Our network 

STATEC Research contributes to and benefits from several national and international partnerships. The team participates in working groups of international institutions such as the OECD, EUROSTAT, and the European Commission; hosts visiting scholars and students (masters and doctoral); and sits on the boards of national institutions and academic societies.

Research areas 

Productivity

The team provides sound measures of productivity for the national economy and for Luxembourg's industries. Such measures can be used to track the dynamics of productivity in Luxembourg and to identify the country's international position. Chiara Peroni sits on the board of Luxembourg’s National Productivity Council (Conseil National de la Productivité).

Entrepreneurship

STATEC Research participates in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), an international program aimed at collecting and analysing comparative data on entrepreneurship. Indeed, Cesare Riillo sits on the board of the governing entity, Global Entrepreneur Research Association (GERA).

Labour market

This research examines the implications of globalization on employment in Luxembourg using trade and firm-level data.

Well-being and quality of life

STATEC Research develops new ways of assessing the social and economic development of Luxembourg, beyond traditional income-based measures of welfare. For instance, the team developed the project PIBien-être, which in turn established a multidimensional set of indicators to monitor and assess quality-of-life in Luxembourg. The team collaborates in the StudiaLUX project, through which the European Values Study (EVS) is conducted in Luxembourg. Members of the team, Kelsey O’Connor and Francesco Sarracino, are also members of the board of directors for the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, Kelsey O’Connor sits on the Advisory Panel of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, and Francesco Sarracino sits on the World Wellbeing Panel.

Dissemination of research 

Research results are disseminated through conferences, seminars, and peer-reviewed publications. Papers of the team have appeared in journals such as Economic Modelling, European Economic Review, Ecological Economics, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Kyklos, Macroeconomic Dynamics, Review of Income and Wealth, Small Business Economics, Social Indicators Research, and World Development. In addition, the team contributes to the public economic debate by organising international conferences, workshops, and seminars, and by compiling reports on issues of crucial interest to the public and policy makers.

News & Events

• Kelsey O'Connor coauthored the article entitled Job policies that offer generous unemployment benefits create more happiness – for everyone with Robson Morgan. It was released in November with The Conversation, a  general audience source of academic research news and views.

• Francesco Sarracino was invited to present at the University of Johannesburg on “Covid-19: a perspective from happiness economics.” You can attend the virtual seminar on the 15^th of October at 11:00 AM using Zoom here.

• Francesco Sarracino was invited by CARITAS to present “COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities for Neo-humanism” in September. View the presentation here. 

• Francesco Sarracino appears on the cover of the September issues of 4x3, by InfoGreen. See the interview entitled “Nothing is impossible” online here.

• Francesco Sarracino and Malgorzata Mikucka received the 2019 Best Annual Applied Research in Quality of Life (ARQOL) Paper Award for the paper Consume More, Work Longer, and Be Unhappy: Possible Social Roots of Economic Crisis?

• Chiara Peroni presented “The effects of COVID-19 on mental well being in Luxembourg” at the annual meeting of Conseil Superieur de la Statistique, in September.

• Francesco Sarracino presented “Trustful societies are resilient to epidemics. Evidence from Europe during Covid 19” in the University of Groningen’s economics seminar, in September.

• Francesco Sarracino gave the keynote speech entitled “COVID19: challenges and opportunities for neo-humanism” at the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies virtual conference in August-September. Watch the presentation here.

• Kelsey O’Connor presented “Effects of Teaching Styles on Life Satisfaction and Test Scores: Evidence from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)” at the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies virtual conference in August-September.

• On the 8th of July, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel referenced the results of a recent STATEC survey and Regards in an address to the Chamber of Deputies, regarding the decline in mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown. Media coverage of the Regards includes: Luxembourg Times (English), RTL (English), Wort (French), Paperjam (French), Yahoo Actualities (French), and Le Quotidien (French).

