Felix Elwert

Felix Elwert, Ph.D., is a scholar of social inequality, social demography, and applied statistics.  He develops methods of causal inference and conducts research on the contextual drivers of inequality, income, education, and health. Ever on the lookout for ways to coax causality from data, Elwert collaborates with teams around the globe to conduct large-scale randomized experiments, mine population registers, and analyze surveys.

The recipient of multiple awards from the American Sociological Association and the American Statistical Association, his work has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, the American Review of Sociology, Sociological Science, Demography, JAMA, and other high-impact journals.

Elwert graduated from Harvard University in 2007 with degrees in sociology and statistics. He has taught applied causal inferences at Berkeley, Princeton, Columbia, in Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, and elsewhere. From 2014 to 2016, Elwert was Karl W. Deutsch Professor and Acting Director of Social Inequality and Social Policy at the WZB Berlin Social Center. Currently, he is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Sociology and Biostatistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Editor-in-Chief of Sociological Methods & Research. 

CDE Research Area Affiliations:

Demography of Inequality; Fertility, Families, and Households; Health and the Life Course

Selected Publications:

Joo, Won-tak, Felix Elwert, and Martin D. Munk. “Labor Market Consequences of Grandparenthood.” Sociological Science 11 (2024): 600-625.

Fallesen, Peter, Lars Højsgaard Andersen, and Felix Elwert. “Heterogenous causal effects: Potentials and pitfalls as illustrated with fatherhood and earnings.” Journal of Marriage and Family (2024).

Widding-Havneraas, Tarjei, Felix Elwert, Simen Markussen, Henrik Daae Zachrisson, Ingvild Lyhmann, Ashmita Chaulagain, Ingvar Bjelland, Anne Halmøy, Knut Rypdal, and Arnstein Mykletun. “Effect of ADHD medication on risk of injuries: a preference-based instrumental variable analysis.” European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 33, no. 6 (2024): 1987-1996.

Widding-Havneraas, Tarjei, Henrik Daae Zachrisson, Simen Markussen, Felix Elwert, Ingvild Lyhmann, Ashmita Chaulagain, Ingvar Bjelland, Anne Halmøy, Knut Rypdal, and Arnstein Mykletun. “Effect of pharmacological treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder on criminality.” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 63, no. 4 (2024): 433-442.

Mallinson, David C., Felix Elwert, and Deborah B. Ehrenthal. “Spillover effects of gestational age on sibling’s literacy.” Early Child Development and Care (2024): 1-16.