Associate Professor Dennis Wesselbaum, Our people, Department of Economics

Diploma (University of Kiel), Doctorate (University of Hamburg)

Tel: 64 3 479 8643
Email: dennis.wesselbaum@otago.ac.nz
Room 622, 6th Floor, Otago Business School

I am a macroeconomist with both theoretical and empirical interests. My research activity is split between macroeconomic topics and the impacts of climate change. Precisely, my research interests are Macroeconomics (esp. Monetary and Fiscal Policy), Quantitative Economics, Economic Growth, Migration, and, more generally, the interaction between climate, environment, and society.

I am the Editor-in-Chief of the New Zealand Economic Papers (NZEP), the journal of the New Zealand Association of Economists Inc. (NZAE).

Dennis's CV

For a current CV, please see my personal webpage: https://sites.google.com/site/denniswesselbaum/home

Selected publications

For the full list, please see my CV.

"Revisiting the Climate Driver and Inhibitor Mechanisms of International Migration". Climate and Development, forthcoming.

"Gone with the Wind: International Migration", joint with Amelia Aburn. Global and Planetary Change, 178: 96-109, 2019.

"Jobless Recoveries: Interaction between Financial and Search Frictions". Journal of Macroeconomics, 61, 2019.

"Moving Towards Happiness?", joint with Arthur Grimes. International Migration, 57(3): 20-40, 2019.

"Time-Varying Volatility in the U.S. Labor Market", Journal of Applied Economics, 21(1): 197-213, 2018.

"Catastrophe Theory and the Financial Crisis", Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 64(4): 376-391, 2017.

"The Intensive Margin Puzzle and Labor Market Adjustment Costs", Macroeconomic Dynamics, 20(6): 1458-1476, 2016.

"Sectoral Labor Market Effects of Fiscal Spending", Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 34: 19-35, 2015.

"What drives Endogenous Growth in the United States?", The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics (Contributions), 15(1): 183-221, 2015.

"Bubbles over the U. S. Business Cycle - A Macroeconometric Approach" (with Marc Luik), Journal of Macroeconomics, 40: 27-41, 2014.

"Evaluating Labor Market Reforms: A Normative Analysis(with Céline Poilly), Journal of Macroeconomics, 39: 156-170, 2014.

Teaching responsibilities

ECON 202 Macroeconomics
ECON 376 Macroeconomic Theory
ECON 411 Advanced Macroeconomic Theory

Preferred areas of research supervision

Dennis is especially interested in supervising research students in the following areas

Macroeconomics, esp. monetary and fiscal policy
Climate change
Drivers and impacts of migration
Financial mathematics, esp. models of conditional correlations and chaos

Publications

Gibbard, P., Grubb, C., & Wesselbaum, D. (2025). Cost pass-through in the retail electricity market: Vertically integrated versus independent retailers. Energy Economics. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.eneco.2025.108392 Journal - Research Article

Leblang, D., Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2025). Global perspectives on COVID-19 vaccination: Impacts on well-being and inequality. Vaccine, 52, 126906. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2025.126906 Journal - Research Article

Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2025). Global evidence on the prevalence of and risk factors associated with stress. Journal of Affective Disorders, 374, 179-183. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.053 Journal - Research Other

Stahlmann-Brown, P., Milfont, T. L., Norriss, H., & Wesselbaum, D. (2025). Perceived personal control and subjective well-being among farmers. Journal of Rural Studies, 113, 103487. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103487 Journal - Research Article

Niles, M. T., Stahlmann-Brown, P., & Wesselbaum, D. (2025). Risk tolerance and climate concerns predict transformative agricultural land use change. Agricultural Systems, 223, 104195. doi: 10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104195 Journal - Research Article

2025

Journal - Research Article

Leblang, D., Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2025). Global perspectives on COVID-19 vaccination: Impacts on well-being and inequality. Vaccine, 52, 126906. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2025.126906

Journal - Research Other

Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2025). Global evidence on the prevalence of and risk factors associated with stress. Journal of Affective Disorders, 374, 179-183. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.053

2024

Edited Book - Research

Patman, R. G., Grace, P., Kiglics, B., & Wesselbaum, D. (Eds.). (2024). New Zealand's foreign policy under the Jacinda Ardern government: Facing the challenge of a disrupted world. Singapore: World Scientific, 285p. doi: 10.1142/13646

Chapter in Book - Research

Patman, R. G., Grace, P., Kiglics, B., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Introduction. In R. G. Patman, P. Grace, B. Kiglics & D. Wesselbaum (Eds.), New Zealand's foreign policy under the Jacinda Ardern government: Facing the challenge of a disrupted world. (pp. xxi-xl). Singapore: World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789811285165_fmatter

