Chair of Economic Policy and SME Research

Dr. Kaja von der Leyen (born Fredriksen)

Dr. Kaja von der Leyen started her work has a researcher at the Chair of Economic Policy and SME Research on January 1st, 2019. She obtained her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Göttingen in 2018. For her Masters, she studied Economics at the Sorbonne University as well as at Sciences-Po Paris. Through her previous positions at the Institute for Small Business Economics, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, the OECD and in consulting, she has in-depth understanding of economic policy making.

Her research interests are found in the realm of public policy and empirical work. Her work relates mainly to policy experimentation, occupational licensing, inequality as well as energy- and sustainability issues.

Dr. von der Leyen is currently working on the research project REraGI (Regulatorische Experimentierräume für die reflexive und adaptive Governance von Innovationen) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany).

Research Interest


  • Occupational Licensing
  • Income inequality
  • Energy and sustainability economics



Publications


  • Frediksen, K. (2020). Does occupational licensing impact incomes? A replication study for the German crafts case. (Link)
  • Fredriksen, K., Runst, P. & Bizer, K. (2018). Masterful Meisters? Voluntary Certification and Quality in the German Crafts Sector. German Economic Review. (Link)
  • Haverkamp, K. & Fredriksen, K. (2018). Lohnstrukturen im Handwerk. Study der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung (Nr. 380). Düsseldorf. (Link)
  • Runst, P., Fredriksen, K., Proeger, T., Haverkamp, K. & Thomä, J. (2018). Handwerksordnung: ökonomische Effekte der Deregulierung von 2004. Wirtschaftsdienst, 98 (5), 365-371.(Link)
  • Runst, P., Bartelt, K., Fredriksen, K., Meyer-Veltrup, L., Pirk, W. & Proeger, T. (2018). Der Digitalisierungsindex für das Handwerk. Eine ökonomische Analyse des Digitalisierungs-Checks des Kompetenzzentrums Digitales Handwerk. Göttinger Beiträge zur Handwerksforschung (Heft 24). Göttingen. (Link)
  • Fredriksen, K. (2013). Decentralisation and Economic Growth- Part 3. Decentralisation, Infrastructure Investment and Educational Performance. OECD Working Papers on Fiscal Federalism, No. 16, OECD Publishing.
  • Fredriksen, K. (2013). Fiscal Consolidation Across Government Levels - Part 2. Fiscal Rules for Sub-central Governments, Update of the Institutional Indicator. OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 1071, OECD Publishing.
  • Fredriksen, K. (2012). Less Income Inequality and More Growth - Are they Compatible? Part 6. The Distribution of Wealth. OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 929, OECD Publishing.
  • Fredriksen, K. (2012). Income Inequality in the European Union. OECD Economics Department Working Papers No. 952, OECD Publishing.



Working Paper


  • Meub, Lukas, Petrik Runst & Kaja von der Leyen, 2019: Can Appealing And More Informative Bills “Nudge” Individuals Into Conserving Electricity?, cege discussion paper 372, Universität Göttingen. (Download)
  • Fredriksen, K. & Runst, P. (2018). Are estimates of the “natural experiment” in the German crafts sector causal?. ifh Working Papers (No. 16). Göttingen. (Link)
  • Runst, P., Fredriksen, K., Proeger, T., Bizer, K., Haverkamp, K., Müller, K. & Thomä, J. (2018). Ökonomische Effekte der Deregulierung der Handwerksordnung im Jahr 2004. ifh Working Papers (No. 13). Göttingen. (Link)
  • Fredriksen, K. (2018). Does occupational licensing impact incomes? - The German crafts case. ifh Working Papers (No. 11). Updated version [first version published in 2017 with former title ‘Do legal restrictions to accessing professions impact incomes? - The German crafts case’]. Göttingen. (Link)
  • Fredriksen, K., Runst, P. & Bizer, K. (2017). Masterful Meisters? Voluntary Certification and Quality in the German Crafts Sector. ifh Working Papers (No. 3). Updated version [first published in 2016]. (Link)




Supervised Theses


  • The Effects of the EU Electricity Market Liberalization on Electricity prices: An empirical Analysis“ (MA)
  • Die ökonomische Relevanz von Reparaturdienstleistungen in Deutschland - Eine qualitative Analyse von Anreiz- und Hemmnisfaktoren von Repair-Cafés (BA)