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Profile

Professor Nils Braakmann

Professor of Economics, Joint Head of Economics

Background

Introduction

I'm a Professor of Economics. My work focuses on empirical microeconomics, typically using large-scale datasets and microeconometric techniques to investigate questions mainly drawn from labour economics, the economics of crime, health economics, international economics and urban economics. I am also currently Joint Head of the Economics Group (together with Prof Jytte Seested-Nielsen). I joined Newcastle University in September 2010, first as a Lecturer until 2013, from then as Senior Lecturer until July 2017 and from August 2017 to April 2018 as Reader in Labour Economics. Before coming to England I was a PostDoc in Economics at Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany, where I also completed my doctoral degree in Economics in 2009 as well as Master's degrees in Business and Economic and Social Sciences.

See here for further information, here for google scholar profile and here for full CV.

Consultation and feedback hours for students ("office" hours): Please see relevant Canvas pages for module-specific office hours, you can also email me to set up individual meetings if these do not work


Research Themes

My research examines how people and places respond to shocks, incentives, and institutional change. Using applied microeconomic methods and often highly disaggregated spatial data, I study labour markets, crime, policing, and urban change.

Labour Market Adjustment: I examine how workers and local labour markets respond to disruption, including mass layoffs, workplace unionisation, and the labour-market consequences of COVID-19. This work is motivated by a broader interest in how economic shocks alter employment, risk, and inequality over time.

Crime, Policing, and Neighbourhoods: Much of my recent work focuses on crime, policing, and local disorder. I study the spatial distribution of crime, public responses to police behaviour, and the incentives that shape offending, with particular attention to how these processes vary across neighbourhoods.

Urban Change and Local Economies: Another strand of my research looks at how neighbourhoods change as local economies evolve. This includes work on high street decline, neighbourhood composition, and the effects of changing amenities and local economic conditions on communities and social outcomes.


Qualifications

Dipl.-Kaufmann. (~Master in Business), University of Lueneburg, 2006

Dipl.-Oekonom (~Master in Economics and Social Sciences), Leuphana University of Lueneburg, 2007

Doctor rerum politicarum in Economics, Leuphana University of Lueneburg, 2009

Previous Positions

  • Researcher (grant funded), Leuphana University of Lueneburg, 2006-2010 (2009-2010 as PostDoc)
  • Lecturer in Economics, Newcastle University, 2010-2013
  • Senior Lecturer in Economics, Newcastle University, 2013-2017
  • Reader in Labour Economics, Newcastle University, 2017-2018


Management and Leadership

In addition to my research and teaching, I have contributed extensively to academic leadership and institutional service. My roles have included subject leadership within Economics, responsibility for major international accreditation exercises, university governance through Senate and promotions processes, and editorial and professional service within the discipline.

I currently serve as Head of Economics at Newcastle University Business School (jointly with Prof Jytte Seested-Nielsen), and as a panel member for REF 2029 in UoA 16: Economics and Econometrics. I am also an elected member of Senate and of the Faculty Promotions Committee at Newcastle University, and an Associate Editor of Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik.

Previously, I served as Director of Accreditation for Newcastle University Business School, leading the School’s successful reaccreditations by AMBA, EQUIS, and AACSB, and as Acting, Deputy and Joint Head of Economics. My wider university service has included work on review and approval panels across a broad range of disciplines, student support and governance committees, and appointment panels for academic and professional staff.

Within the wider profession, I have held editorial roles, served on the Council of the Scottish Economic Society, acted as external examiner at multiple institutions, and contributed to external review and examination processes in the UK and internationally.