Journal - Research Article

Sundaram, A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Economic development reloaded: the AI revolution in developing nations. New Zealand Economic Papers. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/00779954.2024.2439955

Stahlmann-Brown, P., Swerdloff, S., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Climate belief, accuracy of climatic expectations, and pro-environmental action. Environmental Hazards. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/17477891.2024.2384406

Leblang, D., Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Trust in institutions affects vaccination campaign outcomes. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, trae048. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/trae048

Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Fiscal financing with labour markets frictions. Labour. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/labr.12280

Pacheco, G., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Partisanship, elections and lockdowns: Evidence from US states. Scottish Journal of Political Economy. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/sjpe.12392

Kumar, S., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Contracts and firms' inflation expectations. Review of Economics & Statistics, 106(1), 246-255. doi: 10.1162/rest_a_01115

Smith, M. D., Kassa, W., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Food insecurity erodes trust. Global Food Security, 40, 100742. doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100742

Knowles, S., Peeters, R., Smith, M., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Who behaves charitably? Evidence from a global study. Applied Economics, 56(57), 7789-7806. doi: 10.1080/00036846.2023.2288063

Minehan, S. N., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Gender, personality, and performance. Journal of Behavioral & Experimental Economics, 108, 102132. doi: 10.1016/j.socec.2023.102132

Journal - Research Other

Sundaram, A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Introduction to the special issue on ‘Development Economics: Evolution and New Horizons'. New Zealand Economic Papers. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/00779954.2024.2415135

Wesselbaum, D. (2024). Reflections of a former editor. New Zealand Economic Papers, 2333797. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/00779954.2024.2333797

2023

Journal - Research Article

Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Well-being inequality among adolescents and young adults. Journal of Adolescent Health. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.10.015

Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Global evidence of inequality in well-being among older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/jgs.18694

Swerdloff, S., Wesselbaum, D., & Stahlmann-Brown, P. (2023). Heterogeneity in climate change beliefs across New Zealand’s rural sector. Ecology & Society, 28(4), 10. doi: 10.5751/ES-14382-280410

Baryshnikova, N. V., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Air pollution and motor vehicle collisions in New York city. Environmental Pollution, 337, 122595. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122595

Minehan, S., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Do climate change expectations drive migration? Evidence from migration flows towards OECD countries. Global & Planetary Change, 227, 104188. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104188

Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Well-being and income across space and time: Evidence from one million households. Journal of Happiness Studies, 24, 1813-1840. doi: 10.1007/s10902-023-00660-4

Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Climate migration in Asia. Letters in Spatial & Resource Sciences, 16, 20. doi: 10.1007/s12076-022-00323-7

Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Environmental drivers of delays in reporting crimes. Policing. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1108/PIJPSM-09-2022-0124

Wesselbaum, D., Smith, M. D., Barrett, C. B., & Aiyar, A. (2023). A food insecurity Kuznets Curve? World Development, 165, 106189. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106189

Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Food insecurity predicts well-being inequality. Preventive Medicine, 167, 107407. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107407

Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Financial inclusion and international migration in low- and middle-income countries. Empirical Economics, 65, 341-370. doi: 10.1007/s00181-022-02331-4

Peeters, R., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Competitiveness in Formula One. Sports Economics Review, 2, 100007. doi: 10.1016/j.serev.2022.100007

Sen, A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). On the international spillover effects of uncertainty. Open Economies Review, 34, 541-554. doi: 10.1007/s11079-022-09694-2

Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Understanding the drivers of the gender productivity gap in the economics profession. American Economist, 68(1), 61-73. doi: 10.1177/05694345221128193

Journal - Research Other

van Florenstein Mulder, T., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Does the RBNZ respond to exchange rate fluctuations? [Note]. New Zealand Economic Papers. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/00779954.2023.2234593

Moore, M., & Wesselbaum, D. (2023). Climatic factors as drivers of migration: A review. Environment, Development & Sustainability, 25, 2955-2975. doi: 10.1007/s10668-022-02191-z

2022

Journal - Research Article

Zeng, C., Fielding, D., Peeters, R., & Wesselbaum, D. (2022). Visual imagery skills and risk attitude. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 21415. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-25627-y

Leblang, D., Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2022). The effect of trust on economic performance and financial access. Economics Letters, 220, 110884. doi: 10.1016/j.econlet.2022.110884

Wesselbaum, D. (2022). Violent crimes and homicide in New York City: The role of weather and pollution. Journal of Forensic & Legal Medicine, 91, 102430. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2022.102430

