Work in Progress
Addressing Inequalities in Higher Education
[Abstract]
I study the consequences of providing universities with financial incentives to increase the intake of students from underrepresented groups. Using data from linked administrative records on the universe of students in England, I investigate the effects of the incentives introduced under the Widening Participation policy between 2008/09 and 2016/17. I show that active government steering led universities to change the mix of widening participation measures they implemented, primarily expanding their offer of outreach activities. I investigate the ultimate impact on students' outcomes by adopting a regression discontinuity design leveraging area-based student targeting criteria. Targeted students applied to more selective programs: they were 2.4 percentage points (13%) more likely to apply to a program in the top 10% by selectivity, a reduction of the gap relative to their more affluent peers by up to one-third. These gains persisted through admissions and enrollment, without compromising student success. Using a surrogate-index approach, I find that targeted students were 1.3 percentage points (7%) more likely to be in the top 10% of the within-cohort earnings distribution at age 30.
[Conferences & Seminars]
2024-25: LSE-CEP Juniors Seminar; Stone Centre Conference on Education and Inequality at UCL.
2025-26: Tor Vergata PhD Conference in Economics; LESE - Lisbon Economics and Statistics of Education Conference at NOVA SBE; Columbia University Development Colloquium; Columbia Business School Applied Micro Lunch, QMUL PhD Workshop.
2025-26: Tor Vergata PhD Conference in Economics; LESE - Lisbon Economics and Statistics of Education Conference at NOVA SBE; Columbia University Development Colloquium; Columbia Business School Applied Micro Lunch, QMUL PhD Workshop.
Access to Justice
[Conferences & Seminars]
2024-25: Università degli Studi di Sassari DISEA Seminar.
Publications
Access to Justice and Social Protection
[Paper] [Abstract]
Governments in developing countries are expanding social protection policies, yet coverage remains imperfect. This paper explores how the justice system influences coverage and the consequences of unequal access to justice for targeting. Using administrative microdata from Brazil, we document how two distinct groups – displaced workers and the elderly poor – resort to the courts to secure social protection. Using the justice system for this purpose correlates with key individual characteristics – notably income and geographical distance from courts – suggesting that barriers to accessing justice influence policy targeting.
Pre-PhD Publications
Is the Road to Hell Paved with Good Intentions? An Empirical Analysis of Budgetary Follow-up in the EU