Scholars and Literati at the Academy of the Ricovrati (1599–1800)

This note is a summary description of the set of scholars and literati who were members or associates of the Academy of the Ricovrati from its inception in 1599 to the eve of the Industrial Revolution (1800). &nbsp

Cohabitation vs Marriage: Mating Strategies by Education in the USA

Cohabiting without being married is a common practice in the United States, especially among noncollege-educated individuals. I provide a theoretical rationale for the different mating behaviors by education, building a life-cycle model of partnership formation in which cohabitation can be both an investment good, useful to learn about the quality of prospective marriage partners, and a consumption good, namely a cheap substitute to marriage. A structural estimation of this model suggests that the composition of labor market earnings accounts for the differential likelihood to cohabit and to marry of people with different education levels, by influencing their demand for commitment

Three essays on family economics and economic history

This thesis explores three topics in the areas of family economics and economic history. The first chapter provides a theoretical rationale for why unmarried cohabitation in the United States is especially common among noncollege-educated individuals. In the life-cycle model of partnership formation and dissolution, cohabitation can be both an investment good, useful to learn about the quality of prospective marriage partners, and a consumption good, namely a cheap substitute to marriage. A structural estimation of this model highlights the role of labor market earnings. Their composition accounts for most of the differential likelihood to cohabit and to marry of people with different education levels, by influencing their demand for commitment. The second chapter, co-authored with David de la Croix, focuses on the effect of the Catholic Church’s censorship of books on the demise of knowledge production in early modern Italy. The evolution of knowledge quality of censored and non-censored authors is used to identify the deep parameters of a model linking censorship to knowledge diffusion and occupational choice. The conclusion is that censorship reduced by 27% the average log publication per scholar in Italy. The third chapter, co-authored with Egor Kozlov, focuses on the role of unilateral divorce in the rise of unmarried cohabitation. The fact that cohabitation increased when unilateral divorce was introduced is analyzed through the lenses of a life-cycle model with partnership choice, endogenous divorce/breakup, female labor force participation, and saving decisions. A structural estimation that matches the empirical findings suggests that unilateral divorce decreases the marriage gains that derive from cooperation and risk-sharing. This makes cohabitation preferred among couples that would have likely faced a divorce, which is more expensive than breaking up. As cohabiting couples formed after the reform are better matched, the average length of cohabitations increases by 27%.(ECGE - Sciences économiques et de gestion) -- UCL, 202

Cohabitation VS. Marriage: Mating Strategies by Education in the Usa

Abstract In this paper I analyze the determinants of cohabitation, marriage, and divorce in the US. I first document that college graduates are more likely to marry, and less likely to cohabit and divorce, than non-college educated individuals. To account for these facts within a unified framework, I build and estimate a life-cycle model of partnership formation and dissolution where income processes differ by gender and education. I find that the main driver of education-based differences in mating strategies is that the gender wage gap is larger among college graduates. Since divorce is more costly than ending a cohabitation, marriages tend to be more stable and therefore offer women more protection from human capital depreciation during nonemployment. Consequently, marriage is a more effective means of enforcing household specialization. Since college graduates have more room for household specialization, they are more likely to choose marriage. The variance of income shocks, which affects the demand for consumption insurance, is larger among college graduates. Even if the variance of income shocks could potentially explain partnership choices, simulations suggest a small role of income volatility.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Catholic Censorship and the Demise of Knowledge Production in Early Modern Italy

Censorship makes new ideas less available to others, but also reduces the share of people choosing to develop non-compliant ideas. We propose a new method to measure the effect of censorship on knowledge growth, accounting for the agents' choice between compliant and non-compliant occupations. We apply our method to the Catholic Church's censorship of books written by members of Italian universities and academies over the period 1400-1750. We highlight two new facts: once censorship was introduced, censored authors were of better quality than the non-censored authors, but this gap shrank over time, and the intensity of censorship decreased over time. These facts are used to identify the deep parameters of a novel endogenous growth model linking censorship to knowledge diffusion and occupational choice. We conclude that censorship reduced by 34% the average log publication per scholar in Italy, while adverse macroeoconomic processes are responsible for another 9% reduction. Interestingly, the induced reallocation of talents towards compliant activities explains half the effect of censorship