Research

     Working papers

• The invisible family load: mental load and the gender earnings gap in Kenya, with Francesco Cecchi and Chiara Rapallini (Submitted)

This study investigates the gender-differentiated impact of mental load on the gender earnings gap. We focus on two main components of this gap: labor productivity and job selection. We conduct an experiment in Nairobi randomly triggering mental load thoughts in participants and then assigning them to perform manual or cognitive tasks. Mental load reduces productivity for women in manual tasks but not in cognitively demanding ones, while we find no significant effects on men. Negative income effects for women persist in a third round in which participants are given the choice of which task to perform. Yet, it is treated men who change job preferences towards less remunerated but less cognitively challenging tasks

• Thriving in the rain: natural shocks, time allocation, and women's empowerment in Bangladesh, with Gianna Claudia Giannelli, IZA DP No. 16030 , R&R at World Development

• Depression and economic behavior through the lens of gender. Lessons from Mexico. 

• The gendered dimension of scarcity: the impact of mental load on technology adoption, risk aversion, and rationality in rural Kenya, with Francesco Cecchi

• Gender norms and mental load: perspectives from Italy, with Natalia Montinari and Francesca Barigozzi

Selected work in progress: 

• The patriarchal poverty trap, with Margherita Squarcina and Giulia Malevolti 

• Effects of introducing sexuality education in school on fertility and family planning methods – A Synthetic Control Approach, with Margherita Squarcina