Abstract: Italy removed the mandatory prescription requirement to access pharmacological emergency contraception for women over 18 years of age with a staggered approach, at first in May 2015 for the brand EllaOne, and subsequently for the brands Norlevo and Escapelle, with the final reform introduced in March 2016. Using national monthly data provided by IQVIA on pharmacy stock from 2013 to 2017, I study the impact of these regulatory changes on the sales and revenues of hormonal contraception categories and emergency contraception brands. I implement interrupted time series specifications to analyze the outcomes both at the aggregate and at the brand level. Results for emergency contraception find a significant growth of 18% in sales and 64% in revenues following the May 2015 reform, mainly driven by EllaOne, which captured a large portion of the market after becoming prescription-free and caused Norlevo and Escapelle to experience declines. However, after March 2016, there is evidence of a new market shift, with Norlevo sales and revenues rebounding while EllaOne saw a modest reduction. Still, easier access to emergency contraception did not cause substitution away from other hormonal methods deemed safer. These dynamics suggest that reducing regulatory barriers can boost pharmacological market performance and empower individuals in their reproductive choices.

Abstract: Italy removed the mandatory prescription requirement to access pharmacological emergency contraception for women over 18 years of age in May 2015. In this project, currently at its early stage, I am implementing a DiD specification to analyze how the policy change impacted birth, fertility, and abortion rates in the country using 2010-2019 data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT).

Abstract: In 2023, Spain passed a law mandating the free provision of emergency contraception (EC) pills in all National Health System structures. By that time, however, most regions had already introduced the policy: of the 17 regions, 13 had adopted it in the early 2000s, only one implemented it following the law, and 3 did not comply with it. Exploiting this staggered rollout, we use annual regional data from 1995 to 2022 on population and births to study the impact of free EC on births and fertility rates. We implement several staggered DiD specifications (TWFE, Callaway-Sant’Anna estimator, Stacked DiD) both for the overall population and by age groups among fertile women, aged 15 to 49 years old. The analysis yields positive and significant results. Fertility rates rise on average by 2.2‰ and birth rates by 0.5‰, corresponding to a 6% increase on the mean in both cases. The largest effects are observed among women aged 25-29. These findings are consistent with previous evidence on Europe showing higher fertility following broader access to EC. In a next stage of the research, we will analyze the impact of the reform on abortion rates, as well.

Abstract: in 2017, the University of Pavia introduced a reform establishing that student evaluations of teaching (SETs) would be used as a basis to determine salary increase of professors and researchers with a permanent contract. In this project, currently at its early stage, we are implementing DiD specifications on SET data from 2013 to 2022 to verify the impact of the policy change compared to temporary employees of the University, as well as compared to another Italian University which has not used SET scores for progressions in the pay scale of professors.