Identity and Behaviors in the Presence of Social Mobility Barriers
Abstract: Do social mobility barriers matter to explain the systematic lower outcomes of marginalized communities? I approach the question theoretically, developing a model of identity transmission, with the presence of entry and exit costs. The intensity of identity of minority agents influence their compliance to the community prescribed behavior, which obstacles the undertaking of actions that are beneficial to one's well-being. Firstly, agents maximizes their intensity of identity. The results suggest that the higher the share of individuals going against the prescribed behavior, the lower will be the optimal intensity. Social mobility barriers mitigate this effect, with exit costs having a more important role in influencing the choice of the agents. For sufficiently high levels of social mobility barriers, the totality of the individuals will follow the community norm. Regarding the parental choice of behaviour transmission, in the absence of social mobility barriers, the effort depends both on the actual share of agents that undertake the same action and on the expected future composition of the community. With the introduction of mobility costs, the optimal effort of socialization is systematically lower, leading faster to the corner solution for which all the agents follow the community norm and do not undertake any effort.
Behavioural Responses to Malaria under National Control Policies: Evidence from Burkina Faso
Abstract: Malaria remains a major public health challenge in Burkina Faso. To address this burden, the government implemented two major policies: the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) strategy, progressively rolled out across health districts between 2014 and 2019, and the introduction of free healthcare for children under five and pregnant women in 2016. This paper estimates the impact of these interventions on child mortality, fertility decisions, and the access and use of insecticide-treated nets (ITN), by exploiting the staggered rollout across health districts combined with spatial variation in pre-intervention malaria burden. The empirical strategy builds on a dynamic difference-in-difference model, allowing for staggered treatment timing and heterogeneous treatment effects. The analysis draws on multiple waves of the Demographic Health Surveys for Burkina Faso (2003–2021), geo-referenced estimates from the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP), and Annual Statistical Reports (2005–2023). The results suggest substantial heterogeneity driven by pre-intervention malaria burden: mortality and fertility reductions are larger in higher-risk districts, while ITN access and use reveal behavioural heterogeneity, with historically high-burden areas showing stronger commitment to preventive practices.
Does social exclusion influence health disparities? Comparative analysis of Roma and non-Roma communities in the Balkans, with Laetitia Duval (CES) and Nathan Green (UCL)
Abstract: Roma communities represent the largest and most marginalised ethnic group in Europe. Compared to non-Roma, they experience a lower life expectancy, higher rates of communicable and non-communicable diseases, insufficient immunization, and unequal access to health services. This paper aims to empirically assess the impact of social exclusion on healthcare access, comparing Roma and non-Roma individuals. The analysis uses data from the Western Balkans collected in the 2017 UNDP-WB-EC Regional Roma Survey, one of the most current sources of information on Roma communities. Our findings indicate that non-aligned attitudes to mainstream values negatively affect the access to medical screenings. The results remain robust after balancing baseline characteristics and adjusting for confounding through various matching methods. Furthermore, the impact of social exclusion is significantly stronger for Roma communities, representing one of the main contributors to health disparities. In fact, when investigating the potential mechanisms, Roma who align more to mainstream values have greater trust in conventional medical care, assign a higher importance to their own health, and have a stronger demand for insurance coverage. The findings suggest a required attention for policy makers on the peculiar features of Roma communities, which could undermine the effectiveness of targeted policies if they are solely aimed at bringing the sociodemographic levels of Roma up to the level of the mainstream society.
Assessing the Impact of Health Mediators on the Well-Being of Roma Communities in Europe: A Pathway to Improved Health Equity
Abstract: Roma Health Mediation (RHM) Programs have been deployed gradually since 2004 in numerous countries, regions and municipalities throughout Europe. RHMs are Roma individuals who are trained to represent a bridge between the community and the mainstream society, assessing the needs of the families, offering assistance to set up medical appointments and providing health education. By employing a multiple time periods Difference-in-Differences (DiD) estimator it is possible to disentangle the effect of the Health Mediator Programs both on the strength of community norms and on healthcare access, by comparing Roma individuals that have been treated with those not treated or not-yet treated.