Publications

Parental Retirement and Fertility Decisions across Family Policy Regimes, Review of Economics of the Household, 23, 933–968 (2025) [DOI]

Media coverage: TG1 (min. 23:00),  Il Sole 24 Ore, Il Messaggero, La Repubblica, La Stampa, ANSA, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Working Papers

Excellence Funds, Excellent Outcomes? Lessons From Italian University Departments, with N. Cattadori and E. Lazzaro

This paper investigates the causal effects of a competitive excellence initiative financing Italy's top-25% university departments. We exploit a novel linkage of administrative data on academics' careers, publications, departmental activities, and student enrollment to estimate both the direct and indirect effects of the policy in a dynamic difference-in-differences framework. The additional financial resources directly allowed funded departments to increase their faculty size, but had a limited impact on educational offerings. Indirectly, the excellence designation led to a higher enrollment of students, particularly high-achieving ones, suggesting a positive quality signal. The funding boosted scientific output but not productivity, except in large STEM and Life Sciences departments, which benefited from agglomeration effects and improved research infrastructure.

[Draft]

Heterogeneity in Fertility and Newborn Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic, with M. Tonello [submitted]

In this paper, we leverage newly available rich administrative data to study the heterogeneous evolution of fertility and newborn health during the pandemic. We focus on Tuscany, a representative region of Italy, which was one of the first countries to experience the severe impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. Our findings indicate a decline in the number of births relative to the pre-pandemic trend in late 2020 and early 2021, roughly nine to twelve months after the pandemic onset. However, starting in March 2021, birth numbers consistently exceeded the pre-pandemic trend, resulting in a cumulative "baby bump" compared to the counterfactual scenario. This aggregate increase conceals significant heterogeneity across sociodemographic groups, with positive deviations entirely driven by native, educated, and employed parents. During the same period, newborn health indicators showed no signs of deterioration and, if anything, slightly improved.

Bank of Italy OP N. 895, December 2024

Do Male Leaders Choose Women? Only If You Want Them To, with A. Cintolesi 

We analyze the dynamics of gender representation in leadership positions, focusing on whether male leaders, under public pressure, are more or less inclined than their female counterparts to appoint women to executive roles. Using a regression discontinuity design based on mixed-gender municipal elections in Italy from 1993 to 2019, we find that male mayors are significantly more likely to appoint women to their executive committees. Notably, this effect is contingent on public sensitivity to gender issues, being present only in progressive regions and municipalities with high female voter turnout. Moreover, it does not extend to appointments in less visible roles, such as those on the boards of municipal state-owned enterprises. Our findings suggest that male leaders respond to public scrutiny by appointing more women, but only in contexts where gender equality is a salient issue. Alternative mechanisms do not find support in our additional analyses. This study emphasizes the conditional nature of male leaders' support for gender equality and offers broader implications beyond the political sphere.

Bank of Italy WP N. 1432, December 2023 (previous version)

Work in Progress

High-Speed Rail and Students’ Mobility, with E. Lazzaro, I. Lopresti and M. Tartaglia

Honesty, Competence, and Selection into Politics and Unions, with A. Cintolesi

Policy Work

High-growth young firms in Italy, with A. Cintolesi, R. Greco, F. Leombroni, A. Linarello, A. Locatelli, S. Nesi and S. Zuccolalà

Bank of Italy OP N. 889, October 2024

Report on the Economy of Tuscany: June 2025, November 2024, June 2024, November 2023, June 2023, November 2022