Current roles

  • Deputy Head of Economics, Newcastle University Business School (09/2022-)
  • Panel member (assessment phase), REF 2029, Sub-panel UoA 16: Economics and Econometrics (09/2025-2029)
  • Elected member, Senate, Newcastle University (08/2025-07/2028)
  • Elected member, Faculty Promotions Committee, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Newcastle University (08/2024-07/2027)
  • Associate Editor, Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik (2023-)

Institutional leadership

  • Director of Accreditation, Newcastle University Business School (05/2016-02/2020). Led the School’s successful reaccreditations by AMBA (2018), EQUIS (2019), and AACSB (2020).
  • Acting and Joint Head of Economics, Newcastle University Business School (04/2017-09/2018)
  • Interim Deputy Head of Economics, Newcastle University Business School (02/2016-08/2016)
  • Research Ethics Coordinator, Newcastle University Business School (07/2015-08/2016)
  • Chair, Personal Extenuating Circumstances Committee, Newcastle University Business School (09/2015-08/2016)
  • Senior Tutor, Economics Programmes, Newcastle University (09/2012-08/2016)

University governance and service

  • Elected member, Senate, Newcastle University (08/2019-07/2022)
  • Member, Faculty Promotions Committee, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Newcastle University (current term above)
  • Member, university working group on educational gain, Newcastle University (08/2022-12/2022)
  • Member, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee / Athena Swan submission team, Newcastle University Business School (10/2016-2018)
  • Member, Student Discretionary Award Forum, Newcastle University (2013-2024)
  • Member of internal subject review and learning-and-teaching review panels, including Chemistry, Education, Dentistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences postgraduate programmes, and Politics
  • Member of programme approval panels across a wide range of disciplines, including Film and Media, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, Landscape Architecture, Urban Energy Technology and Policy, Genomic Medicine, Media and Society, Geospatial Data Science, Research Training, and Data Science
  • Member of academic and professional staff appointment panels at Newcastle University and Leuphana University Lüneburg

Professional and editorial service

  • Associate Editor, Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik (2023-)
  • Co-Editor, International Journal for Re-Views in Empirical Economics (IREE) (2017-2021)
  • Member of the Council, Scottish Economic Society (04/2017-04/2023; including a second term from 04/2020)
  • External examiner, Undergraduate Economics programmes, University of Aberdeen (09/2019-08/2023)
  • External examiner, Economics programmes with a focus on econometrics, University of St Andrews (09/2025-)
  • External reviewer, Quality Review of the School of Economics, University College Dublin
  • External examiner/referee for PhDs, Habilitations, and chair promotions in England, Germany, and Macau

Earlier service

  • Member, faculty commission on research, Leuphana University Lüneburg (2008-2010)


Research

Research Interests

Empirical microeconomics, in particular in labour economics, health economics, economics of crime, international economics and urban economics.


My research is in applied microeconomics, with a focus on labour markets, crime, policing, and urban change. Across these areas, I am interested in how individuals, institutions, and neighbourhoods respond to shocks, incentives, and local economic change. Much of my work asks how behaviour adjusts when established economic relationships are disrupted, when local environments change, or when institutional settings alter the costs and returns associated with different choices.

One strand of my research examines labour markets and worker adjustment. In this work, I study how workers and local labour markets respond to adverse shocks and institutional change, including mass layoffs, workplace unionisation, and the labour-market consequences of COVID-19. These projects are linked by an interest in adjustment: how people respond when employment conditions change, how risks are transmitted through labour markets, and how disruption can reshape inequality and longer-run economic outcomes.

A second major strand of my research focuses on crime, policing, and neighbourhoods. Using highly disaggregated spatial and administrative data, I examine the geography of crime, public responses to policing, and the incentives that shape criminal behaviour. This work is motivated by an interest in how offending responds to changing local opportunities and constraints, and in how interactions with the state are experienced and interpreted by civilians. More broadly, it connects questions in economics with concerns that are central to criminology and public policy, including deterrence, neighbourhood disorder, and unequal exposure to policing.

A third strand of my research studies urban change and local economies. Here I am interested in how neighbourhoods evolve in response to economic decline, changing amenities, and shifts in the commercial and social life of local areas. This includes work on neighbourhood composition, housing markets, high street decline, and the wider consequences of local economic change for communities. A recurring theme is that neighbourhoods are not simply passive settings for economic activity: changes in local institutions, services, and amenities can have broader effects on behaviour, wellbeing, and social outcomes.

