RFB Masterclasses 2026

RFBerlin opens applications for the 2026 Masterclasses. The series brings authors of selected chapters from the 5th edition of the Handbook of Labour Economics to Berlin for two days of focused, in-depth teaching. Places are limited and selection is competitive, so they encourage early submissions.

23–24 April “Skills and Human Capital in the Labour Market” by Mikko Silliman (Aalto University & Helsinki GSE)

Get a comprehensive overview of how economists understand skills and human capital, with particular attention to higher-order capacities such as social and decision-making skills.

7–8 May “Labor Force Transitions” by Markus Poschke (McGill University) and Fabian Lange (McGill University)

Learn how labour force states and transitions are used to model individual labour market dynamics and why accounting for heterogeneity in these transitions matters.

6-7 July “Non-wage amenities” by Alexandre Mas (University of California, Berkeley)

Understand how to analyse non-wage amenities in the workplace, and why models of imperfect competition often provide a better fit to real labour markets.

5–6 November “Racial Inequality in the Labor Market” – Speaker TBA

Get to know a new framework for understanding racial inequality in the labour market and its evolution over time. It draws on long-run evidence and recent research to examine discrimination, market structure and institutional drivers of racial gaps.

Please find more information here.