I am a professor at the University of Tübingen. I am interested in how to shape a fair and efficient tax system for firms and individuals. My research has been published in top accounting and economics journals. I have taught courses on tax law, taxes and business strategy, financial accounting and empirical research methods.

Recent Research

The Effect of Taxes on CEO Performance In response to higher taxes on compensation, CEOs are less likely to reach performance goals and spend more time working in boards outside of their firm. At the same time, firm performance drops before eventually recovering as investment projects with below average profitability are disregarded and due to adjustments in CEO compensation.

Inheritance Tax Relief and Employment in Family Firms German inheritance tax largely exempts business assets to protect jobs. Using data on inherited and sold family firms, this study finds no evidence that firm sales reduce employment; sold firms show stronger employment growth on average. The findings challenge the employment-based rationale for broad tax relief for business assets.

An Economic and Empirical Assessment of the Excess Profits Tax The EU introduced a temporary excess profits tax for the energy sector in 2022. Because excess profits are a theoretical benchmark rather than a directly observable quantity, the practical tax base can only approximate them. The paper discusses the resulting economic and distributional implications.