Dr. Mehrzad B. Baktash

Profile

I joined the Economics Department at the University of Leeds as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in 2026. Previously, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher and teaching associate at the University of Trier in Germany, where I completed my PhD in Economics. During my PhD, I investigated the consequences of performance pay on workers' health, well-being, and labor market success. I am also a Global Labor Organization (GLO) Fellow and a GLO Virtual Young Scholar (2023-24 cohort). I contribute to the academic community as a member of the editorial review board for Applied Research in Quality of Life and as an organisational committee member of the Global GLO-JOPE Conference.

Research interests

I am an applied microeconomist working at the intersection of labour, behavioural, and wellbeing economics. My research examines the determinants and consequences of working from home, performance pay, educational mismatch, personality traits, interpersonal trust, psychological detachment from work, and employee well-being. I use large-scale representative longitudinal datasets from the US, the UK, and Germany to investigate these topics.

Qualifications

• PhD in Economics, University of Trier
• MSc in Economics, University of Warsaw
• MSc in Economics, University of Trier

Professional memberships

• Royal Economic Society
• European Association of Labour Economists
• Global Labor Organization
• International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQoLS)

Student education

I teach the following modules:

• LUBS3930 Economics of Business and Corporate Strategy
• LUBS1285 Mathematics for Economics and Business