Research

Publications

Vaccination rates are likely to reflect the expected benefits and drawbacks for individuals. As a larger share of the population gets vaccinated, individuals have more incentives to free ride and benefit from the positive externalities of a high vaccination rate, while not being affected by the potential harms of receiving vaccination. Using Covid-19 vaccination data at the municipality level in the Italian region of Lombardy, we show that communities with a higher level of civic capital were able to overcome this collective action problem. An indirect measure of the willingness to contribute to a public good (i.e. the share of residents paying the TV licence) proves to be particularly useful to predict the success of vaccination campaigns.

Working Papers

Unintended pregnancies, more prevalent among disadvantaged households, exacerbate existing challenges, setting the newborn on a lifetime course of disparities. Yet, policies addressing socioeconomic inequalities often overlook the consequences of the decision to have a child. In this study, using geolocated birth data and leveraging the staggered adoption of a nationwide contraceptive policy carried out in Uruguay, we estimate the effect of better contraceptive accessibility on the number of births and birth characteristics. We focus particularly on the effect of the policy on unplanned pregnancies, parental investment, and newborn health outcomes. By estimating differences in differences and event study specifications, we find an average 14% reduction in the number of births in the five years post-policy, which reaches a 30% decline towards the end of the analyzed period. This collapse in the number of births is guided by younger, less educated women, as well as by those with more than two children. We also find a significant decrease in unplanned pregnancies of 23% on average and a noteworthy 4%- 6% increase in measures of parental investment during the gestation period. Finally, we find suggestive evidence of improvements in neonatal health outcomes. 

The quantity and quality of children in a family are strongly related. The fewer children there are, the more resources there are to distribute among the existing children. In this study, I focus on an Uruguayan public policy that improved the contraceptive effectiveness of a group of women and analyse the impact of having fewer siblings on early childhood development. Using survey and administrative data, and weighting techniques, my findings suggest a positive impact on problem solving and motor skills. In line with an increase in allocated resources, the results point to an earlier referral of the child to a care and education center as a possible mechanism.

Other Publications