PUBLICATIONS IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS
Rode, M.; Pitlik, H.; Borrella-Mas, M.A. (2018). Does Fiscal Federalism Deter or Spur Secessionist Movements? Empirical Evidence from Europe
Publius: The Journal of Federalism. Volume 48, Issue 2, 1 March 2018, Pages 161–190
[ DOI | Google Scholar | WP | Presentation ]
Bajo-Buenestado, R.; Borrella-Mas, M.A. (2019). Passing-through Taxes Beyond Borders with a Cobra Effect
Journal of Public Economics. Volume 177, September 2019, 104040
[ DOI | Google Scholar | WP | Presentation ]
Borrella-Mas, M.A.; Rode, M. (2021). Love is Blind: Partisan Alignment and Political Corruption in Spain
SERIES - Journal of the Spanish Economic Association. 12(3), 423-451
[ DOI | Google Scholar | WP | Presentation ]
Bjørnskov, C; Borrella-Mas, M.A.; Rode, M. (2022). The Economics of Change and Stability in Social Trust: Evidence from (and for) Catalan secession
Economics & Politics. Volume 34, Issue 2, July 2022, Pages 275-297
[ DOI | Google Scholar | WP | 5centims (Spanish) | Presentation ]
Bajo-Buenestado, R.; Borrella-Mas, M.A. (2022). The Heterogeneous Tax Pass-through under Different Vertical Relationships
The Economic Journal. Volume 132, Issue 645, July 2022, Pages 1684–1708
[ DOI | Google Scholar | WP | NeG (Spanish) | Presentation ]
Bajo-Buenestado, R.; Borrella-Mas, M.A. (2025). Market Competition and the Adoption of Clean Technology: Evidence from the Taxi Industry
European Economic Review. Volume 174, May 2025, 104967
[ DOI | Google Scholar | WP | NeG (Spanish) | Presentation ]
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WORKING PAPERS
(*) Designing Transfers for Children: Labels, Vouchers, or Just Cash? Experiment at Scale in Georgia (with Jaime Millán-Quijano and Anastasia Terskaya) (under review)
Abstract
How can households be encouraged to spend social assistance on children? We collaborated with the Government of Georgia and randomized all households eligible for targeted social assistance to test two approaches: (i) providing food vouchers instead of cash and (ii) labeling cash transfers to promote child-related spending. Compared to cash alone, we find that labeled transfers increase the share of household expenditure on children. By contrast, vouchers reduce overall consumption, likely due to higher transportation costs, suggesting they may be poorly suited to rural areas with limited access to markets.
JEL Classification: D04, I24, I38, O12
Keywords: Cash transfers, Labeling effect, Food vouchers, Randomized control trial
(*) Non-Contributory Pensions and Households' Decisions. Evidence from Bolivia (with Marcello Sartarelli and Mariano Bosch)
Abstract
We study empirically the effect of a universal non-contributory pension in Bolivia, Renta Dignidad, on households' income, labour supply, consumption and living arrangements decisions. We estimate it, accounting for the gender of the spouse receiving a pension, thanks to rich survey data and a regression discontinuity design, as individuals' pension eligibility jumps discontinuously at age 60. We find that, despite increasing disposable income, receiving one or more pensions has a small and not significant impact on poverty levels in old age at the household level. This is due to the fact that receiving two pensions triggers a weak decrease in female labour supply and an increase in household size as extra grandchildren are observed in beneficiary households, while a pension only to the husband (de)increases transfers (from)to other households. Our novel research design and rich results suggest that, although the pension targets individuals, important decisions are taken at the household level, may be gender-specific and also indirectly affect other household members as well as other households.
JEL Classification: H2, H3, J2
Keywords: Consumption, family arrangements, labour supply, non-contributory pension, regression discontinuity, Renta Dignidad, transfer