Research

Job Market Paper:

Does participation in adult learning improve health? 

Abstract

Advanced economies are actively pushing adult education initiatives in order to attenuate the negative effects of an ageing population. While several studies provide evidence on the labour market outcome of these initiatives, very little is known about the impact of adult education on health. Using rich longitudinal data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) based in Germany, this study employs a matched difference in difference framework to estimate the impact of adult education on the health satisfaction of individuals. Results show that participation in adult education positively impacts health satisfaction. Effects are larger for females, for those with a university degree and increase with training intensity. Further investigation suggests that effects are not mediated by labour market characteristics such as increased monetary wages and employment status.

Other Papers:

The Pathways to College, joint with Giorgio Brunello and Lorenzo Rocco, 2019 (Journal of Human Capital)

Abstract

We estimate the effect of the high school curriculum (or track) on the returns to college using data from the Italian PLUS (Participation Labour and Unemployment Survey) survey. We find that college graduates with vocational high school are less likely to be employed than graduates with academic high school. When employed, they earn 5.8 percent less per hour but work 4.5 percent more hours per week. They are less likely to fill high ranked occupations and more likely to find their first job quickly after school completion than other graduates. The wage penalty associated with high school vocational education is reduced but does not disappear when we consider majors such as engineering and economics and business, for which the complementarity with the vocational skulls developed in high schools is presumably higher.

Work in Progress:

Assessment literacy in students through peer marking

Performance Decline and the Stake of Tests,  joint with Giorgio Brunello and Lorenzo Rocco