Although these strands span several fields, they are connected by a common empirical and conceptual approach. Empirically, my work relies on applied microeconometric methods and often combines survey, administrative, and geospatial data. Conceptually, it is unified by an interest in how people and places adjust to changing incentives and environments. This often places my research at the boundary of labour economics, urban economics, and the economics of crime, while also speaking to wider debates in sociology, criminology, and public policy.

My current research continues to build on these themes, with particular emphasis on local economic shocks, neighbourhood change, crime, policing, and the consequences of institutional withdrawal or disruption in local areas.


Current Work in Progress 


  • Juvenile courts and recidivism (with Bahadir Dursun and Diego Zambiasi), revised and resubmitted
  • How New Housing Changes Neighbourhoods: Economic and Social Effects of Local Supply Expansions (with Edward Lee), revise and resubmit
  • Temperature, crime and policing: Evidence from UK geocoded data, under review
  • Regional employment effects from mass lay-offs across European regions (with Wessel Vermeulen), under review
  • Local Crime Without Electoral Sanction: Neighbourhood Public Safety and Incumbent Support in England and Wales, revise and resubmit
  • Gangs of London: What Online Gang Territory Maps Reveal About Crime and Policing (with Diego Zambiasi), under review


Prospective PhD students

I'm happy to supervise students in my areas of interest. Feel free to drop me an email in these cases to discuss an application. Given my interests, PhD projects for which I make some level of sense as a supervisor will inevitably involve data work, often using large scale micro data, and advanced econometrics. I am not interested in time series stuff or the vast majority of finance topics (and you honestly don't want me to supervise this sort of stuff either as I wouldn't have a clue).


PhDs supervised


Hasan Ankara (joint with John Wildman), Field: Health Economics, “Analyses of health and health related policies in Turkey”, 01/2011 - 06/2015, funded by Turkish government, after PhD: Lecturer, Hacettepe University, Ankara; currently Assistant Professor, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul

Muhammad Waqas (joint with John Wildman), Field: Labour Economics, “Investigating aspects of immigration and attitudes towards immigration in England and Wales”, 09/2011 - 12/2015, funded by Peter and Norah Lomas Scholarship in Economics, after PhD: Research Associate, InstEAD, Department of Economics, Sheffield University; currently Lecturer in Economics, University of Bradford

Bo Gao (joint with Sara Maioli and Mich Tvede), Field: International economics, “Firm Exporting Behaviour and Trade Policy in China”, 09/2012 - 09/2016, funded by ESRC doctoral training centre, after PhD: Teaching Fellow, Business School, Durham University; currently Lecturer in Economics, Loughborough University.

Eduardo Gonzalo Almorox (joint with Volodymyr Bilotkach and John Wildman), Field: Health/IO, “Essays on the empirical economics of long term care”, 09/2015 - 06/2019, funded by ESRC doctoral training centre, after PhD/currently: Data Scientist, International Olympic Committee

Ana Noveria (joint with Barbara Eberth and John Wildman), Field: Development/Labour/Health, “Empirical Analysis of Labour, Education, and Health-related Policies in Indonesia”, 09/2016 - 07/2020, funded by Indonesian government, after PhD/currently: Lecturer, School of Business and Management Institute Teknologi Bandung

Saule Kemelbayeva (joint with John Wildman), Field: Education/Labour, “Access and returns to education in Kazakhstan”, 09/2016 - ongoing (viva passed 08/2020), funded by Kazakh government, after PhD/currently: Dean, Higher School of Economics, M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University

Kerry Bray (joint with John Wildman), Field: Immigration/Labour, “Attitudes to immigration in times of crisis: Austerity, cuts, and media attention”, 9/2017 - 09/2021, funded by NUBS scholarship, after PhD: Technical Analyst, CloudTrade, currently Policy Analyst, Valuation Office Agency

Liangxun Xie (joint with Smriti Sharma and John Wildman), “Planes, prices, and pay: Contributions to the economics of the public sector and public infrastructure”, 09/2019 - 03/2024 (viva), funded by Peter and Norah Lomas Scholarship in Economics, after PhD: Lecturer, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology

