Did the Massachusetts Health Reform Program Increase Self-Employment? (Published in Empirical Economics, 2023)
Abstract: By providing affordable health insurance untied from employer provision, the Massachusetts Health Reform Program could increase self-employment. Previous studies have estimated both positive and negative effects of the reform on aggregate self-employment using difference-in-differences designs. In this study, I use the synthetic control methodology to confirm the absence of a statistically significant effect of the reform on aggregate self-employment. However, I do detect positive and significant short-run effects of the reform on the probability that individuals become incorporated self-employed. This effect is restricted to individuals 40 years old or younger. I also find that for employees in this age range the reform caused a significant wage reduction. This finding highlights that the higher reform-mandated health insurance coverage was at least in part financed by employees.
Does a Longer Work Horizon Affect Offsprings' Labour Market Outcomes? (Published in Review of Economics of the Household, 2023)
Abstract: This paper studies the effect of an increase in the work horizon of middle aged workers on the school-work transition of their offsprings aged 15-29 years. I exploit the variation in the parental work horizon induced by the 2012 Fornero reform in Italy that abruptly changed the age and years of social security contribution requirements for pension eligibility. Utilising a difference-in-difference strategy with a continuous treatment, the study shows that the reform-induced increase in the work horizon of mothers caused an increase in the probability of their offsprings seeking their first job. This effect is concentrated mostly on male offsprings and is stronger in southern Italy where there is also a significant decline in the offsprings' likelihood of being students. Fathers did not significantly affect the student status or any labour market outcomes of their offsprings. Mechanisms behind these findings include the longer reform-induced work horizon for mothers vs. fathers, and the consequent positive effect on mothers' lifetime earnings.
1. Effects of Covid-related economic support on household financial distress. Joint with Francesco Maura, Greta Pesaresi and Guglielmo Weber (Forthcoming, Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, First Results Book)
Abstract: We analyze the effect of Covid-19-related government financial support on the financial condition of Europeans aged 50 or above, using data from SHARE (including both Corona Survey waves). We define a composite financial distress indicator and investigate its variation between the first and second wave of the SHARE Corona survey. We find a positive association between increases in financial distress and the receipt of governmental financial support that points to the presence of reverse causality. To identify the causal effect of financial support, we adopt an instrumental variable strategy, whereby the presence of job interruptions reported in the first wave of the SHARE Corona survey predicts governmental financial support reported during the second wave of the survey. We find that job interruptions significantly increase the probability of receiving governmental financial support, and financial support received from the government alleviates households’ financial distress.
2. The Medical Brain Drain: Assessing the Location Preferences of Medicine Students with a Discrete Choice Experiment. Joint with Marco Bertoni and Yuanyuan Gu
Abstract: We use a discrete choice experiment with medicine students at 12 Italian University to assess future doctors' location preferences. On average, future doctors in our sample are willing to pay €13,515/year to stay in Italy, though 16% of them would be willing to pay to move to their favorite foreign European country. We detect significant heterogeneity in location preferences depending on non-cognitive skills. Furthermore, we find that students trade off job location against other job attributes, and that their willingness to pay for such attributes differs significantly for jobs located in Italy and abroad.
3. Macronutrient Composition of Calories and Their Role in Obesity
Abstract: The emphasis on the composition of calories and which of them have been the primary contributor to body fatness in obesity studies in economics has been inadequate. Clinical studies have long been divided on the relative effect of macronutrient intake and their contribution to rising population weight. Some have demonized fats while some have pointed out that it is carbohydrates, especially in the form of sugars which is the primary reason for fat gain. This paper studies the causal effects of the four macronutrients present in food and bevarages - Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats and Alcohol on obesity using four waves of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). It uses the Body Mass Index (BMI) of individuals as the measure of body fatness and compares the results with the waist-stature ratio as an alternate measure as the BMI has often been criticized for not accurately measuring body fatness as it indicates muscular individuals as overweight or obese. The results emphasize the limitations of the popular calories in, calories out framework used to model obesity, which considers only the caloric intake and caloric expenditure of individuals without considering the composition of the calories consumed. The paper also has policy implications for what types of foods to provide and avoid in school breakfast and lunch programs, and also speaks to the ecacy of USDA's dietary guidelines, i.e., MyPlate (formerly MyPyramid) towards fighting obesity.