is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution for the 2024–25 academic year. He is professor of labor economics at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and senior research advisor at the Halle Institute for Economic Research, where he leads the research group on education, skills, and the labor market.

Wiederhold's research focuses on labor and education economics, particularly the formation and impact of skills. He investigates the determinants of skill development, including family background, formal education, and on-the-job training, and examines the role of skills in labor-market success throughout workers’ careers. He also investigates how inequalities in the education system arise. Methodologically, Wiederhold emphasizes rigorous research designs using modern microeconometric methods to provide evidence-based policy recommendations.

He has published extensively in leading journals such as the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of the European Economic Association, and the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. His contributions to the field have been recognized with awards including the CESifo Young Affiliate Award, the ifo Research Award, and the CIDER Public Science Award. His joint work with Hoover senior fellow Eric Hanushek on returns to skills worldwide has won the Best Paper Award of the European Economic Review.

Wiederhold held previous academic positions at the Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt and the Ifo Institute, and spent extended research visits at Harvard University and Duke University. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Jena, where he also studied. He actively contributes to public debates on education and labor-market policies, providing numerous policy reports for the European Commission and other organizations. His research has been featured in prominent media outlets, reflecting his influence on contemporary economic policy discussions.