Welcome to the Chair of Statistics and Econometrics!

At the Chair of Statistics and Econometrics we specialize in the usage of econometric techniques, and especially those related to natural experiments for research in the domains of health, and sometimes education. Additionally, we use methods such as meta-analyses. Most of our research has a clear interdisciplinary component, which often brings us into contact with other fields such as medicine, epidemiology, and psychology. One important branch of our research studies how conditions during our earliest phases of life, such as weather/climate and nutritional circumstances, potentially in combination with conditions later in life, shape our health and affect our economic and human capital outcomes. Other research focuses on topics ranging from the evaluation of aspects of health care systems to the health of the elderly, and the use of digital media in education.

 

News

25.-27.09.2024: Interdisciplinary workshop “Causal methods in early-life research”


From 25 – 27 September 2024, we had the pleasure to invite 24 researchers to an interdisciplinary workshop on “Causal Methods in Early-Life Research” in Bad Kreuznach. Together with researchers from economics, epidemiology, medicine, and the social sciences, we explored the complexities of establishing causality in early-life research and methodological synergies across disciplines. The workshop featured sessions on stress in early life, nutrition in early life and growing up in a changing climate, as well as a keynote by Maya Rossin-Slater, Stanford University which focused on the role of public policy in the early-life environment and life course trajectories. Funding for this workshop was provided by the German Alliance for Global Health Research (GLOHRA) and the German Research Foundation (DFG).

The report is now available online.

 

01.03.2024: Fabienne Pradella returns from a 3-months research visit to Joel Schwartz at the Harvard School of Public Health

Joel Schwartz, Professor of Environmental Epidemiology, and expert on causal inference in the field of environmental exposures, invited Fabienne to start a collaboration on prental environmental shocks and health outcomes among newborns. Fabienne attended numerous events on campus, exchanged with the vibrant academic community and enjoyed the Boston winter with her family, who accompanied her during the visit.

 

17.01.2024: Workshop on Meta-Analyses with Larry Hedges

From January 16th to 17th, we hosted a workshop on systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses. The event attracted participants from various disciplines within the social sciences as well as the medical sciences. Distinguished speakers addressing systematic reviews featured Andranik Tumasjan and Christian Wilke from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. In the realm of meta-analyses, we were honored to have Eric Hedberg (Abt Associates) and Larry Hedges from Northwestern University as our guest speakers. Larry Hedges, in particular, stands out as one of the key figures shaping the contemporary field of meta-analysis.

 

News 2015-2023

  • 10-11-`23: The Daily Mail on our research on how retirement affects people’s health
  • 3-9-`23 The Daily Mail on our research on how becoming a grandparent affects people’s health and wellbeing
  • 6-6-’23 Five Questions to Professor van Ewijk

Here you find an interview with Reyn van Ewijk from our faculty’s interview series.

  • 27-3-’23 Science Award of the German Health Economics Association (DGGÖ)
    Marc Diederichs and Reyn van Ewijk of the Chair of Statistics and Econometrics, together with their co-authors Ingo Isphording and Nico Pestel, were awarded the Science Award (“Wissenschaftspreis”) 2023 of the German Health Economics Association (DGGÖ). They received this prize for their paper “Schools under mandatory testing can mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2", which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • 16-02-'23 International news coverage of our study on Ramadan during Pregnancy
    Our work on the 'Mainz Survey Study on Ramadan during Pregnancy' has been featured on several websites worldwide, including Univadis-Medscape, medischcontact.nl, Med India, The Jerusalem Post and Australian Doctor. The project was a collaborative effort between our chair and the Mainz University Medical Center, with the participation of three (former) members of our chair: Reyn van Ewijk, Fabienne Pradella, and Birgit Leimer. The study has recently been published in PLOS One.
  • 01-11-'22 Fabienne Pradella awarded Gutenberg-Stipend for her dissertation
    Fabienne Pradella was awarded the Gutenberg-Stipend of the City of Mainz for her dissertation on the effects of early life events on health and human capital outcomes. The Gutenberg Stipend of the City of Mainz is awarded to completed academic work that is considered an outstanding scientific achievement and that is thematically related to the Rhineland-Palatinate state capital Mainz. Together with her colleagues, Fabienne had conducted a survey study in the obstetric wards in Mainz to understand how Ramadan is practiced among pregnant Muslims in Germany, and Mainz in particular.Fabienne is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Statistics & Econometrics. During her doctorate she was a member of the Gutenberg Academy, an interdisciplinary forum for exchange that supports the University’s top doctoral students.
  • 01-08-’22 Marc Diederichs returns from a three months research visit to Joshua Angrist at MIT Joshua Angrist, last years nobel laureate in economics, hosted Marc Diederichs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge for a duration of three months. The research visit resulted in a still ongoing collaboration and Marc was allowed to attend coursework at MIT and gain insights into the US research culture.