Paola Profeta

• PhD Economics UPF Barcelona
• Full Professor of Public Economics at Bocconi University

We study how the prevailing internal organization of the family affected the initial design of pension systems. Our theoretical framework predicts that, in society with weak family ties, pensions systems were introduced to act as a safety net, while in societies with strong ties they replicate the tight link between generations by providing generou...

The Covid-19 pandemic increased the salience of childcare and focused attention on the allocation of public funds for it. Focusing on Italy, one of the first countries severely impacted by the Covid-19 crisis, we analyze how male and female politicians responded to the Covid-19 pandemic in the allocation of funds to childcare. To assess causality,...

We investigate the role of time pressure in originating gender gaps in math tests. In a randomized experiment, college students took a 20-question math test under high, low or no time pressure. Reducing or eliminating time pressure decreases the math gender gap by up to 40%. Larger gaps under time pressure are mostly due to increased anxiety rather...

We study the impact of public health messages on intentions to vaccinate and vaccination uptakes, especially among hesitant groups. We performed an experiment comparing the effects of egoistic and altruistic messages on COVID-19 vaccine intentions and behaviour. We administered different messages at random in a survey of 6379 adults in December 202...

Does removing constraints on the time and place of work benefit the utility of workers and firms? We design a randomized experiment of a sample of workers in a large Italian company; workers are randomly divided into a treated group that engages in flexible place and time of work (which we call “smart working”) one day per week for nine months and...

We explore the role of financial and pension information in increasing women’s knowledge and awareness of their future pension status and interest for pension information. We interview a representative sample of 801 Italian working women to assess their knowledge about pensions, financial issues and their own savings. The responses show that their...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on families’ lives because of the increased demands of housework and childcare. Much of the additional burden has been shouldered by women. Yet, the rise in remote working also has the potential to increase paternal involvement in family life and thus to reduce gender role inequalities. This effect de...

Despite large take-up rates in most OECD countries, millions of people still refuse COVID-19 vaccination. The large number of unvaccinated individuals raises major concerns about the diffusion of the virus. Anti-vax individuals are often very vocal about their choice and use social media to convince undecided individuals not to get vaccinated. Usin...

Proportional electoral rules are associated with more substantial women’s representation than majoritarian ones. To provide causal evidence that electoral rules affect women’s representation and the qualification of politicians, we collect panel data on the universe of Italian politicians from all levels of government over the period 1987–2013 and...

From business to politics and academia, the economic effects of gender quotas are under scrutiny. We provide new causal evidence based on the introduction of mandatory gender quotas for boards of directors of Italian listed companies. Exploiting staggered board elections, we find that quotas are associated with a new selection of board members, cha...

We develop a statistical discrimination model where groups of workers differ in the observability of their productivity signals by the evaluation committee. We assume that the informativeness of the productivity signals depends on the match between the potential worker and the interviewer: when both parties have similar backgrounds, the signal is l...

During the recovery, investing in gender equality is essential: it will lead directly to higher GDP and indirectly to increase human capital and promote a sustainable society. Or Women as economic agents may themselves have an impact on policies: the changing role of women in families and societies and their greater representation in decision makin...

Does the gender of the mayor affect the size and composition of public expenditures and revenues? Using a sharp regression discontinuity design in close mixed gender races for the election of mayors in Italian municipalities in the period 2000-2015, we find no significant differences in policies implemented by male and female mayors. We explore whe...

For a sample of Central and Eastern European countries, characterized by historically high female labor force participation and currently low fertility rates, we analyze whether fathers' increased involvement in the family (house-work and childcare) has the potential of increasing both fertility and maternal * We thank Francesco Billari, Nicoletta...

Does the gender of the mayor affect the size and composition of public expenditures and revenues? Using a sharp regression discontinuity design in close mixed gender races for the election of mayors in Italian municipalities in the period 2000–2015, we find no significant differences in policies implemented by male and female mayors. We explore whe...

Women die less than men of COVID-19, but have been more concerned about its health consequences and more compliant with the public health rules imposed during the pandemic. Since return to normal life depends on vaccination, but delays in acceptance or outright refusals of vaccination are already evident, we investigate gender differences in attitu...

The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected men and women worldwide. The gender dimension of COVID-19 has attracted the attention of researchers and policymakers: while women seem to be less severely hit by the virus and are more compliant with the restricting rules imposed to reduce the spread of the contagion, they risk to suffer more the economic cons...

Evidence from past economic crises indicates that recessions often affect men’s and women’s employment differently, with a greater impact on male-dominated sectors. The current COVID-19 crisis presents novel characteristics that have affected economic, health and social phenomena over wide swaths of the economy. Social distancing measures to combat...

Gender gaps are still wide. Data recently published by Eurostat (2020) testify that, despite progress, equality is yet to be reached. This holds both in the labour market and in politics, where progress has been much slower. According to the World Economic Forum (2020), the world as a whole has closed only 58% of the gender gap in economic particip...

