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Danila Serra

 

Associate Professor of Economics

Texas A&M University

Email: dserra@tamu.edu

 

 

 

WORKING PAPERS

 

 

“The Impact of Role Models on Youth’s Aspirations, Gender Attitudes and Education in Somalia” with E.  Kipchumba (Trinity College, Dublin), C. Porter (Lancaster University) and M. Sulaiman (BRAC University). First draft: 2021. New draft: IZA DP No. 17261, August 2024

 

·        VoxDev Talk with Munshi Sulaiman

·        The Takeaway Policy Brief, Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics and Public Policy.

·       Supported by the Spencer Foundation.

 

 

“My Department Cares: Supporting Students through Encouragement Emails” with D. Gomez-Vasquez (Texas A&M University). Preliminary draft available upon request.

·       Pre-registration: AER Registry

 

 

“Proud to belong: The impact of ethics training on police officers in Ghana” with D. Harris (University of Oxford), O. Borcan (U of East Anglia), H. Telli (International Growth Center), Bruno Schettini (Brazil Ministry of the Economy), and S. Dercon (University of Oxford). CSAE working paper. First draft: June 2022. New draft (2024): IZA working paper and CEPR discussion paper .

 

·        Probable Causation podcast Episode 73 (June 7, 2022)

·        Center for the Studies of African Economies (CSAE) podcast

·        The Takeaway Policy Brief, Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics and Public Policy.

 

 

“Activating change: The role of information and beliefs in social activism” with F. Afridi (Indian Statistical Institute), A. Basistha (Indian Statistical Institute) and A. Dhillon (King’s College). New draft (March 2024).

·       Pre-registration: AsPredicted.

 

 

“Can Crises Affect Citizen Activism? Evidence from a Pandemic” with F. Afridi (Indian Statistical Institute), A. Basistha (Indian Statistical Institute) and A. Dhillon (King’s College). CAGE Working paper, November 2023. Link to paper.

 

 

“Role Models in Developing Countries.” forthcoming in for the Handbook of Experimental Development Economics, edited by Utteeyo Dasgupta and Pushkar Maitra. Edward Elgar. August 2022. Link.

 

 

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

 

Economics of Education

 

 

“Recruiting Economics Majors: The Impact of an Information Campaign Targeted at High School Counselors” with K. Johnston (Texas A&M University) and J. Meer (Texas A&M University).

·       Funded by the CSWEP-SSRC Women in Economics and Mathematics Research Consortium.

·       Pre-registration: AER Registry.

 

 

“Dismantling gender stereotypes in STEM careers among adolescents and their parents: Experimental evidence from Peruvian schools” with M. Agurto (Universidad de Piura) and S. Sudipta (Virginia Tech University).

·       Funded by the Consorcio de Investigation Economica y Social, Peru.

·       Pre-registration: AER Registry.

 

 

“Unlocking Opportunities: Facilitating Student Transfers from 2- to 4-Year Colleges through Coaching” with Celeste Carruthers (U Tennessee), Ishara Casellas Connors (Texas A&M) and Kalena Cortes (Texas A&M).

·       Funded by J-PAL Social Policy Research Initiative (SPRI).

·       Pre-registration: AER Registry.

 

“The Labor Market Impacts of a College-Based Female Role Model Intervention” with Catherine Porter (Lancaster University).

 

 

 

Gender & Development

 

“The long term impact of childhood abduction: Evidence from women in Northern Uganda” with A. Cassar (University of San Francisco), E. Kandpal (Center for Global Development), M. Lambert (Texas A&M University) and C. Mbabazi (Makerere University).

·       Funded by The World Bank.

·       Pre-registration: AER Registry.

 

 

“Women’s leadership in VSLAs” (working title), with K. Bjorvatn (Norwegian School of Economics), S. Chowdhury (University of Sydney), C. Franco (Norwegian School of Economics), and M. Sulaiman (BRAC).

·       Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

·       Pre-registration: AER Registry.

 

 

“From Jobs to Careers: Lifting Constraints to Women’s Career Advancement in South Asia” with R. Robertson (Texas A&M University), F. Afridi (ISI Delhi), Hamna Ahmed (Lahore School of Economics).

·       Funded by the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) G2LM program.

·       Project description

 

 

“The Impact of Cash Transfers, Coaching and Mental Health Counseling on Victimized Women in Uganda” (working title) with A. Cassar (University of San Francisco), E. Kandpal (Center for Global Development), M. Lambert (Texas A&M University) and C. Mbabazi (Makerere University).

·       Funded by The World Bank and the center for Global Development (CGD).

·       Pre-registration: AEA Registry.

 

 

“Inclusive Growth in the Green Economy” with R. Robertson (TAMU Bush School) and H. Ahmad (Lahore School of Economics).

·       Funded by the US State Department.

 

 

 

 

Other Projects on Biases in the Workplace (in the US)

 

 

“Reaching for the stars? An experiment on discrimination in hiring” with D. Gomez-Vasquez (Texas A&M University) and T. Salmon (Southern Methodist University).

·       Pre-registration: AsPredicted.

 

 

 “Can different modes of communication affect gender bias in the workplace?” (working title), with D. Gomez-Vasquez (Texas A&M University), M. Lambert (Texas A&M University) and T. Salmon (Southern Methodist University).

·       Pre-registration: AsPredicted.

 

 

“The impact of high-quality research feedback on the academic success of junior scholars” with E. Kuka (George Washington University).

·       Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation.

·       Pre-registration: AsPredicted.

 

 

Political Economy

 

“Who self-selects into committees: The pro-social or the corrupt?” with A. Cao (TAMU) and D. Ryvkin (FSU). In the lab.

·       Pre-registration: AsPredicted.