Abdulaziz Majrashi (joint with Bahadir Dursun and John Wildman), Field: Labour, ``Microeconomic Evaluation of Labour Markets and

Labour Market Policies'', 01/2022 - 05/2026 (viva), funded by Saudi Arabia, after PhD: Lecturer, Taibah University



Refereeing

Journals


Over 200 reviews for: Aggression and Violent Behavior, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Applied Economics, Applied Economics Letters, Applied Economics Quarterly (Special Issue ``The Internationalisation of Services''), BE Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, British Journal of Industrial Relations, British Journal of Sociology, Cities, Contemporary Economic Policy, Criminology, Demography, Economica, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Economic Inquiry, Economic Journal, Economics and Human Biology, European Journal of Health Economics, Economics of Education Review, Education Economics, Empirical Economics, Global Health Research and Policy, Health Economics, Housing Policy Debate, International Economics and Economic Policy, International Journal of Human Resource Management, International Journal of Manpower, International Migration Review, IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Crime and Justice, Journal of Demographic Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Economic Inequality, Journal of Economic Psychology, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Journal of Further and Higher Education, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Housing Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Labor Research, Journal of Political Economy: Microeconomics, Journal of Population Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Journal of Regional Science, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Journal of Urban Economics, Labour, Labour Economics, Manchester School, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Oxford Economic Papers, Paper in Regional Science, Political Studies, Real Estate Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Regional Studies, Review of Development Economics, Review of Economics of the Household, Review of Income and Wealth, Review of International Political Economy, Schmollers Jahrbuch, Small Business Economics, Social Science and Medicine, Southern Economic Journal, Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, Urban Studies, World Bank Economic Review, World Development, Zeitschrift fuer ArbeitsmarktForschung/Journal for Labour Market Research


Grant awarding bodies, other activities

Grants: ESRC Peer Review College (2024--ongoing), EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre, ESRC grants (6x), ESRC centre competition, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Veni grant, Scottish Economic Society small grant scheme

Programme committee, Scottish Economic Society conference 2021

Programme committee/co-organiser (with David Jaeger, St. Andrews and Lindsey Macmillan, UCL), Scotland and Northern England Applied Microeconomics Workshops 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

PhD applications for ESRC North East Doctoral Training Centre (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)

External examiner/referee for PhDs, Habilitations and chair promotions in England, Germany and Macau

External examiner UG Economics programmes, University of Aberdeen (09/2019 - 08/2023)

External examiner Economics programmes (focus on econometrics), University of St. Andrews (09/2025 - )


Conference and other presentations (* coauthor, ^ multiple papers)


Major conferences: Academy of Management Annual Meeting (2010*), American Economic Association (2011), Asian and Australasian Society of Labour Economics (2019*), European Association of Labour Economists (2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017$^+$, 2018*), Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association (2020*), European Economic Association (2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2020), European Society for Population Economics (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017*) , Irish Economic Association (2024*), Royal Economic Society (2012, 2013, 2015, 2016*, 2019*), Royal Statistical Society (2023, invited talk), Royal Statistical Society Young Statisticians' Meeting (2024, invited plenary) Scottish Economic Society (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016$^+$, 2017$^+$, 2024, 2025), Verein fuer Socialpolitik (German Economic Association) (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)

RWI Workshop on causal inference with spatial data (2024), North by North West Applied Labour Workshop (2024), User Conference of the RDC of the BA at the IAB (2006, 2008, 2010), AFiD Workshop ``Nutzung komplexer Datenbestaende der amtlichen Statistik''' (2010); DIME-ISGEP Workshop ``Firm Selection and Country Competitiveness'' (2010), Goettinger Workshop Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen (2010), ZEW/IAB-Workshop ``Spatial Dimensions of the Labour Market'' (2010), CREPS (2006, 2010), Statistische Woche (2009), G-Forum (2006, 2007)

Invited Plenary Talk, ``Understanding crime from the street up: Crime maps meet causal inference'', Royal Statistical Society Young Statistician's Meeting 2024, Birmingham, July



Teaching

My teaching is guided by a simple principle: economics and econometrics matter most when they help students make sense of important real-world problems. Across my modules, I aim to move students beyond learning techniques in isolation and towards understanding how theory, evidence, and judgement come together in good applied work. Whether I am teaching undergraduate econometrics, advanced causal inference, research practice, or sustainability and climate change, my goal is to help students become careful, critical, and confident users of evidence.