Significance Public health response to COVID-19 requires behavior changes—isolation at home, wearing masks. Its effectiveness depends on generalized compliance. Original data from two waves of a survey conducted in March−April 2020 in eight Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries ( n = 21,649) show large gender differences...

Evidence from past economic crises indicates that recessions often affect men’s and women’s employment differently, with a greater impact on male-dominated sectors. The current COVID-19 crisis presents novel characteristics that have affected economic, health and social phenomena over wide swaths of the economy. Social distancing measures to combat...

Using original data from two waves of a survey conducted in March and April 2020 in eight OECD countries (N = 21,649), we show that women are more likely to see COVID-19 as a very serious health problem, to agree with restraining public policy measures adopted in response to it, and to comply with them. Gender differences in attitudes and behavior...

Cambridge Core - Macroeconomics - Gender Equality and Public Policy - by Paola Profeta

Despite formal UN and European Commission commitments to improve gender imbalances, progress towards gender equality in wealth and pay has progressed at a discouragingly slow pace in recent decades. European countries have been more proactive in their support for corrective policies, such as family leave and gender quotas for corporate boards, yet...

We study the effectiveness of a novel measure to reduce gender gaps in political empowerment: double preference voting conditioned on gender, coupled with gender quotas on candidate lists. This policy was introduced in 2012 in Italian municipal elections. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that the share of female councilors rises by...

This volume contains a selection of papers on gender gaps in the italian economy and the role of public policy to deal with them. https://economiaitaliana.org/pubblicazioni/gender-gaps-in-italy-and-the-role-of-public-policy/

We study the relationship between per capita GDP, overall tax revenue and tax composition. We find that there is some evidence of a negative and statistically significant relationship between tax revenue and economic growth, while there are no robust relationships between revenue-neutral tax shifts and economic growth. The results hold in different...

We introduce papers of the CESifo symposium on 'Inequality and Public Policies' which contribute to our understanding of inequality and the role of public policies to address it. The papers show that to effectively address inequality, it is more important to address the ex ante factors rather than the ex post consequences. © The Author 2017. Publis...

Political variables play a crucial role in shaping tax systems and tax reforms in Europe. This paper presents new evidence on the relationship between political factors and tax design in European countries. For the period 1995-2012, we find that, when the country's ruling coalition is left-wing, income taxes become more relevant. Moreover, when the...

We investigate the effect of providing information about the benefits to children of attending formal child care when women intend to use formal child care so they can work. We postulate that the reaction to the information differs across women according to their characteristics, specifically their level of education. We present a randomized experi...

Women are under-represented in decision-making positions worldwide. However, gender equality and diversity are recognised to have beneficial effects on organisations, institutions and the overall economy. This article provides evidence that removing the glass ceiling — the invisible barriers which prevent women from reaching upper-level positions —...

This paper analyses the gender representation in monetary policy committees, offering three contributions. We propose the first index to evaluate the gender representation in monetary policymaking – i.e. the GMP Index – for a sample of 112 countries as of 2015. Second, we investigate the drivers of gender diversity in monetary policy committees. Ou...

We analyze the effects of the introduction of gender quotas in candidate lists on the quality of elected politicians,as measured by the average number of years of education. We consider an Italian law which introduced gender quotas in local elections in 1993, and was abolished in 1995. As not all municipalities went through elections during this pe...

A recent Italian law mandates a temporary increased representation of women on boards of publicly-listed and state-owned companies. While traditionally a poor performer on gender issues, this new law has the potential to make Italy a prominent world player in equality between the sexes. Women Directors analyzes the Italian law on gender quotas in...

We present an empirical model of wealth transfer taxation in the revenue systems of the G7 countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U. K. and the U. S. - over the period from 1965 to 2009. Our model emphasizes the influences of population aging and of the stock of household wealth in an explanation of the past and likely future of thi...

Casarico A., Profeta P. and Pronzato C. D. On the regional labour market determinants of female university enrolment in Europe, Regional Studies. This paper empirically investigates how young women's decisions of investing in post-secondary education are affected by labour market outcomes of older women living in the same region. EU-SILC data on ed...

There is evidence that age matters in politics. In this article we study whether implementation of affirmative action policies on gender can generate additional effects on an alternative dimension of representation, namely, the age of politicians. We consider an Italian law which introduced gender quotas in candidate lists for local elections in 19...

A recent Italian law mandates a the temporary increased representation of women on boards of publicly -listed and state-owned companies. While traditionally a poor performer on gender issues, this new law has the potential to make Italy a prominent world player in equality between the sexes. Women Directors analyzes the Italian law on gender quotas...

Firms specialized in two different sectors lobby to induce the government to subsidize the type of education complementary to their production. Lobbying is endogenous. We show that, if lobbying is not costly, both sectors will lobby in equilibrium and the education policy will induce the same skill composition that would be chosen by the social pla...