Wesselbaum, D., & Hansen, P. (2022). Lockdown design: Which features of lockdowns are most important to COVID-19 experts? Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 52(5), 569-579. doi: 10.1080/03036758.2022.2048675

Wesselbaum, D. (2022). Welfare and economic impacts of Fair Pay Agreements in Aotearoa [Viewpoint]. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 52(5), 580-586. doi: 10.1080/03036758.2022.2030371

Fitchett, H., & Wesselbaum, D. (2022). Does aid drive migration? Evidence from a shift-share instrument. International Migration Review, 65(4), 1236-1254. doi: 10.1177/01979183211069316

Smith, M. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2022). Food insecurity and international migration flows. International Migration Review, 56(2), 615-635. doi: 10.1177/01979183211042820

2021

Journal - Research Article

Luik, M.-A., Guha Thakurta, A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2021). Child health, human capital, and adult financial behavior. Health Economics, 30, 2722-2750. doi: 10.1002/hec.4404

Wesselbaum, D. (2021). Does temperature affect income? Economics Bulletin, 41(1), 18-27. Retrieved from http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/eb/

Wesselbaum, D., & Owen, P. D. (2021). The value of Pole Position in Formula 1 history. Australian Economic Review, 54(1), 164-173. doi: 10.1111/1467-8462.12401

Saha, S., Sen, A., Smith-Han, C., & Wesselbaum, D. (2021). Did Brexit change asset co-movements? Journal of Financial Economic Policy, 14(1), 43-55. doi: 10.1108/jfep-07-2020-0152

Wesselbaum, D. (2021). Revisiting the climate driver and inhibitor mechanisms of international migration. Climate & Development, 13(1), 10-20. doi: 10.1080/17565529.2020.1711700

2020

Journal - Research Article

Wesselbaum, D. (2020). Procyclical debt as automatic stabilizer. Journal of Quantitative Economics, 18, 81-102. doi: 10.1007/s40953-019-00174-y

Caraiani, P., Luik, M.-A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2020). Credit policy and asset price bubbles. Journal of Macroeconomics, 65, 103229. doi: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2020.103229

Owen, P. D., & Wesselbaum, D. (2020). On thresholds in the climate–migration relationship. International Review of Applied Economics, 34(3), 400-412. doi: 10.1080/02692171.2020.1749242

Fielding, D., Kahui, V., & Wesselbaum, D. (2020). Visual imagination and the performance of undergraduate economics students. New Zealand Economic Papers, 54(2), 127-137. doi: 10.1080/00779954.2019.1708433

2019

Journal - Research Article

Grimes, A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2019). Moving towards happiness? International Migration, 57(3), 20-40. doi: 10.1111/imig.12546

Wesselbaum, D. (2019). Jobless recoveries: The interaction between financial and search frictions. Journal of Macroeconomics, 61, 103126. doi: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2019.103126

Wesselbaum, D. (2019). Expectation shocks and fiscal rules. International Economics & Economic Policy, 16(2), 357-377. doi: 10.1007/s10368-017-0389-z

Wesselbaum, D., & Aburn, A. (2019). Gone with the wind: International migration. Global & Planetary Change, 178, 96-109. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.04.008

Wesselbaum, D. (2019). Happiness over the financial crisis. Oxford Development Studies, 47(1), 113-133. doi: 10.1080/13600818.2018.1524862

Journal - Research Other

Wesselbaum, D. (2019). The influence of climate on migration. Australian Economic Review, 52(3), 363-372. doi: 10.1111/1467-8462.12345

Working Paper; Discussion Paper; Technical Report

Baryshnikova, N. V., Davidson, S. F., & Wesselbaum, D. (2019). Do you feel the heat around the corner? The effect of weather on crime [Working Paper No. 2019-7]. Adelaide, Australia: University of Adelaide, School of Economics. 27p. Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/p/adl/wpaper/2019-07.html

2018

Journal - Research Article

Wesselbaum, D. (2018). Time-varying volatility in the US labor market. Journal of Applied Economics, 21(1), 197-213. doi: 10.1080/15140326.2018.1526875

Falter, A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2018). Correlated shocks in estimated DSGE models. Economics Bulletin, 38(4), 2026-2036.

