We provide causal evidence on how perceived parental and peer pressure shape students’ occupational aspirations and trace these effects across school years to identify when such influences first emerge. Specifically, we conduct a randomized control trial with 2,840 secondary school students in Germany, varying the observability of stated occupational aspirations to parents or peers. Making aspirations visible reinforces stereotypical aspirations – nearly doubling the STEM gender gap under parental observability – with effects emerging as early as sixth grade. Our findings highlight the importance of interventions that engage parents and address peer dynamics early – before students adapt their aspirations to social pressure.
| Wann? | 22.09.2026 17:00 - 18:00 |
|---|---|
| Wo? | PER 21 G140 Bd de Pérolles 90, 1700 Fribourg |
| Vortragende | Prof. Christina Felfe de Ormeño, Ph.D., is an economist whose research focuses on applied microeconomics and behavioral economics, especially on the topics of education, labor, and migration. In her work she puts particular emphasis on the role of institutions—as well as attitudes and norms—for equal opportunity and integration of minorities, especially children.
Christina Felfe studied International Cultural and Business Studies at the University of Passau and then pursued a degree in Economics at Humboldt University in Berlin. In 2008 she earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain) with a dissertation on the barriers in women’s employment biographies and the subsequent economic consequences. Already back then, she concentrated on questions of outmost societal relevance, employing state-of-the-art causal inference methods—a focus that still shapes her scientific profile today. She held an assistant professorship at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and a full professorship at the Julius‑Maximilians‑University Würzburg before being appointed a full professorship at the University of Konstanz in 2023. She was a visiting scholar at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (Netherlands), at the Center for Economic Studies (CES) and the ifo Institute in Munich, at the London School of Economics (UK), and at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain). She is Principal Investigator in the Excellence Cluster “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz, a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and a Research Fellow at CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute) as well as at the Institute for the Future of Work (IZA). In addition, Christina Felfe serves at the “Population‑Economics Committee” and the “Education‑Economics Committee” of the German Economic Association (Verein für Socialpolitik, and from 2022 to 2025 she was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). In 2020 her work was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant. In the ERC‑funded project “KIDS’nGROUPS” (2021‑2027), Christina Felfe and her team investigate the early formation of social cohesion. |
| Kontakt | Mobiliar Center for Resilience steve.heinke@unifr.ch |
| Mehr dazu | Website |