Research
"Canal Grande, vista dal Rettorato" - September, 2023
"Canal Grande, vista dal Rettorato" - September, 2023
PROJECT & RESEARCH
STEPFOS – EU Horizon Project (Jan 2026 – Present)
Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow & Operations Lead (Ca' Foscari University of Venice).
Focus: Operational execution and cross-institutional governance for food security and agricultural economics across European and African partner bodies (including JRC, FARA, and RUFORUM).
Key Activities: Designing and executing international research mobility, summer schools, and stakeholder alignment workshops.
"Does Electricity Protect Children's Welfare in Rural Ethiopia?"
(Teresa Randazzo, Enrico Fornasiero, Danilo Cavapozzi)
Access to electricity is considered a key driver of development, with potential implications for children’s human capital accumulation. This study examines whether household electrification changes children’s time allocation in rural Ethiopia by increasing time spent on education and affecting children’s labour activities.
Using data from the Young Lives survey and an instrumental variable strategy based on rural district-level electrification growth, we estimate the causal effect of electricity access on children’s daily time use. Results show that electrification increases the time children devote to education, through both school attendance and home study. While average effects on labour activities are limited, the heterogeneity analysis reveals reductions in children’s labour among specific groups of households. These effects are concentrated among households with greater resources and resilience to shocks. Our findings suggest that electricity access alone is insufficient to improve children’s welfare without complementary policies supporting vulnerable households.
"The Effects of the Indian Mid-Day Meal Scheme on Cognitive and Health Outcomes of Children in Andhra Pradesh"
(Danilo Cavapozzi, Enrico Fornasiero, Teresa Randazzo)
This paper analyzes the health and cognitive impacts of a large-scale feeding program administered in Indian public schools (the Mid-Day Meal Scheme). Drawing on data for school-age children living in the state of Andhra Pradesh from the Young Lives survey, we construct a child-level and time-varying measure of monthly cumulative exposure to the program by exploiting its phased implementation, the longitudinal dimension of Young Lives and the individual educational histories of children. We show that the program significantly improves children’s outcomes and emerges as an effective tool for reducing the stark inequalities between Indian students enrolled in the private and public sectors. Our results hold when employing a Heckman selection model to account for endogenous school choice, demonstrating that the policy’s benefits extend to the entire student population, regardless of the type of school attended. Finally, the impact of the program is found to be stronger for children at younger ages and those from disadvantaged castes.
"The Impact of Non-Governmental Organisations on Children's Wellbeing: Evidence from Ethiopia"
(Enrico Fornasiero)
This research studies the role of the Non-Governmental Sector on household economic outcomes by analysing the impact of receiving support from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) on children’s food security and time-use in Ethiopia. I exploit the implementation timing of a restrictive NGO law to solve the potential endogeneity concerns by defining a two-stage model. I find evidence that receiving NGO support increases children's time spent on income-generating activities, reducing the number of hours dedicated to household chores. These effects are mainly due to children who either live in the poorest households, in rural communities, or in a family in which the primary occupation of the household head is agriculture. Notably, receiving support from an NGO increases the time children spend in education only for female-headed households.
"Elite Capture in Developing Countries and its Impact on Governmental and Non-Governmental Programs - A Multidisciplinary Review"
(Danilo Cavapozzi, Enrico Fornasiero, Teresa Randazzo)
This literature review uses a multidisciplinary approach bridging quantitative and non-quantitative contributions in economics and social sciences in order to investigate the origins and the impact of elite capture in developing countries. We specifically assess how elite capture can alter the allocation of resources made available by Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) programs and how this is mediated by culture and social norms. Our results describe how elite capture is also present when NGOs provide support and highlight new potential mechanisms that may favour it.