Beliefs and Expectations, Behavioral Macroeconomics, Household Finance

Johannes Wohlfart holds an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford and received his PhD in 2019 from Goethe University Frankfurt. Before joining the University of Cologne, he worked as an Assistant Professor and later as an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen.

Published papers

• Mental Models of the Stock Market

  Andre, P., Schirmer, P., & Wohlfart, J. (2026). Mental models of the stock market. Quarterly Journal of Economics, qjag039.

• Narratives about the Macroeconomy

  Andre, P., Haaland, I., Roth, C., Wiederholt, M., & Wohlfart, J. (2026). Narratives about the Macroeconomy. Review of Economic Studies, rdag014.

• Home Price Expectations and Spending: Evidence from a Field Experiment

  Chopra, F., Roth, C., & Wohlfart, J. (2025). Home price expectations and spending: Evidence from a field experiment. American Economic Review, 115(7), 2267-2305.

• Beliefs about Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending

  Roth, C., Settele, S., & Wohlfart, J. (2022). Beliefs about public debt and the demand for government spending. Journal of Economics, 231(1), 165-187.

• Risk Exposure and Acquisition of Macroeconomic Information

  Roth, C., Settele, S., & Wohlfart, J. (2022). Risk Exposure and Acquisition of Macroeconomic Information. American Economic Review: Insights, 4(1), 34-53.

• Information Frictions among Firms and Households

  Link, S., Peichl, S., Roth, C., & Wohlfart, J. (2023): Information frictions among firms and households. Journal of Monetary Economics, 135, 99-115.

Discussion papers

• Household Behavior Below the Zero Lower Bound

• Macro Theory with Measured Expectations

• Do People Have Economic Expectations?

• Unemployment Narratives

• Wage Expectations and Job Search

• Understanding Economic Behavior Using Open-Ended Survey Data

• Measuring What Is Top of Mind

• Information Experiments

• Mental Models of the Stock Market

• Attention to the Macroeconomy

• Home Price Expectations and Spending: Evidence from a Field Experiment

• The Effects of Monetary Policy: Theory with Measured Expectations

• Recent Advances in Studies of News Consumption

• Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending

• Risk Exposure and Acquisition of Macroeconomic Information