Research

Ongoing Work

• #MeToo...or not? Do salient shocks affect gender social norms? (single-authored, available here)

Awarded with the Denis Conniffe Prize 2023 for the best paper by a young economist 

Abstract: Previous research has documented the importance and persistence of social norms, but there is limited understanding of whether they can change in the short run. Utilizing data from Sweden and Denmark, this article addresses this gap by testing whether significant local shocks may push societies toward deviating from their social norm. In Sweden, the country was particularly shocked by allegations of sexual harassment against Jean-Claude Arnault on November 24, 2017, which led to salient discussions about systematic gender-related violence and harassment. This paper estimates the impact of the Jean Arnault scandal on attitudes toward women’s rights by exploiting survey data from the European Values Study. Using both a regression discontinuity and a difference-in-differences approach, I find a sharp improvement in Swedish attitudes toward women’s rights after the scandal, while no significant change is identified in Denmark. These contrasting results demonstrate how the absence of a significant local shock may explain the stability of social norms in similar countries.

• Unraveling Gender Norms: The Power of Information Provision on Women's Preferential Hiring (with Orla Doyle and Margaret Samahita)

Publications

• Lago, M.E., Lago-Peñas, S. & Martinez-Vazquez, J. (2024). "On the effects of intergovernmental grants: a survey. " Int Tax Public Finance. 

• Manuel E. Lago & Ignacio Lago. (2021). "From the brady bunch to Gilmore girls: The effect of household size on economic voting," American Politics Research.

Honors and Awards

• Irish Research Council Scholarship 

2023-2025

• Denis Conniffe Prize for the best paper by a young economist

IEA 2023 

• Cormac O'Grada Award for best transfer seminar 

UCD School of Economics 2023