A consistent feature of my teaching is that I build from intuition to method to application. I want students to understand not only how a technique works, but why it is needed, what assumptions it relies on, and where it can go wrong. In econometrics, this means starting from substantive questions and simple empirical settings before moving to more advanced topics such as omitted variables, measurement error, heteroskedasticity, panel methods, discrete choice models, and causal inference designs including difference-in-differences, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity. My aim is rigorous understanding without losing sight of the question the method is meant to answer.

My teaching is also strongly research-led. Across my modules, students engage with published empirical papers, including frontier research and, where useful, examples from my own work. This allows them to see how economists actually frame questions, justify empirical strategies, test assumptions, and interpret findings. In this way, students encounter economics not as a closed technical system, but as a way of engaging with live social and policy questions.

I place particular emphasis on helping students read and evaluate evidence critically. Students are encouraged to ask where identification comes from, what the relevant counterfactual is, which assumptions are doing the work, and how robust the conclusions really are. This is reflected both in classroom teaching and in assessments that ask students to analyse data, evaluate research designs, and construct evidence-based arguments rather than simply reproduce material mechanically.

More broadly, I try to make the practices of academic and professional work visible. This includes helping students formulate research questions, work with real data, communicate findings clearly, and understand the often uncertain process through which good research develops. My aim is to combine rigour, relevance, and intellectual honesty, so that students leave my modules with strong analytical tools and a clearer sense of how to use them responsibly.


Current undergraduate teaching

I currently teach ECO2009 Econometric Analysis (with John Wildman) and ECO3008 Advanced Econometric Analysis, a course focused on causal inference and quasi-experimental methods

Current postgraduate teaching

I teach a part of "Topics in Microeconomics" on the MSc Economics/Economics and Data Science that focuses on the economics of crime. I also teach Economics and Public Policy of Sustainability and Climate Change on the MSc Sustainability Management (with Sara Maioli).

Current PhD teaching

I currently co-teach a course on research practice for PhD students in economics and related fields (with Bahadir Dursun). For many years, I've also taught a specialised course focused on causal inference and quasi-experimental methods


Full list of present/past courses:

Undergraduate:

  • Econometric Analysis (Newcastle, 2025/26)
  • Advanced Econometric Analysis (Newcastle, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2025/26)
  • Economic Applications (Newcastle, 2012/12, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)
  • British Economy (Newcastle, 2011/12)
  • Introductory Economics (Newcastle 2010/11, 2011/12)
  • Statistical Methods for Economics (Newcastle, 2010/11)
  • Economics of Happiness (Lueneburg, 2009/10)
  • Causal inference and treatment effect estimation (Lueneburg, 2008/09)
  • Current Topics in Labor Economics and Social Policy (Lueneburg, 2008/09)

Postgraduate (taught):

  • Economics and Public Policy of Sustainability and Climate Change (Newcastle, 2025/26)
  • Topics in Microeconomics (Newcastle 2024/25, 2025/26)
  • Cross sectional and panel econometrics (Newcastle, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18)
  • Intro to Maths and Stats (Newcastle, 2010/11, 2011/12)
  • Methods of Public Economics, Law and Politics I (Quantitative methods) (Lueneburg 2009/10)

PhD:

  • Research Practice in Economics and Finance (2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26)
  • Causal inference and applied microeconometrics (Newcastle 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24)
  • Causal inference and quasi-experimental methods (Newcastle, 2011/12, 2013/14, 2015/16, 2017/18, 2019/20; Lueneburg 2008/09, 2014/15; HEFCE 05/2017)
  • Applied Microeconometrics (Newcastle, 2012/13, 2014/15, 2016/17)
  • Applied Econometrics (Lueneburg, 2009/10)
  • Empirics in a Nutshell (Lueneburg, 2008/09)


Publications