The Volksbank Weinheim Foundation and ZEW Grant Research Award for Fourth Time

The research award "Zukunft der Arbeitswelt" ("The Future of the Working World") has been conferred for the fourth time by the Volksbank Weinheim Foundation in cooperation with ZEW. At the New Year’s reception of the Volksbank Weinheim eG, the award was handed to ZEW researcher Dr. Fabienne Rasel (30) for the best doctoral thesis and Johannes Gönsch (25) for the best master's thesis.

"In her doctoral thesis, Fabienne Rasel presented a highly sophisticated analysis of the effects of digitalisation on corporate productivity, while taking into account the importance of complementary business strategies, such as labour organisation and internationalisation," explains Professor Irene Bertschek, jury member and head of ZEW's Research Department "Information and Communication Technologies". According to Bertschek, Rasel’s doctoral thesis included discussion of interesting, current and important economic issues.

In his master's thesis, Johannes Gönsch investigated the economic effects of the statutory minimum wage which came into effect in January 2015. "Gönsch's thesis gives a detailed account of the implications of the minimum wage and shows that its effects on unemployment, productivity and the wage level have been very limited since its introduction," says Professor Andreas Peichl, fellow jury member and head of the ZEW Research Group “International Distribution and Redistribution”. Gönsch discussed this complex research question with the help of very thorough analysis and presented his research findings in a well-structured and comprehensible way.

Fabienne Rasel wrote her doctoral thesis at the University of Mannheim and has successfully defended her dissertation. She currently works as a researcher in ZEW's Research Department “Information and Communication Technologies” and focuses on the impact of digitalisation on firm organisation and corporate success. Johannes Gönsch studied economics and mathematics at the University of Mannheim and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He is now a PhD candidate at the University of Mannheim with a special focus on labour market economics.

Since 2013, the research award "Zukunft der Arbeitswelt" has been granted by the Volksbank Weinheim Foundation and ZEW to honour young economists from the region. The recipient of the award for the best doctoral thesis receives 3,000 euros, whilst the prize for the best master’s thesis is 2,000 euros.