Research
Work in Progress
Formalizing Domestic Work: Evidence from a social security reform in Spain. Joint with Alejandro Iribas.
We provide causal evidence on the sector-wide consequences of formalization of labor through a social security reform. We evaluate the 2012 reform of Spain’s social security special regime for domestic workers, a highly informal, female-dominated sector. Using administrative and survey data, we estimate the impact of the reform on employment and earnings at the sector level. Although the reform reduced informality, with a drop in the informality rate from 60 to 30%, it also reduced the duration of formal employment and decreased the earnings of incumbents. These effects are mainly driven by older, Spanish-born domestic workers. Total employment in the sector has decreased over time as a result of the reform, raising concerns about the sustainability of formal domestic work
We provide causal evidence on the sector-wide consequences of formalization of labor through a social security reform. We evaluate the 2012 reform of Spain’s social security special regime for domestic workers, a highly informal, female-dominated sector. Using administrative and survey data, we estimate the impact of the reform on employment and earnings at the sector level. Although the reform reduced informality, with a drop in the informality rate from 60 to 30%, it also reduced the duration of formal employment and decreased the earnings of incumbents. These effects are mainly driven by older, Spanish-born domestic workers. Total employment in the sector has decreased over time as a result of the reform, raising concerns about the sustainability of formal domestic work
Careers to Carers? Pension policy and mother's economic outcomes. Joint with Eppie van Egeraat
We use a policy that increased pension wealth for low-earnings mothers up to 6 years after giving birth in Norway to study the response of maternal labor supply in response to higher future income. We identify a trade-off between acknowledging unpaid care work in pension systems and disincentivizing labor supply of working-age mothers, which may in fact broaden the gender gap in pensions. However, we show that, when implemented early enough in the life cycle, childcare-related pension credits lead to no reductions in employment nor earnings up to 16 years after birth.
Closing the Gender Gap in Pensions? Pension accrual for unpaid
care work and household behavior after retirement. Solo project.
I provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of a pure change in pension wealth on retirement behavior. I exploit a 2010 Norwegian policy reform that retroactively extended childcare-related pension credits to mothers of children born between 1967 and 1991. I quantify the resulting increase in pension benefits and assess the policy’s potential to narrow the gender pension gap, along with any distortionary effects on labor supply and pension claiming. Using population-wide administrative data from Norway, I estimate pension benefits for all beneficiaries had the policy not been adopted and implement a difference-in-differences design, leveraging the variation in the credits’ impact on final pension benefits. My findings show that the policy increased pension benefits by an average of 4.3%, contributing to a 1.6 percentage point reduction of the gender gap in lifetime pension benefits with small employment effects. Additionally, I investigate how pension wealth influences consumption and household welfare after retirement
The role of firms in early retirement decisions. Joint with Andreas Haller and Julian Vedeler Johnsen.
We use a policy that increased pension wealth for low-earnings mothers up to 6 years after giving birth in Norway to study the response of maternal labor supply in response to higher future income. We identify a trade-off between acknowledging unpaid care work in pension systems and disincentivizing labor supply of working-age mothers, which may in fact broaden the gender gap in pensions. However, we show that, when implemented early enough in the life cycle, childcare-related pension credits lead to no reductions in employment nor earnings up to 16 years after birth.
Closing the Gender Gap in Pensions? Pension accrual for unpaid
care work and household behavior after retirement. Solo project.
I provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of a pure change in pension wealth on retirement behavior. I exploit a 2010 Norwegian policy reform that retroactively extended childcare-related pension credits to mothers of children born between 1967 and 1991. I quantify the resulting increase in pension benefits and assess the policy’s potential to narrow the gender pension gap, along with any distortionary effects on labor supply and pension claiming. Using population-wide administrative data from Norway, I estimate pension benefits for all beneficiaries had the policy not been adopted and implement a difference-in-differences design, leveraging the variation in the credits’ impact on final pension benefits. My findings show that the policy increased pension benefits by an average of 4.3%, contributing to a 1.6 percentage point reduction of the gender gap in lifetime pension benefits with small employment effects. Additionally, I investigate how pension wealth influences consumption and household welfare after retirement
The role of firms in early retirement decisions. Joint with Andreas Haller and Julian Vedeler Johnsen.
Before the start of my PhD, I also contributed to the following OECD publications:
- OECD (2022), Global Outlook on Financing for Sustainable Development 2023: No Sustainability Without Equity, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/fcbe6ce9-en. Lead author for chapters 1 and 2, together with Abdoulaye Fabregas (chapters 1 and 2) and Rachel Morris (chapter 3).
- OECD (2022), Multilateral Development Finance 2022, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9fea4cf2-en. Together with Abdoulaye Fabregas, Jieun Kim and Julian Kath.