Inside Research, 23.06.2026

Last Tuesday, Inside Research welcomed two BGSE PhD researchers – and both showed just how diverse economic research can be.

Björn Höppner (何雄)s research tackles a classic econometrics problem: how do you analyse decisions like buying a house when people differ from each other in ways you can’t directly observe? Björn’s approach groups individuals into latent clusters that behave similarly – making the problem tractable even with limited data. He also shared honest reflections on how research ideas emerge, and why regular exchange with others – through reading groups, for instance – is so valuable. He will join the University of Amsterdam as an Assistant Professor this fall, we wish him all the best for his career!

Oleksii Hamaniuk showed that economic methods can shed light on questions of city planning that are usually analysed in urban economics. Using data from Berlin, he and his co-authors investigate whether new green spaces change the restaurant landscape and affect gentrification in the neighbourhood. Their finding: after greening interventions, the share of foreign cuisines drops measurably while German restaurants gain market share. What makes this especially striking is that the shift happens before rents even start to rise. Therefore, such a shift in the restaurants‘ composition could be considered an early signal of gentrification that is followed by an increase in the future. Oleksii will start working with the Kyiv School of Economics Institute as a Non-Resident Research Fellow – all the best for this next step!

Thanks to Björn and Oleksii for their openness, and to Luca Michels for moderating. The get-together in the courtyard afterwards showed how much conversation good research can spark – even at 30 degrees.