Luca Salerno

Munich Research Institute for the Economics of Aging and SHARE Analyses (MEA)
Leopoldstraße 139, 80804 Munich, Germany

l.salerno@mea-share.eu Google Scholar

Last updated November 2026

Research interests

Labor economics, economics of aging, pensions, policy evaluation

Education

2021 – present

Ph.D. in EconomicsTechnical University of Munich (TUM)Advisor: Axel Börsch-Supan

2016 – 2019

M.Sc. in EconomicsLudwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) MunichExchange semester, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, 2017–2018

2012 – 2016

B.Sc. in EconomicsHeidelberg University

Positions

2023 – present

ResearcherMunich Research Institute for the Economics of Aging and SHARE Analyses (MEA)

2019 – 2022

ResearcherMax Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Munich

2018 – 2019

Student research assistantMax Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Munich

2017 – 2019

Student research assistantMax Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich

Job market paper

2026

How does reducing the retirement age affect younger workers? Evidence from Italy’s Quota 100

Work in progress

Publications

Refereed articles

2021

Long-run health trends in Europe

with A. Börsch-Supan and I. Ferrari. The Journal of the Economics of Ageing 18, 100303.

Book chapters

forthcoming

Pension reforms and inequality in Germany: Micro-modelling

with A. Börsch-Supan and J. Rausch. In A. Börsch-Supan and C. Coile (eds.), Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Effects of Pension Reforms on the Income Distribution of Retirees. University of Chicago Press. Also NBER Working Paper 32796 (2024).

2022

The European context: Declining health but rising labor force participation among the middle-aged

with A. Börsch-Supan, I. Ferrari and G. Pasini. In L. F. Berkman and B. C. Truesdale (eds.), Overtime: America’s Aging Workforce and the Future of Working Longer, 69–90. Oxford University Press.

Working papers

2024

Short-time employment aid during the Covid-19 lockdown: Short- and long-run effectiveness

with A. Börsch-Supan, D. López-Falcón and J. Rausch. NBER Working Paper 32760.

Revise and resubmit, Applied Economics

2026

Health inequality in Germany

with A. Börsch-Supan, F. Fetzer and J. Rausch. NBER International Social Security Project, Phase 12.

Work in progress

Health at working ages across birth cohorts in Europe and the United States

with A. Börsch-Supan

Spurious cohort trends in health deficit indices: Evidence from SHARE and the HRS

with A. Börsch-Supan

Other publications

2020

Verteilung und Entwicklung von Gesundheit im Alter

with A. Börsch-Supan and I. Ferrari. MEA Discussion Paper 06-2020.

Grants

2025 – 2026

Research grant, Forschungsnetzwerk Alterssicherung (FNA), Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund Effects of lowering the retirement age on the employment prospects of younger workers. With A. Börsch-Supan (principal investigator).

Presentations

2026

Workshop on Causal Analysis, FNA and Research Data Centre of the Deutsche Rentenversicherung, Berlin (with A. Börsch-Supan)

2025

NBER International Social Security Project meeting, Eibsee

2023

NBER International Social Security Project meetings, Stockholm and London

Research networks

since 2020

International Social Security ProjectNational Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

2019 – 2022

Working Longer: In Jeopardy?Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies

Professional activities

Refereeing: Contemporary Economic Policy, Public Sector Economics
Supervision: Lars Irmler (M.Sc. thesis, LMU Munich)

Data and skills

Data: INPS administrative records (VisitINPS, on-site access in Rome), SHARE, SOEP, HRS
Software: Stata (proficient), LaTeX (advanced), R and Git (intermediate), Python (basic)
Languages: German (native), English (fluent), Italian (intermediate)