Research

Preliminary abstract: Organ transplants are one of the success stories of modern medicine, the only effective treatment for many acute or chronic diseases. However, the combination of an increasing demand and a shortage of organ donors results in a critical public health issue. This study explores the determinants of organ donation behavior in Italy, a country characterized by heterogeneity along several dimensions which may contribute to the decision to donate.

We leverage its unique features for a large-scale investigation of both consent and abstention. Using an administrative dataset that aggregates ~10,5 million individual choices on posthumous organ donation at the municipality level (N=5,252), we explore their determinants through regression analysis, integrating regional and provincial fixed effects.

Multiple factors are associated with organ donation behavior. Ethnic diversity and education levels stand out as the most relevant contributors: higher shares of immigrants and lower levels of education correspond to increased abstention and decreased consent rates. Additionally, communities with larger proportions of elderly tend to exhibit higher consent rates. Religiosity positively correlates with consent and negatively with abstention, while social capital shows a positive relation with consent. Given the growing cultural diversity, we believe some of these groups represent an untapped potential source of donations.

Preliminary abstract: Gender discrimination permeates various aspects of people’s lives, contributing to gender disparities and decline in women’s well-being. We explore the existence of gender discrimination in an Italian TV game show (L’Eredità)—an environment resembling a natural experiment—where contestants can choose with whom to directly compete. The high-stakes decision-making setting and the heterogeneity of the sample allow for a comprehensive analysis of economically relevant gender discriminatory behavior in the selection of an opponent in competition. Using data from 121 episodes, we investigate discrimination through conditional logistic regression models.
Results indicate a “battle of the sexes”: men discriminate against women, and vice versa. The persistence of own-gender favoritism, which remains significant after controlling for performance and level of education, indicates that statistical discrimination should play no role in explaining our results. However, we exercise caution in claiming taste-based discrimination, acknowledging the possibility of inaccurate statistical discrimination: agents might either have animus towards contestants from the opposite gender or hold incorrect beliefs about their productivity due to heuristics or missing information.