• STATEC Research received competitive funding for two COVID-19 related projects in May. One, led by Francesco Sarracino, will use sentiment analysis and Twitter data for the year of 2020 to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on preferences, attitudes, and well-being in Luxembourg and five other European countries. The second, led by Cesare Riilo, contributes to a multinational survey regarding people’s preferences on the use of a contact tracing app to fight the pandemic using a new online probability-based access panel based on STATEC data. Funding is from the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).

• Kelsey O’Connor was added to the Advisory Panel of What Works Centre Wellbeing in the United Kingdom in May. The Centre provide accessible wellbeing evidence to improve / refocus decision making among individuals, businesses, and governments.

• STATEC Research recently collaborated with LISER and the University of Luxembourg on the first working note on the economic effects of COVID-19 in Luxembourg.

• Francesco Sarracino was invited in March to join the World Wellbeing Panel. Comprised of approximately the 40 best-known scholars in subjective well-being in the world, the aim of the Panel is to promote well-being as the ultimate purpose of all major decision makers, particularly government.

• Amjadi, G. (2020). Is Industrial Energy Inefficiency Transient or Persistent? Evidence from Swedish Manufacturing, CERE working paper, 2020-15.
• Amjadi, G. (2020). Environment versus Jobs An Industry-level Analysis of Sweden, CERE working paper, 2020:13.
• Amjad, G., Lundgren, T., Zhou, W (2020). A Dynamic Analysis of Industrial Energy Efficiency and the Rebound Effect, CERE working paper, 2020-1.
• O'Connor, K.J. (2020). Physical distancing worked to combat the spread of COVID-19 using Google Mobility data Économie et statistiques No 116.
• Morgan R., and O'Connor, K.J. (2020). Labor Market Policy and Subjective Well-Being During the Great Recession Économie et statistiques No 114.
• Sarracino, F., and O'Connor, K.J. (2020). Economic growth and well-being beyond the Easterlin paradox. Économie et statistiques No 110.
• Sarracino, F., and O'Connor, K.J. (2019). Economic growth and well-being beyond the Easterlin paradox. Munich Personal RePEc Archive No 96013.
• Morgan, R., and O'Connor, K.J. (2019). Labor market policy and subjective well-being during the great recession. GLO (Global Labor Organization) Working Paper Series 372.
• Pugno, M., and Sarracino, F. (2019). Structural changes in economic growth and well-being. The case of Italy's parabola. Munich Personal RePEc Archive No 94150.
• O'Connor, K.J. (2019). The effect of immigration on natives’ well-being in the European Union. GLO (Global Labor Organization) Working Paper Series 352.
• Fumarco, L., and Baert, S. (2019). Younger and Dissatisfied? Relative Age and Life-satisfaction in Adolescence. Économie et Statistiques, No 104/2019.
• Sarracino, F., and O'Connor, K., and Ono H. (2019). Making economic growth and well-being compatible: evidence from Japan. Munich Personal RePEc Archive No 93010.
• Fumarco, L., and Baert, S. (2018). Relative Age Effect on European Adolescents’ Social Network. IZA Discussion Paper No 11972.
• O’Connor, K.J. (2018). The effect of immigration on natives’ well-being in Europe. Économie et statistiques, N° 103/2018.
• O’Connor, K.J., and Graham, C. (2018). Longer, more optimistic, lives: Historic optimism and life expectancy in the United States.  Économie et statistiques, N° 100/2018.

