RESEARCH
Not the right time for children: unemployment, fertility, and abortion
[Labour Economics 2024]
I analyze the effect of local unemployment rates on fertility rates, abortion rates, and the abortions to pregnancies ratio, combining population statistics and administrative data on induced abortions performed in Italy between 2004 and 2016. This is the first paper to causally investigate the effect of local economic conditions on abortion choice. Using a shift-share instrument measuring labor demand, I exploit demand-driven shocks to unemployment. A one standard deviation (sd) increase in unemployment induces a 0.9 sd decrease in the fertility rate, a 0.27 sd increase in the abortion rate, and a 0.35 sd increase in the abortion ratio. These effects are driven by women above 25 years old, and are particularly large in the 35-49 age group, while young women (15-24) are largely unaffected.
Executive Gender Quotas and Social Services: Evidence from Italy
with Alice Dominici and Olivia Masi
We investigate the effect of increasing female representation in local governments on the provision of different public social services, including childcare, elderly care, and other forms of assistance. We exploit a 2014 reform in Italy that mandated 40% gender quotas in the executive committees of municipalities with more than 3000 inhabitants. To exclude the effect of confounding policies that apply at the same population cutoff, we employ a difference-in-discontinuities empirical strategy. We find that, while the policy was effective in increasing female representation, it did not have an impact on any category of social services expenditures.
Do food price shocks affect farmers' nutrition? A study on rising quinoa prices in Peru
Research on the effect of food price changes on farmers' welfare has yielded contrasting results. The case of quinoa provides an ideal event study, where quinoa prices steeply increased from 2008 onwards, led by increasing international demand. I study the effect of this price shock on the nutrition of Peruvian households in a difference in differences framework. The case of quinoa provides an ideal event study, where quinoa prices steeply increased from 2008 onwards, led by increasing international demand. Results point to a limited effect on nutritional outcomes: in the short- term, neither caloric intake nor diet quality significantly increases in quinoa-farming households and districts.