Research Papers

The Effects of Business Taxation on Local Labor Markets, Firms and Workers' Careers. with Thomas Cornelissen, Christian Dustmann and Uta Schönberg

Gender, Careers and Peers' Gender Mix, with Elena Ashtari Tafti and Tanya Surovtseva

• Awarded the Visitinps Fellowship, granting access to Italian social security data

We use Italian Social Security data to study how the gender composition of a worker's professional network influences their career development. By exploiting variation within firms, occupations, and labor market entry cohorts, we find that young women starting their careers alongside a higher share of female peers experience lower wage growth, fewer promotions and increased transitions into non-employment. In contrast, male workers appear unaffected. The analysis reveals that these gender-specific effects are largely driven by structural differences in the networks of men and women. Networks predominantly composed of women appear to be less effective in the labor market. Women, who experience higher attrition and lower promotion rates, have fewer connections to employment opportunities, and their connections tend to be less valuable. When accounting for these differences, we find that connections among female peers offer a crucial safety net during adverse employment shocks. Our findings highlight the critical role of early-career peers and provide a new perspective on the barriers to career advancement for women. 

Hiring Subsidies and Female Employment, with Lorenzo Incoronato and Anna Raute

• Awarded the Visitinps Fellowship, granting access to Italian social security data

This paper studies the effects of a hiring subsidy introduced in Italy in 2013 with the goal of stimulating female employment. We employ a staggered event-study design to investigate the dynamic effect of the subsidy on firm and worker outcomes, focusing in particular on hiring decisions. Results show that i) subsidized hires are more likely to remain employed at the firm in the long term, ii) firms that use the subsidy hire women with longer non-employment spells, including mothers and iii) subsidized hires are positively selected compared to the average hire at the firm. We argue that the subsidy could operate as a mechanism allowing firms to learn about the potential productivity of these female workers.

Selected Work in Progress

Gendered Leadership: The Effect of Female CEOs on Firm Performance, with Michele Giannola, Libertad González and Tanya Surovtseva

• Awarded the Visitinps Fellowship, granting access to Italian social security data

The Careers of Women Inventors, with Alice Kügler, Klea Ibrahimi, Simon Janssen and Linh Tô 

Should we tax firm capital? The effect of capital taxation on employment and the skill distribution.