Welcome!

I am an Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of Galway.

I am also affiliated with the CESifo Network, CERIS and the Centre for Economic Demography.

My research covers topics in applied microeconomics related to human capital, child development and inequalities in both developed and developing countries. See below for my latest research.

Prior to joining the University of Galway, I completed my PhD at the Economics Department at Lund University. After my PhD studies, I was a visiting researcher at the FAIR Centre, Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). Previously, I was a Research Assistant at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in Dublin.

You can find a copy of my CV here.

My Research

The intergenerational persistence of intimate partner violence

Submitted

This study examines the intergenerational persistence of intimate partner violence (IPV). Using Demographic and Health Survey data from 54 countries, I quantify the association between mothers and daughters in experiencing IPV. Daughters of victims are 58-88% more likely to experience emotional, physical or sexual violence perpetrated by an intimate partner. Evidence points toward mother-to-daughter and father-to-son transmission of attitudes toward IPV being a key driver of persistence. Daughters of victims marry men with more accepting attitudes to IPV, which in turn predicts incidence. Intergenerational persistence has fallen in countries that have increased gender equality and reduced acceptance of IPV.

Latest version here

The Sources of Researcher Variation in Economics

with Nick Huntington-Klein, Claus Pörtner and others, as part of the Many Economists project

Submitted

We use a rigorous three-stage many-analysts design to assess how different researcher decisions—specifically data cleaning, research design, and the interpretation of a policy question—affect the variation in estimated treatment effects. A total of 146 research teams each completed the same causal inference task three times each: first with few constraints, then using a shared research design, and finally with pre-cleaned data in addition to a specified design. We find that even when analyzing the same data, teams reach different conclusions. In the first stage, the interquartile range (IQR) of the reported policy effect was 3.1 percentage points, with substantial outliers. Surprisingly, the second stage, which restricted research design choices, exhibited slightly higher IQR (4.0 percentage points), largely attributable to imperfect adherence to the prescribed protocol. By contrast, the final stage, featuring standardized data cleaning, narrowed variation in estimated effects, achieving an IQR of 2.4 percentage points. Reported sample sizes also displayed significant convergence under more restrictive conditions, with the IQR dropping from 295,187 in the first stage to 29,144 in the second, and effectively zero by the third. Our findings underscore the critical importance of data cleaning in shaping applied microeconomic results and highlight avenues for future replication efforts.

Working Paper

Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Interplay between Policy, Culture, and Intra-household Bargaining

with Eleonora Guarnieri, Helmut Rainer

Submitted

This paper investigates the causal impact of free primary education (FPE) on fertility decisions among parents in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the interplay between the policy, intra-household bargaining, and cultural norms. Using Demographic and Health Survey data and exploiting the staggered rollout of FPE across 17 countries, we find that FPE reduces fertility by 0.1 children per woman and improves child survival and school enrollment. Linking these data with ethnic-level cultural norms of male dominance, we find that these effects are concentrated among ethnic groups with low male dominance, while high male-dominance groups experience minimal or opposing effects. We further show that FPE strengthens women’s bargaining power in low male-dominance settings, as evidenced by increased contraceptive use, greater influence over reproductive decisions, and higher participation in household decision-making. These changes are accompanied by higher labor force participation, increased media engagement, a higher probability of divorce, and reduced tolerance for intimate partner violence. Such shifts are largely absent in high-male dominance cultures. These results highlight the critical role of cultural norms in shaping the effects of policy interventions on fertility behavior and broader development outcomes.

Working Paper

Sibling Gender, Inheritance Customs and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies

Accepted to Journal of Human Resources

Using data from 27 sub-Saharan African countries, I identify the causal effect of sibling gender on education and how it varies according to inheritance customs. Boys who inherit their father's property experience no effect of sibling gender, while boys who do not inherit experience a significant negative effect of having a brother. Having a brother has a small negative effect on the education of girls, regardless of inheritance customs. The effect of sibling gender converges after the introduction of laws guaranteeing that children inherit from their parents, suggesting that parents substitute between transferring inheritance and investing in their children’s education.

Working Paper

(email me for latest version)

Coverage: Broadstreet, GEEZ, LUSEM Spotlight, Center for Global Development

New Evidence on the Importance of Instruction Time for Student Achievement on International Assessments

with Jan Bietenbeck

Journal of Applied Econometrics (link)

We re-examine the importance of instruction time for student achievement on international assessments. We successfully replicate the positive effect of weekly instruction time in the seminal paper by Lavy (Economic Journal, 125, F397-F424) in a narrow sense. Extending the analysis to other international assessments, we find effects that are consistently smaller in magnitude. We provide evidence that this discrepancy might be partly due to a different way of measuring instruction time in the data used in the original paper. Our results suggest that differences in instruction time are less important than previously thought for explaining international gaps in student achievement.

The effects of more informative grading on student outcomes

with Jonas Lundstedt

Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (link)

More granular grading scales provide a more accurate assessment of achievement and thus provide students with more informative feedback on their performance. Using Swedish administrative data and exploiting a natural experiment, we identify the effects of moving from a system with three passing grades to one with five passing grades. Students receiving more informative grades are less likely to graduate from high school, from academic high school tracks, and from STEM and art high school tracks. Affected students are also less likely to enrol in STEM courses at university. The evidence suggests discouragement as a likely mechanism, with students revising their self-belief downward when receiving more informative feedback.

Coverage: Läraren (in Swedish), LUSEM Spotlight

Work in Progress:

Exposure to Inequality, Human Capital Investment, and Labor Market Outcomes, with Jan BIetenbeck, Petter Lundborg and Kaveh Majlesi

The Effect of University Grade Inflation on Graduate Outcomes, with Judith Delaney and Therese Nilsson

Endowments at Birth and Parental Investments in Children: The Role of Cultural Institutions, with Devon Spika and Patrick McHale

I am participating in the R2E project, led by Jörg Ankel-Peters, Anna Dreber and Magnus Johannesson

Contact Info:

Office: Room 212, Cairnes Building, University of Galway

Postal address: Discipline of Economics, J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland

email: matthew.collins[at]universityofgalway.ie

BlueSky: collinsmatthew.bsky.social

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