I am an applied economist and a Leverhulme Trust Post-Doctoral Fellow in Economics at the University of Essex. My research interests are in Labor Economics/Education and Econometrics. My work spans topics of choice under imperfect information, matching and spatial dependence.
Contact me at:
c.comunello[at]essex.ac.uk
You can find my CV here.
Search and Reallocation in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the UK (with Carlos Carrillo-Tudela, Alex Clymo, Annette Jäckle, Ludo Visschers and David Zentler-Munro) Labour Economics, 81 , 2023. Media Coverage: The Economist, The New Statesman, The Great Resignation (VoxEU, The Conversation , Reasons to be Cheerful podcast), The Silver Exodus (The Conversation). Cited by the UK Parliament's Economic Affairs Committee here.
The informational Value of Grades and Wages. 2024 Miltos Makris Award. [PDF here]
Abstract: When individuals face uncertainty about their academic ability, their education and the labour market histories carry valuable information. I develop a model in which individuals choose to participate in education and the labour market sequentially and are consequently able to adjust their choice based on new information provided by their realization of grades and wages. Particularly for low-income, high-ability individuals, joining higher education after some labour market experience is welfare-improving because participating in the labour market provides information about ability at relatively low costs, removing uncertainty from the higher education choice with no significant crowd-out effects.
The Role of Financial Aid for Low-Income Low-Achievers. [PDF here]
Abstract: I use a series of discontinuities in policy eligibility to uncover the impact of different types of financial aid directed to low-income students, along their exam score distribution. Results show that low-interest loans are more effective than full and 50% grants in securing College completion but no significant effects on enrolment for students of similar low socioeconomic backgrounds. This is because loans act as a commitment device by introducing a penalty in case of dropout.
Sectoral Labour Flows (with Carlos Carrillo-Tudela, Alex Clymo, Ludo Visschers and David Zentler-Munro). [Slides here.]
Abstract: We develop a data-led structural framework for 1) measuring how workers direct their search effort towards different industries or occupations, and 2) providing measures of market tightness by industry and occupation. The novelty is to use realised worker flows to infer worker search effort and direction, when combined with vacancy data through the lens of a model of sector-specific matching functions.
A Nonparametric Test for Spillovers (with Margherita Comola and Abhimanyu Gupta)
Sectoral Mobility and Labour Shortages: A Cross-country Analysis (with Carlos Carrillo-Tudela, Alex Clymo, Ludo Visschers and David Zentler-Munro)
Low-enrolment Rates in Centralized Admissions (with Gustavo Q. Saraiva)
The Supply of Higher Education, Local Labour Markets Shocks and College Dropouts
University of Essex, MSc and MA (2022-2024)
-EC968 Panel Data Methods, PG (module leader)
-EC401 Introductory Macroeconomics, PG (module co-leader)
-EC402 Introductory Microeconomics, PG (module co-leader)
-EC452 Introductory Econometrics, PG (module co-leader)
-EC916 Quantitative Economics, PG
Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis (2019-2022)
- Quantitative Methods for Causal Inference, PG
- Introduction to Social Networks, PG
- Advanced Social Network Analysis, PG
University of Essex International College (2019)
- Mathematics for Economics, UG
- Introduction to Economics, UG