Public choice or rational politics differs from other approaches to the study of political behavior in that it builds on models in which rational individuals seek to advance their own interests. This five-part volume surveys the main ideas and contributions of the field. It contains twenty-five essays written by thirty scholars, both economists and...

This chapter illustrates and analyses the first available quantitative and qualitative data that has emerged from the changes to the composition of listed company boards since Law 120/2011 was passed.

Similar reports are coming in from all over the world. The salient facts are a lack of women on boards, low numbers of women executives, few women on committees and female chairpersons a rarity, as data reported in Chapter 2 testify.

In this chapter we identify ten important lessons that we draw from the analysis of the Italian law and the process of its introduction and implementation, and which can also constitute a blueprint for other countries. This learning may be important for other countries that are discussing the introduction of gender quotas, for policy-makers, for co...

Though life is improving for women around the globe, gender-based disparities are still a widespread phenomenon. These inequalities are multi-faceted and concern especially economic participation and involvement in politics. Data on employment rates indicate that on average women do not fare as well as men. In some European countries the gap in emp...

In Chapter 5 we described the main characteristics of the Italian law and the parliamentary process that accompanied its design and implementation. Several stakeholders contributed to create the fertile environment to support the approval of the law. In this chapter we focus on the actors involved in the change, and the crucial actions they put in...

Chapter 7 provided evidence on the effectiveness of the Italian gender quota law in several dimensions. In this chapter we provide a comparative assessment of the Italian law and the different international initiatives put in place in European countries aimed at increasing the presence of women on boards. This chapter is directly related to Chapter...

The Italian gender quota law is the successful result of a quite complex and interesting process. However, it can be considered to be only the first step in the direction of promoting gender equality and reaching gender-balanced decision-making processes. The law was mainly meant as a way to break the status quo and rebalance the gender representat...

Equality between men and women is solemnly enshrined in the Italian Constitution. Members of the Italian Constituent Assembly came to this conclusion after a debate from which it emerged, among other things, that ‘no democratic development, no substantial progress may occur in the life of people if it is not accompanied by the full emancipation of...

Women represent a crucial positive value for the economy and they contribute substantially to business and economic growth: wome-nomics is a well-known concept used to indicate the relevance of women for the economy and society. Following this concept, gender equality is not only a matter of rights, but a key economic issue as well (European Commis...

Focusing on three areas of the world (Asia, Latin America and New EU Members), which have recently experienced a democratic as well as economic transition, we explore the relation between political variables and tax revenue, public spending and their structure. We build a new dataset for the period 1990-2005 with socio-economic and political variab...

We provide a long term perspective on the individual retirement behavior and on the future of retirement by emphasizing the role of (negative) income effects. We consider a political economic theoretical framework, with actuarial "fair" and "unfair" early retirement schemes, and derive a political equilibrium with positive social security contribut...

Political constraints and incentives are the true driver of tax reforms. This paper reviews the political economics literature on personal income tax systems and reforms to see how political mechanisms help explain tax reforms. We take some of the implications of these theories to the data using LABREF, a database that identifies labor tax reforms...

There is often a gap between the prescriptions of an 'optimal' tax system and actual tax systems, some of which can be neither efficient economically nor efficient at redistributing income. With a focus on personal income taxes, this paper reviews the political economics literature on tax systems and reforms to see whether political mechanisms allo...

In a two-period model, firms specialized in two different sectors lobby to induce the government to subsidize the type of education complementary to their production. Lobbying is endogenous. We show that, if lobbying is not costly, both sectors will lobby in equilibrium and education policy will induce the same skill composition that would be chose...

We empirically investigate the determinants of the female decision of investing in post-secondary education, focusing on the role played by the context where young women take their education decision. We first develop a stylized two-period model to analyze the female decision of investing in education and highlight two main determinants: the time t...

This article analyzes to what extent gender culture affects gender gap in employment. Drawing on Italian data, we measure culture by building two indices: one based on indi-viduals' attitudes, as done in the existing literature; one based on firms' attitudes. Firms' beliefs, which express their set of ideas, values and norms, though generally negle...

In an overlapping generations model with two social classes, rich and poor, parents of the different social classes vote on two issues: redistributive policies for them and public education for their kids. Public education is the engine for growth through its effect on human capital; but it is also the vehicle through which kids born from poor fami...

This paper studies the transmission mechanism from family culture to economic institutions, by analyzing the impact of the within family organization on the original design of the public pension systems. We build a simple OLG model with families featuring either weak or strong internal ties. When pensions systems are initially introduced, in societ...

Family is a primal institution. Family organization (e.g. inheritance rules) can be transmitted over time, or even embedded into newly born economic institutions. We argue that when the family is substituted in one of its economic role by another, perhaps new, institution, the economic organization that was prevailing within the family is likely to...

'Paola Profeta and Simona Scabrosetti have provided us with a novel comparative analysis of the tax systems in Asia, Latin America and the new EU countries. Anyone who wants to know how contemporary empirical models can be used to study the political economy of the tax mix in developing and transition economies will want to read this book.' © Paola...