Publications
Job Market Paper
Mines Closures and Domestic Violence, with E. Badaoui, M. Benhura, P. Magejo, and L. Martinoty
While the socioeconomic impacts of mining are well-documented, little is known about how mine closures affect local communities. Our study focuses on South Africa, where mine closures are already a pressing reality. Using geolocated mining data and the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey, we employ a spatial difference-in-differences approach to examine the impact of these closures on domestic violence. We find that domestic violence rates are 2-3 times higher near closed mines compared to operational ones, with effects lasting up to 10 years post-closure. These findings are robust to a battery of checks. Our analysis shows that mine closures lead to significant decreases in male employment opportunities and job quality, as well as a decline in formalized intimate relationships, resulting in violence for intrinsic and instrumental reasons. Importantly, we show that domestic violence does not revert to pre-mining levels after mine shutdowns, underscoring the need for closure strategies in mining-specific Corporate Social Responsibility plans.
Submitted
Mine, Theirs, Ours? An Online Experiment in Citizens' Motivations to Invest in Mental Health, with P. Conzo, M. Della Giusta, G. Razzu, and G. Rosso
IZA Discussion Paper series n°18054
Seeing Stereotypes, with E. Baldazzi, P. Biroli, and M. Della Giusta
CESifo Working Paper n°11730
Working papers
The Contribution of Residential Segregation to Racial Income Gaps: Evidence from South Africa, with C. Muller.
AMSE Working Paper 2020-29,
Abstract:
In this paper, we contend that local segregation should be an essential component of the analyzes of the determination of socio-ethnic income gaps. For this, we adopt a thorough distribution decomposition approach, as a general preliminary descriptive step to prospective specific structural analyses. Focusing on the contemporary White/African gap in South Africa, we first complete Mincer wage equations with an Isolation index that reflects the level of segregation in the local area where individuals dwell. Second, we decompose the income gap distribution into detailed composition and structure components. Third, we explore the heterogeneity of segregation effects on wage gaps along three theoretical lines: racial preferences, labor market segmentation, and networks links. Segregation is found to be the main contributor of the structure effect, ahead of education and experience, and to make a sizable contribution to the composition effect. Moreover, segregation is harmful at the bottom of the African income distribution, notably in relation to local informal job-search networks, while it is beneficial at the top of the White income distribution. Only minor influences of racial preferences and labor market segmentation are found. Specific subpopulations are identified that suffer and benefit most from segregation, including for the former, little educated workers in agriculture and mining, often female, immersed in their personal networks. Finally, minimum wage policies are found likely to attenuate most segregation's noxious mechanisms.
Segregation and the Perception of the Minority, with C. Muller.
AMSE Working Paper 2017-18
Press coverage: CTN Newsletter
Abstract:
In his seminal work, Schelling (1971) shows that even preferences for integration generate high levels of segregation. However, this theoretical prediction does not match with decreasing levels of segregation observed since the 1970s. We build a general equilibrium model in which preferences depends on the number of peers and unlike individuals, but also on the benefit (or loss) they attribute to the economic and social life that a minority member brings with him, which we call their perception of the minority. In this framework, there always exists a structure of the preferences for which integrated equilibria emerge and are stable. Even when individuals are all racist, there is still a level of the perception of the minority for which integration is a stable outcome. We then propose an econometric method to derive the structural preference parameters of the model in the case of South Africa. Estimated preferences provide evidences toward more integration as the perception of the minority is positive and overcome both racism and homophilly by between roughly one and four times.
The Sources of Segregation in South Africa
AMSE Working Paper 2017-20
Abstract:
In this paper, we decompose the whole change in segregation between 2001 and 2011 in South Africa by using segregation curves and distribution regressions. The provision of basic public services appears to be the main explanation of the gap observed, while differences in sociodemographic characteristics play a minor role only for the least segregated neighbourhoods. The housing market is responsible for an important part only among neighbourhoods intermediately integrated, while past segregation and income influence moderately segregation throughout more than half of the South African neighbourhoods.
Local Whittle Analysis of Stationary Unbalanced Fractional Cointegration Systems, with G. de Truchis and E. Dumitrescu.
EconomiX Working Paper 2019-15
Abstract:
In this paper we propose a local Whittle estimator of stationary bivariate unbalanced fractional cointegration systems. Unbalanced cointegration refers to the situation where the observables have different integration orders, but their filtered versions have equal integration orders and are cointegrated in the usual sense. Based on the frequency domain representation of the unbalanced version of Phillip’s triangular system, we develop a semiparametric approach to jointly estimate the unbalance parameter, the long run coefficient, and the integration orders of regressors and cointegrating errors. The paper establishes the consistency and asymptotic normality of this estimator. We find a peculiar rate of convergence for the unbalance estimator (possibly faster than √n) and a singular joint limiting distribution of the unbalance and long-run coefficients. Its good finite-sample properties are emphasized through Monte Carlo experiments. We illustrate the relevance of the developed estimator for financial data in an empirical application to the information flowing between the crude oil spot and CME-NYMEX markets.
Gendered Landscape: a Framework for Diagnosis and Evaluation of Gender Inequalities in Urban Contexts, with M. Della Giusta, G. Razzu, and G. Rosso
University of Reading, Department of Economics Discussion Paper N° 2025-2
Work in progress
Vote-buying by Politicians: Evidence from French Senators, with B. Monnery
Coalition Stability in the French Parliament, with B. Monnery
Deforestation and Contested Village Borders in Indonesia, with S. Lovo
Air Pollution and Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Zambian Copper Mines, with A. Chongo and S. Lovo
Types of Cooperators and Gender Differences in Common-Pool Resources Games, with S. Clot, M. Della Giusta, R. McCloy, and G. Razzu
Are Patriarcal Norms Feeding Gender-Based Violence in South Africa, with E. El Badaoui, M. Benhura, P. Magejo, and L. Martinoty
Female Political Representation and Sexual Crimes: Evidence from South Africa, with E. El Badaoui, M. Benhura, P. Magejo, and L. Martinoty