Recent Publications

• O’Connor, K.J. (2020). The effect of immigration on natives’ well-being in the European Union. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 180, 257-274.
• Sarracino, F., and Piekałkiewicz M. (2020). The Role of Income and Social Capital for Europeans’ Well-Being During the 2008 Economic Crisis. Journal of Happiness Studies, available online first.
• Morgan, R., and O'Connor, K.J (2020). Does the U-shape Pattern in Life Cycle Satisfaction Obscure Reality? A Response to Blanchflower. Review of Behavioral Economics, 7(2), pp. 201-206.
• O’Connor, K.J. (2020). Life Satisfaction and Noncognitive Skills: Effects on the Likelihood of Unemployment. Kyklos, online first.
• Fumarco, L., Baert, S. and Sarracino, F. (2020). Younger, Dissatisfied, and Unhealthy - Relative Age in Adolescence. Economics & Human Biology, available online first.
• Fumarco, L., and Baert, S. (2019). Relative age effect on European adolescents’ social network. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, available online first.
• O’Connor, K.J., and Graham, C. (2019). Longer, more optimistic, lives: Historic optimism and life expectancy in the United States. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, available online first.
• Sarracino, F. (2019). When Does Economic Growth Improve Well-Being? In: Rojas M. (eds) The Economics of Happiness. Springer, Cham.
• Sivec, V. and Volk, M. (2019). Bank response to policy-related changes in capital requirements. Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, available online first.
• Sabatini, F. and Sarracino, F. (2019). Online networks and trust. Social Indicators Research, 142: 229. 
• DiMaria, C.-H., Peroni, C. and Sarracino, F. (2019). Happiness Matters: Productivity Gains from Subjective Well Being. Journal of Happiness Studies. An open access version is available here.
• Sarracino, F. and Fumarco, L. (2018). Assessing the non-financial outcomes of social enterprises in Luxembourg Journal of Business Ethics, available online first.
• Bartolini, S. and Sarracino, F. (2018). Do people care about future generations? Derived preferences from happiness data. Ecological Economics, 143, pp. 253-275.
• de Vries, H., Jakobs, K., Egyedi, T. M., Eto, M., Fertig, S., Kanevskaia, O., Klintner, L., Koch, C., Mijatovic, I., Mirtsch, M., Morone, P., Orviska, M., Riillo, C. A.F. and Scaramuzzino, G. (2018). Standardization: Towards an Agenda for Research. International Journal of Standardization Research, 16(1), pp. 52-59. An open access version is available here.
• DiMaria, C.-H. (2018). An Indicator for the Economic Performance and Ecological Sustainability of Nations. Environmental Modelling & Assessment. An open access version is available here.
• DiMaria, C.-H. (2018). Sustainability, welfare and efficiency of nations. Quality & Quantity. The online version is available here.
• Fumarco, L. and Rossi, G. (2018). Relative Age Effect on Labour Market Outcomes – Evidence from Italian Football. European Sport Management Quarterly, 18(4), pp. 501-516.
• O’Connor, K.J., Blanco, L. and Nugent, J. (2018). Does Oil Really Curse Democracy? A Long-Run Time-Series Analysis of 127 Countries. Resources Policy, 57, pp. 264-277.
• Rade, A., Padulo, P., Jelaska, I., Ardigò, L. and Fumarco, L. (2018). Relative age effect and second-tiers: No second chance for later-born players. PLoS ONE, 13(8), pp. 1-12.
• Sarracino, F. (2018). Book review of: Koutsobinas, Theodore.: The political economy of status: Superstars, markets and culture change. 264pp. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, 2014. Journal of Economics,124 (2), pp. 207–211.
• Sarracino, F. (2018). Quality of life in Luxembourg: key results from the PIBien-être project. In 2018 Sozialalmanach Schwéierpunkt: D’sozial Kohesioun um Spill?. Edited by Georges N. and Urbé R. pp. 216-227. Luxembourg: Caritas Luxembourg, 2018.
• Sarracino, F. and Fumarco, L. (2018). Assessing the Non-financial Outcomes of Social Enterprises in Luxembourg. Journal of Business Ethics. Article in Press.
• Sarracino, F. and Mikucka, M. (2018). Consume More, Work Longer, and Be Unhappy: Possible Social Roots of Economic Crisis?. Applied Research in Quality of Life. Article in Press.

Vacancies

No vacancies available currently.

Research visiting

We welcome visiting researchers at our premises. Visiting researchers are expected to further develop our research areas. Please submit your short project description and CV to research.recruit(at)statec.etat.lu.