Publications:
"A Ticket to Ride: the Unintended Consequences of School Transport Subsidies" (latest version)
Economics of Education Review, 63 (2018), 100-115.
Economics of Education Review, 63 (2018), 100-115.
This paper provides evidence of the effects of a decrease in the cost of travelling to schools outside the neighbourhood on the choice of school among low income families. I examine a policy reform that occurred in England in academic year 2007/2008, which provided free transport to low SES students to attend further away schools. Using confidential panel school micro data, providing information on the postcode of both schools and students' residence, I find strong evidence of a decline in the average quality of the school attended. Consistent with the predictions of a simple theoretical model, results suggest that the negative estimates are driven by students who are willing to trade quality for savings in transport costs. This mechanism is reinforced by school over-subscription combined with distance-based admission criteria, which de facto limits choice to low quality institutions.
Completed papers:
"School Competition and Productivity"
This paper investigates the effects of the Free Transport policy on English secondary schools. Simple economic reasoning and empirical evidence suggest that an increase in school choice should lead to an improvement in performance through competitive pressure. This paper proceeds by first testing whether the introduction of free transport has an effect on school enrollment, i.e. if higher competitive pressure results in an actual decrease in student numbers. Estimates suggest that enrollment declines more in schools which were more affected by the policy.
Second, I explore the impact of increased competition on school performance. I show that the policy has the effect of slightly improving quality, measured as test scores of students in Year 11. These results are consistent with the argument that competition among schools improves performance, though findings are economically modest.
Second, I explore the impact of increased competition on school performance. I show that the policy has the effect of slightly improving quality, measured as test scores of students in Year 11. These results are consistent with the argument that competition among schools improves performance, though findings are economically modest.
"Externalities at the Workplace: Evidence from the Italian Private Sector"
This paper uses absence rates to uncover workers' shirking. I use matched employer-employee microdata on a sample of Italian private sector workers to estimate how co-workers' behaviour affects the individual propensity to shirk. I identify group effects based on the arguably exogenous variation in groups' absenteeism due to new co-workers joining the establishment. Results show that workers tend to emulate their peers, increasing their absence rates in response to more absenteeist co-workers.