Selected papers
Albanese, A., Deschenes, O., Gathmann, C., & Nieto Castro, A. (2025). Extreme temperatures, health and retirement (IZA Discussion Paper No. 18161). IZA – Institute of Labor Economics. https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/18161/extreme-temperatures-health-and-retirement R&R at Journal of Public Economics.
Combining three decades of longitudinal data from the US Health and Retirement Study with granular daily county-level weather data, we provide the first evidence that exposure to extreme temperatures accelerates transitions into retirement and reduces labour income, with effects concentrated among older, less-educated, and lower-income individuals. We identify health as a key mechanism, as extreme temperatures deteriorate health through a higher incidence of cardiovascular conditions and strokes, reducing individuals' ability to keep working. Greater local availability of healthcare mitigates this retirement response, pointing to healthcare access as a policy lever to help older workers remain in the labour force.
Albanese A., Cockx, B., and Dejemeppe, M. 2024. Long-Term Effects of Hiring Subsidies for Low-Educated Unemployed Youths. Journal of Public Economics, 235,105137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105137
We use regression discontinuity design and difference-in-differences methods to estimate the impact of a one-time hiring subsidy for low-educated unemployed youths in Belgium during the recovery from the Great Recession. Within a year of unemployment, the subsidy increases job-finding in the private sector by 10 percentage points. Over six years, high school graduates secure 2.8 more quarters of private employment. However, they transition from public jobs and self-employment, resulting in no net increase in overall employment, albeit with better wages. High school dropouts experience no lasting benefits. Additionally, in tight labor markets near Luxembourg's employment hub, the subsidy results in a complete deadweight loss.
Nakamura, R., Albanese, A., Coombes, E. & Suhrcke M., 2023. Do Economic Incentives Promote Physical Activity? Evidence from the London Congestion Charge. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, 187(2), 305–320. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrsssa/qnad112
This study investigates the impact of economic incentives on travel-related physical activity, leveraging the London Congestion Charge’s disincentivising of sedentary travel modes via increasing the cost of private car use within Central London. The scheme imposes charges on most types of cars entering, exiting, and operating within the Central London area, while individuals living inside the charging zone are eligible for a 90% reduction in congestion charges. Using a boundary regression-discontinuity design reveals a statistically significantly positive impact on active commuting (i.e. cycling and walking) around the border of the charging zone. The effect is larger for lower-income households and car owners. The findings are robust against multiple specifications and validation tests.
Albanese A., Cappellari L., Leonardi M., 2021. The Effects of Youth Labor Market Reforms: Evidence from Italian Apprenticeships. Oxford Economic Papers, Volume 73, Issue 1, Pages 98–121, https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpz053
In this paper, we estimate the causal effects of the 2003 reforms to the Italian apprenticeship contract, which increased its legal length, allowed on-the-job training and introduced a minimum floor to apprentices’ wages. Using administrative data, we implement a covariate balancing propensity score and a difference-in-differences estimator. We find that the new contract improves the chances of an apprentice obtaining a permanent job in the same firm five years after hiring; however, this occurs more frequently in large firms. We also find sizeable, long-run wage effects which extend well beyond the legal duration of the apprenticeship contract. These effects are compatible with increased human capital accumulation, possibly due to the reform’s training provisions.
Albanese A., Picchio, M., Ghirelli C., 2020. Timed to Say Goodbye: Does Unemployment Benefit Eligibility Affect Worker Layoffs?. Labour Economics, 65, 101846. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101846
We study how unemployment benefit eligibility affects the layoff exit rate by exploiting quasi-experimental variation in eligibility rules in Italy. By using a difference-in-differences estimator, we find an instantaneous increase of about 12% in the layoff probability when unemployment benefit eligibility is attained, which persists for at least 16 weeks. These findings are robust to different identifying assumptions and are mostly driven by jobs started after the onset of the Great Recession and in the South.
Ongoing projects
Albanese, A., Nieto A., and Tatsiramos, K.. Understanding the Timing and Dynamics of the Employment Gender Gap Around Childbirth, 2024
Albanese, A., Marguerit, D.. Labor-Market Consequences of Cross-Border Employment: A Machine Learning Approach.
Albanese, A., Gallo, G., Lepinteur, A.. Superstition Ain't an A: The Academic Cost of a Bad-Luck Exam Date.
Albanese, A., Bousselin, A.. Early Childhood Investments and the School-Entry Age Penalty: Evidence from Linked Administrative Data.
Albanese, A., Heikkuri, V.-M., Lombardi, S.. Re-evaluating the Effect of the Finnish Comprehensive School Reform on Intergenerational Mobility.
Albanese, A., Cappellari, L., Ovidi, M.. Earning Ability over the Life Cycle.
Selected Funding
LISER Principal Investigator and Task Leader in "Inequality and Democracy in Europe: Trust, Participation, and Resilience (INDEMTRUST)". Research funded by Horizon Europe, Research and Innovation Action, Topic HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-08, Grant Agreement No. 101289817, 2026-2029. LISER budget 374,009 EUR. Total consortium budget 3,469,766 EUR. Consortium coordinated by Central European University, with UNIVPM, CELSI, Masaryk University, Örebro University, Fraunhofer ISI, and Sapienza University of Rome.
Principal Investigator in "The Effect of Schengen, the Euro and Local Labour Markets: A Causal Analysis on Cross-Border Workers in Europe (CrossEUwork)". Research funded by Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), 2018-2021, 468,000 euros. Evaluated “excellent” in all criteria. https://www.fnr.lu/projects/the-effect-of-schengen-the-euro-and-local-labour-markets-a-causal-analysis-on-cross-border-workers-in-europe/
Qualifications and Awards
Italian National Academic Qualification as Full Professor (level I), Political Economy (13/A2), valid until 03/2037.
Italian National Academic Qualification as Associate Professor (level II), Econometrics (13/A5) and Economic Statistics (13/D2), valid until 03/2037.
ADR supervision rights at Doctoral Programme in Economics and Management Sciences (Economics), University of Luxembourg
1st prize for best PhD thesis, academic years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, Italian Association for the Analysis of Comparative Economic Systems (AISSEC)
Selected media coverage
The Atlantic, "‘Commuting Is Bad’—Particularly for Women", 17/12/2025
Wort.lu, "Être jeune maman et frontalière, un pari impossible?", 04/09/2022
Tageblatt, “Luxemburg zieht hoch und gering qualifizierte Grenzgänger an”, p. 8, 03/06/2022
RTL Today.lu, “Workers coming to Luxembourg either highly qualified or barely qualified”, 01/06/2022
Science.lu, “Nobel Prize in Economics 2021: How we study data in the real world”, 12/10/2021
Ilfattoquotidiano, “Il salario giornaliero di un neoassunto a termine supera quello di un indeterminato: ecco perché”, 10/07/2020
Lavoce.info, “Sorpresa: i lavoratori temporanei guadagnano di piu”, 07/2020
Le Soir, “Pensions: et si l’allongement de la carrière n’était pas la seule solution”, headline and main article on the frontpage, 21/11/2019
Lavoce.info, “Più licenziamenti col reddito di cittadinanza?”, 03/2019
Lavoce.info, “Nuovo apprendistato, un buon contratto poco utilizzato”, 06/2017
De Standaard, “Gent zet discriminerende bedrijven voor het blok”, headline at the frontpage, 21/03/2017
VRT Eén - Het Journaal 19u, “Lastenverlagingen om oudere werknemers langer aan de slag te houden kosten de overheid te veel geld”, 20/02/2017