Danila Serra
Associate
Professor
Texas A&M University
Department
of Economics
& Bush
School of Government and Public Service
Email: dserra@tamu.edu
Phone: (+1) 979-862-4412
Office: LASB 242
Research
fields: Development Economics; Gender
Economics; Political Economy; Economics of Education; Behavioral Economics.
Education:
·
PhD in Economics, University of Oxford (Edgeworth Prize for outstanding doctoral thesis);
·
MSc in Economics, London School of Economics;
·
BS (laurea) in Economics and Social Sciences
(DES), Bocconi University, Milan.
Affiliations
·
J-PAL:
Faculty Affiliate.
·
IZA: Research
Fellow.
·
EGAP: Research Member.
·
Mosbacher
Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy: Research Fellow.
Editorial Boards:
·
2021 - 2024 Co-editor, Economic Inquiry.
·
2020 - 2023 Associate
Editor, Journal of Economic Behavior and
Organization.
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). Draft coming soon.
Email me for a preliminary draft.
·
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).
· Pre-registration: AER Registry
· Funded by
J-PAL Social Policy Research Initiative (SPRI).
“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.
“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).
“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.
Updated September 2024