Research
My research lies at the intersection of public economics, political economy, and normative economics — combining theory with administrative micro-data, non-standard digital data (e.g., offshore leaks), and online survey experiments. It spans four broad areas:
Use non-standard digital data and machine-learning techniques to uncover inequalities that standard statistics miss, e.g., how tax haven ownership shapes real estate markets or how opportunities are distributed across countries.
Exploit natural experiments and policy reforms to estimate the causal effects of market structures and public policy on economic outcomes, e.g., how offshore demand inflates house prices or how work-life balance policies affect labor supply.
Develop theoretical tools to study optimal and politically feasible reforms under different decision and information environments, e.g., whether tax systems allow for self-financing tax cuts or when a shift from joint to individual taxation commands majority support.
Use large-scale online experiments and representative surveys to study people's beliefs and fairness preferences, e.g., how citizens' perceptions of inequality diverge from reality and which sources of inequality are judged as fair or unfair.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Hufe, P. and Weishaar, D. (2025). “Just Cheap Talk? Investigating Fairness Preferences in Hypothetical Scenarios”. Journal of Economic Inequality 23, pp. 881–907. Journal
Almås, I., Hufe, P. and Weishaar, D. (2025). “Experimental Evidence on Attitudes Toward Inequality and Fairness”. Annual Review of Economics 17, pp. 721–746. Journal
Hufe, P., Peichl, A. and Weishaar, D. (2022). “Lower and Upper Bound Estimates of Inequality of Opportunity for Emerging Economies”. Social Choice and Welfare 58(3), pp. 395–427. Journal
Book Chapter
Almås, I., Hufe, P. and Weishaar, D. (2023). “Equality of Opportunity: Fairness Preferences and Beliefs About Inequality”. Handbook of Equality of Opportunity, ed. M. Sardoc. Springer. Chapter
Working Papers
Combining digital UK land register data, global ownership chains and data from offshore leaks, we investigate the extent, causes and consequences of tax havens in real estate markets, showing that offshore demand inflates prices and is linked to tax and secrecy motives.
A theory of Pareto-improving and welfare-improving tax reforms under multidimensional heterogeneity, applied to the taxation of couples in the United States — with an impossibility result for the standard tax-perturbation approach.
A political economy answer to the puzzle of why joint taxation persists in the United States. Sufficient statistics show that demographic shifts have increased the majority appeal of a reform towards individual taxation since the 1960s — today, 50% of married individuals would benefit.
Work in Progress
Dissertation
Weishaar, D. (2025). “Essays in Public Economics: Multidimensional Inequalities, Fairness Preferences, and Policy Instruments”. LMU Munich. VfS Dissertation Prize 2026 Full text