https://hdl.handle.net/10419/81940 University of Copenhagen Fri, 30 Oct 2026 19:15:17 GMT 2026-10-30T19:15:17Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339321 Title: Wage expectations and job search Authors: Altmann, Steffen; Mahlstedt, Robert; Rattenborg, Malte Jacob; Sebald, Alexander; Settele, Sonja; Wohlfart, Johannes Abstract: In a field experiment with 9,000 Danish job seekers, we study how unemployed workers' wage expectations affect job search and re-employment. In our survey, we generate exogenous variation in respondents' wage expectations by informing a random half of them about re-employment wages of comparable workers. The intervention increases job-finding as measured in administrative data for both initially optimistic and initially pessimistic respondents, but through different channels: initial optimists lower their reservation wages and intensify search, while pessimists raise reservation wages and redirect applications toward local vacancies. Consistent with spatial search frictions, narrowing the geographic scope accelerates job finding among pessimists. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339321 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339322 Title: Mental models of high school success Authors: Hübsch, Theresa; Mahlstedt, Robert; Pinger, Pia; Settele, Sonja; Willadsen, Helene Abstract: Using surveys with Danish students transitioning to secondary education, we study mental models of how gender and parental education shape academic performance. Students hold heterogeneous beliefs about performance gaps by gender and parental background, which appear to be shaped by within-family transmission and broader social environments. Open-text responses reveal that respondents link strong performance by girls and less socioeconomically privileged students to effort, while attributing privileged students' success to external advantages. Mental models matter: beliefs about performance gaps predict enrollment in upper secondary education by gender and parental education and causally affect students' self-assessments, intended effort, and educational aspirations, as shown in an information experiment with girls. We highlight two mechanisms: updating about the returns to effort and about gender-specific effort costs in response to observed gender performance gaps. Our findings advance the understanding of education choices and shed light on the determinants and effects of mental models in a high-stakes setting. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339322 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339214 Title: Postpartum depression and the motherhood penalty Authors: Bhalotra, Sonia; Daysal, N. Meltem; Freget, Louis; Hirani, Jonas Cuzulan; Majumdar, Priyama; Trandafir, Mircea; Wüst, Miriam; Zohar, Tom Abstract: Using Danish administrative data linked to two independent, validated postpartum depression screenings, we study how postpartum mental health shocks shape women's labor market trajectories. Event-study estimates show no pre-birth differences in trends between depressed and non-depressed mothers, but persistent employment gaps that widen immediately after birth. Health-care utilization patterns indicate that these differences reflect acute mental health shocks rather than pre-existing trends. The penalties are concentrated among less educated mothers and those in less family-friendly jobs. Our results highlight postpartum depression as a meaningful and unequal contributor to the motherhood penalty. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339214 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/341136 Title: Modelling land use transition through social learning Authors: Duan, Yeqing; Droste, Nils; Danley, Brian Abstract: Land use transition toward multifunctional practices is greatly affected by social learning, yet the temporal interaction between learning mechanisms and network structure remains underexplored. This study examines two social learning channels, information exchange and normative pressure, and how network architecture shapes their effects on transition outcomes. We developed SALT (Social learning in Agent-based Land use Transitions), a spatially explicit model that integrates the Consumat framework and reinforcement learning. The model is parameterized using a Swedish forestry context, simulating landowner adaptive decisions under integrated and modular social networks. Results show that the two channels play distinct roles across transition phases. Lack of knowledge limits adoption in early adoption. Individual experience is the main source of knowledge accumulation, and social learning alone cannot close the knowledge gap. As adoption spreads, normative pressure constrains implementation intensity to the prevailing local average, explaining the gap between behavioral and actual landscape changes. Network architecture shapes both channels. Integrated networks widen information exchange and allow alternative-use norms to strengthen over time, while modular networks restrict information circulation and lock in lowimplementation local norms. Landscape change organizes along social ties rather than geographic proximity, with architecture determining whether adoption clusters into cohesive blocks or disperses as a diffuse mosaic in the social network. Landowner types contribute differently to behavior change and landscape change across both architectures. These findings suggest that effective transition governance must be tailored to both phase and social context. Early interventions should prioritize technical assistance, while raising the visible norm of implementation intensity matters more as adoption spreads. In modular communities, consolidating norms within communities before extending outreach is more effective than diffuse seeding. Instruments targeting behavior change need to be paired with those that directly support implementation intensity of alternative practice among less conformity-constrained landowners. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10419/341136 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z