Wesselbaum, D. (2018). Socioeconomic driving forces of international migration. Journal of Globalization & Development, 8(2), 20170017. doi: 10.1515/jgd-2017-0017

Wesselbaum, D. (2018). The effects of unions on job flows. International Journal of Manpower, 39(1), 25-36. doi: 10.1108/IJM-01-2016-0012

2017

Journal - Research Article

Wesselbaum, D. (2017). Catastrophe theory and the financial crisis. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 64(4), 376-391. doi: 10.1111/sjpe.12133

Working Paper; Discussion Paper; Technical Report

Aburn, A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2017). Gone with the wind: International migration [Economics Discussion Papers No. 1708]. Dunedin, New Zealand: School of Business, University of Otago. 30p. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/7285

Chatterjee, S., Posch, O., & Wesselbaum, D. (2017). Delays in public goods [Economics Discussion Papers No. 1702]. Dunedin, New Zealand: School of Business, University of Otago. 30p. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/7045

2016

Journal - Research Article

Wesselbaum, D. (2016). The intensive margin puzzle and labor market adjustment costs. Macroeconomic Dynamics, 20(6), 1458-1476. doi: 10.1017/S1365100514000984

Working Paper; Discussion Paper; Technical Report

Wesselbaum, D. (2016). Cheap talk in a new Keynesian model [Economics Discussion Papers No. 1604]. Dunedin, New Zealand: School of Business, University of Otago. 31p.

Wesselbaum, D. (2016). Jobless recoveries: The interactions between financial and search frictions [Economics Discussion Papers No. 1603]. Dunedin, New Zealand: School of Business, University of Otago. 24p.

Luik, M.-A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2016). Did the FED react to asset price bubbles? [Economics Discussion Papers No. 1602]. Dunedin, New Zealand: School of Business, University of Otago. 23p.

2015

Journal - Research Article

Wesselbaum, D. (2015). Firing costs in a business cycle model with endogenous separations. Journal of Economic Studies, 42(3), 499-518. doi: 10.1108/JES-12-2013-0195

Wesselbaum, D. (2015). What drives endogenous growth in the United States? B E Journal of Macroeconomics, 15(1), 183-221. doi: 10.1515/bejm-2013-0179

Wesselbaum, D. (2015). Sectoral labor market effects of fiscal spending. Structural Change & Economic Dynamics, 34, 19-35. doi: 10.1016/j.strueco.2015.05.002

2014

Journal - Research Article

Wesselbaum, D. (2014). On time-dependent business cycle distributions of labor market variables. European Economics Letters, 3(2), 57-61.

Neugebauer, J., & Wesselbaum, D. (2014). Staggered wages, sticky prices, and labor market dynamics in matching models. Applied Economics Quarterly, 60(3), 159-177. doi: 10.3790/aeq.60.3.159

Wesselbaum, D. (2014). Firing tax vs severance payments: An unequal comparison. Journal of Economic Studies, 41(5), 721-736. doi: 10.1108/JES-09-2012-0136

Wesselbaum, D. (2014). Labour market dynamics in Australia. Australian Economic Review, 47(2), 173-188. doi: 10.1111/1467-8462.12042

Poilly, C., & Wesselbaum, D. (2014). Evaluating labor market reforms: A normative analysis. Journal of Macroeconomics, 39, 156-170. doi: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2013.10.004

Luik, M.-A., & Wesselbaum, D. (2014). Bubbles over the U.S. business cycle: A macroeconometric approach. Journal of Macroeconomics, 40, 27-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2014.02.005

2013

Journal - Research Article

Wesselbaum, D. (2013). Reciprocity and matching frictions. International Review of Economics, 60(3), 247-268. doi: 10.1007/s12232-013-0185-1

Wesselbaum, D. (2013). Gender-specific differences in labor market adjustment patterns: Evidence from the United States. Social Science Journal, 50(3), 381-385. doi: 10.1016/j.soscij.2013.01.006

2011

Journal - Research Article

Merkl, C., & Wesselbaum, D. (2011). Extensive versus intensive margin in Germany and the United States: Any differences? Applied Economics Letters, 18(9), 805-808. doi: 10.1080/13504851.2010.507170

Wesselbaum, D. (2011). Sector-specific productivity shocks in a matching model. Economic Modelling, 28(6), 2674-2682. doi: 10.1016/j.econmod.2011.08.009

Working Paper; Discussion Paper; Technical Report

Wesselbaum, D. (2011). Evaluating the Federal Reserve's policy [Kiel Policy Brief No. 23]. Kiel, Germany: Kiel Institute for the World Economy. 16p.

Wesselbaum, D. (2011). Kernfusion: Die vernachlässigte Alternative [Kiel Policy Brief No. 30]. Kiel, Germany: Kiel Institute for the World Economy. 10p.

2009

Chapter in Book - Research

van Roye, B., & Wesselbaum, D. (2009). Estimating the impact of fiscal stimulus packages. In H. Klodt & H. Lehment (Eds.), The crisis and beyond. (pp. 44-49). Kiel Institute for the World Economy.