Research

Working Papers:

• Call It Femicide: Legal Recognition, Victim Protection, and Domestic Violence

 with  Rui Costa, Beatriz Ribeiro & Matteo Sandi

Can criminal law prevent domestic violence and change how victims use the state? We study Brazil’s 2015 recognition of femicide as qualified homicide using ten years of linked population, police, hospital, and prison records for 2.6 million women. Exploiting predetermined municipal exposure to men with histories of violence against women, we find that police-recorded non-fatal domestic violence fell disproportionately in more exposed areas. Conditional on an incident reaching police, requests for protective measures rose, while pursuit of charges did not. Legal recognition at the lethal endpoint can therefore affect both violence below that margin and survivors’ choice of state remedy.

Presented at (* by co-author): EEA 2025, 5th EUI Alumni Conference, 2025 Workshop in Gender Economics at ENS de Lyon, Alp-Pop 2025, WISE 2025, EDP Jamboree at Pompeu Fabra University, Workshop on Public Policies at UB, XV Transatlantic Workshop on the Economics of Crime, 39th AIEL Conference*, "Crime Before Christmas" Annual Workshop at Bocconi University*.

• Measuring Gender Stereotypes in the Workplace: Evidence from Italian Managers

with Paola Profeta             [Submitted]

This paper provides a novel, comprehensive descriptive analysis of explicit and implicit stereotypes in the workplace, drawing on original survey data and Implicit Association Test (IAT) results from 2,037 managers in Italy. We examine how individual traits such as gender, age, and personal experience, along with firm characteristics like sector, organizational structure, and workplace policies, relate to bias. Male managers show significantly higher levels of gender bias compared to female managers. Gender stereotypes are more common in the manufacturing sector and in small to medium-sized firms. Support for paternity leave and gender quotas is linked to lower bias levels. A higher share of female managers within a firm is also associated with lower levels of explicit bias. However, IAT scores explain little additional variation beyond self-reported attitudes. These findings offer policy-relevant insights for designing interventions to foster a more equitable work environment.

• Length of Education and Fertility: Does Shorter Schooling lead to Births at a Younger Age?

with Henrike Alm and Mirjam Stockburger. 

Many OECD countries experience rising educational attainment alongside delayed family formation. This paper examines whether reducing secondary school duration affects fertility decisions. We exploit Germany’s G8 reform, which shortened the academic school track by one year while keeping total instruction hours constant. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach and German Microcensus data (2012–2021), we find that the reform led to a lower Abitur graduation age and an earlier completion of vocational education. Moreover, it increased the likelihood of marriage and parenthood by age 30, with these effects driven primarily by West German states.

• Too Old to Train? Age Differences in Employer-Provided Training: Experimental Evidence from Italian SMEs

with Francesco Maura and Paola Profeta. 

Older workers are among the most expensive employees on firms’ payrolls — yet they are systematically the least likely to receive employer-provided training. This paper investigates the managerial decisions that generate this paradox through two complementary surveys conducted among Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The first survey documents a strong, monotonic age gradient in training allocation: employees’ probability of being selected for training decreases sharply with age. Motivated by these findings, the second survey introduces a randomized information treatment: managers receive information on labor-force aging, rising retirement ages, and the remaining working life of older workers. This information does not reduce managers’ age gradient in training allocation, suggesting that this bias is sustained by mechanisms other than simple horizon-based considerations. 

Publications:

1. "Overstretched: Financial Distress and Intimate Partner Violence in the US" (with Chiara Santantonio)

Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 107 (2026)

2. “Gender Quotas in Municipal Executives: Reallocating Public Spending in Italy" (with Flavia Cavallini  and Alice Dominici )

International Tax and Public Finance, Forthcoming 

3. "Gender Difference in Off-school Time Use and Academic Achievement" (2025). 

Education Economics, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2025.2578745.

Work in Progress:

• Economic Security, Safer Homes: 2017 Child Tax Credit and Intimate Partner Violence, with Bianca Meoli.

• Delay and Distress: How Shifts in Paydays Shape Consumption Responses, with Chiara Santantonio.

• Fighting Domestic Violence: The Role of Local Monitoring Policies, with  Rui Costa, Beatriz Ribeiro & Matteo Sandi.