Working Papers

I. Do female breadwinner family structures increase partnerships’ instability? Evidence from UK survey data

Nowadays dual-earner family arrangements are more the norm than the exception, and female breadwinner models are also on the rise. The conjunction of this phenomenon and more frequent union dissolutions has opened a still unresolved debate on the sociological consequences of women’s economic self-sufficiency. We test whether the likelihood of first partnerships’ breakdowns significantly differs across three family structures, defined on relative income, using the complete UK household panel. We find that the female breadwinner model has destabilizing effects on unions only until female-dominated housework division or quality of the relationship are not accounted for. Income effects also play a role, with female breadwinner models in the lower quantiles of the income distribution being more stable. The dissolution risk associated to the intensity of female income dominance is mitigated by the endurance of the condition, and families where the female income dominance is only moderate are not necessarily less stable than full male breadwinner models.  

II. Understanding Changing Economic Conditions of Young Adults Over Time: A Comparative Analysis Using the Luxembourg Income Study 

Extended Abstract: The study seeks to investigate the economic conditions of young adults over time, utilizing data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). As in- equalities are often the product of distinct social vulnerabilities that evolve over time, it is crucial for informed policy-making to early identify the vul- nerable groups that deserve targeted interventions. Not only the 18-30 age group is typically less covered by standard measures of welfare support, but it has also been relatively less scrutinized by sociological scholarship. We depart from the assumption that as young adults transition into adult- hood, they increasingly face various challenges, including securing stable employment, accessing affordable housing, and building financial security. Notably, these occurrences do not only carry potential long-lasting effects on the affected lives but also severe implications in terms of intergenerational transmission of inequality as a whole. Only by examining trends in poverty and economic outcomes among young adults across different cohorts, we can identify the key drivers of economic disparities, validate the assumption of a deteriorating economic outlook for younger people, and assess the effectiveness of existing policies. The Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) offers a rich source of data for studying income dynamics and poverty trends across countries and over time. Leveraging the comprehensive datasets available through LIS, this research seeks to investigate how economic conditions have evolved for young 1 adults in at least 15 advanced economies and two decades (1989-2019) and explore the factors contributing to these changes. On top of a descriptive analysis of trends of net and gross relative poverty among the young vs the general population, the application of pooled regression models is set to shed some light on the penalties associated with various factors such as age group, education level, job type, and family arrangement on the likelihood of falling under the relative poverty line. Subsequently, quantile regressions are employed to delve deeper into the differential impacts of these factors across different income levels, with a particular focus on the quantiles below the mean of the income distribution. Furthermore, an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition is performed to compare the differences in economic outcomes between cohorts, attributing variations to observed characteristics and unexplained factors. Findings from this study are expected to contribute to a nuanced understanding of the economic conditions of young adults and the evolving nature of poverty dynamics by providing updated trends in poverty rates and income dynamics, identifying key socio-economic factors influencing poverty among young adults and their differential impacts across income levels, and understanding how some structural shifts in the societies may have shaped the economic outlook of young generations in the last two decades. It out lines a comprehensive approach to investigating changing economic conditions among young adults, emphasizing the importance of longitudinal analysis and comparative assessments to inform policy and practice effectively. 

III. Do Private Transfers Shape Fertility Intentions? Evidence from the Generations and Gender Survey

This paper investigates the association between private financial transfers and short-term fertility intentions across 5 European countries, using data from both Round I and Round II of the Generations and Gender Survey. We examine whether receiving monetary support from family members influences individuals’ plans to have a child within the next three years, and whether this association holds after adjusting for a rich set of demographic, socioeconomic, and familial characteristics. Our analysis combines descriptive statistics, logistic regression models, and propensity score matching (PSM) in the second round, where only one wave is available, to account for potential selection bias. Results from Round II show that in most countries, the Netherlands, Estonia, Germany, and Croatia—any positive associations observed in bivariate models disappear once relevant confounders are accounted for. In Austria, however, transfer recipients remain significantly more likely to intend to have a child even after matching, suggesting a potential relevant role of private support in that context. Round I findings generally align with these results, although in the Netherlands family transfers may have in the past contributed more to intention of having more than a child than to the initial transition to parenthood and in Croatia the association was found solid regardless of the parenthood status. While private transfers correlate with fertility plans in some settings, such associations overall reflect compositional differences rather than causal effects.

Publications

The political economy of poverty and inequality  in the Handbook on the Political Economy of Social Policy, with Paolo Agnolin and Zachary Parolin, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024, pp.130-142