Research
Publications
Lopez de Leon, Fernanda L., Bansi Malde and Ben McQuillin (2023) “The effects of emergency government cash transfers on beliefs and behaviours during the COVID pandemic: Evidence from Brazil”, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 208: 140-155. [open access]
Lopez de Leon, Fernanda L. and Ben McQuillin (2020) “The Role of Conferences on the Pathway to Academic Impact: Evidence from a Natural Experiment”, Journal of Human Resources, 55:164-193. [open access]
Kim, Sang-Hyun and Fernanda L. L. de Leon (2019) “Ingroup and Outgroup Biases in the Marketplace: A Field Experiment during the World Cup”, Oxford Economic Papers, 71(3): 528–547.
Campos, Raquel, Fernanda L. L. de Leon and Ben McQuillin (2018) “Lost in the Storm: The Academic Collaborations that Went Missing on the Hurricane Isaac”, The Economic Journal, 128 (May): 995-1018. [open access]
Campos, Camila, Shaun Hargreaves-Heap and Fernanda L. Lopez de Leon (2017) “The Political Influence of Peer Groups: Experimental Evidence in the Classroom”, Oxford Economic Papers, 69(4): 963–985. [open access]
Lopez de Leon, Fernanda L. and Renata Rizzi (2016) “Does Forced Voting cause Political Polarization?”, Public Choice, 166(1), 143-160. [open access]
Lopez de Leon, Fernanda L. (2016) “Endorse or Not to Endorse: Understanding the Determinants of Newspapers' Likelihood of Making Political Recommendations”, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 63(4):357-76.
Lopez de Leon, Fernanda L. and Renata Rizzi (2014) “A Test for the Rational Ignorance Hypothesis: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Brazil”, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 6(4): 380-398.
Lopez de Leon, Fernanda L. (2013) “The Tuesday Advantage of Politicians Endorsed by American Newspapers”, B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy (Contributions), 13(2): 865–886.
Lopez de Leon, Fernanda L. and Menezes-Filho, Naercio. (2002) Reprovação, avanço e evasão escolar no Brasil. Pesquisa e Planejamento Econômico, Rio de Janeiro, 32 (3): 417-451.
Working Papers
“ Gender impacts of face-to-face academic interactions: Evidence from conferences”, with Ben McQuillin
Leverhulme Trust- funded project 2024-25
Abstract: We explore the role of face-to-face and social interactions in academic settings in contributing to (or mitigating) gender differences in academic productivity. Our focus is on academic conferences, building on our previous work. In exploiting a “natural experiment” (the last-minute cancellation of a very large conference), we showed distinct conference benefits in terms of developing and advertising papers presented, and in authors’ forming new collaborations. More recently, we have discovered that these benefits appear to be gendered. We now propose to develop our existing dataset (comprising more than 29,000 conference papers) and conduct further analyses that will help us to verify, explore, and explain this phenomenon. The conference setting represents a specific opportunity for academics to meet in person. We contend that an understanding of the role of gender in this environment will cast light on the role of gender in academic workplaces more generally.
“Later Sunsets and Vaccination” , with Eduardo Teixeira De Carvalho Silva and Annemie Maertens
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between sunset times and vaccination uptake. We document the causal impacts by utilizing changes in Daylight Saving policy and variation in time zones in Brazil, and adopting difference-in-differences and difference-in-discontinuity designs. Using municipality data on vaccination and climate conditions, we find that when sunsets occur one hour later, vaccinations increase between 10 to 14 percent. The impact of later sunsets is more pronounced in municipalities that are less urbanized, have lower development indices, and lower proportions of literate population. These findings suggest a significant link between daylight hours and public health outcomes
"Social Effects of the Vote of the Majority: An Experiment on the Brexit-Vote", with Markus Bindemman [paper]
Abstract: The 2016 EU referendum results, and the Brexit vote, were widely perceived as a statement against immigration. We conducted a field-experiment in England to test whether the Brexit vote had triggered anti-social attitudes towards immigrants. In a computerized quiz, our (non-deceptive) intervention randomized the information of whether the local majority voted to Leave the European Union or to Remain, shifting individuals' perceptions about the support for Brexit, in a significant manner. Overall, our results indicate mild impacts of the Brexit vote in causing negative attitudes on immigrants living in the UK. We detected impacts on extrinsic attitudes (i.e. giving in a dictator game and self-reported policy preferences), but with no effects on intrinsic views. The results point to the effect of election outcomes in changing citizens' attitudes.