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
|
NEWS: Elira Kuka and I have
launched the ADOPT
a PAPER mentoring program, which aims to expand and diversify
junior scholars’ access to high quality feedback on a working paper
prior to journal submission. The program currently targets Assistant
Professors and post-doctoral scholars at research-intensive institutions in
the US, Canada and Europe. The third round of Adopt a Paper is ongoing.
The deadline to apply, by filling in the application form (https://www.adoptapaper.org/apply.html)
was December 17, 2022. The deadline to submit the paper, for those who
applied, was January 17, 2023. For information on previous rounds, see:
https://www.adoptapaper.org/past-rounds.html
. The fourth round of Adopt a Paper will take place in Fall 2023. |
Research
fields: Experimental and
Behavioral Economics; Development Economics; Political Economy; Gender;
Education.
Education:
·
PhD in Economics, University of Oxford, Department of Economics and
Centre for the Study of African Economies;
·
MSc in Economics, London School of Economics;
·
BS (laurea) in Economics and Social Sciences
(DES), Bocconi University, Milan.
Editorial Boards:
·
Sep 2021 -
Co-editor, Economic Inquiry
·
May 2020 -
Associate Editor, Journal of
Economic Behavior and Organization.
WORKING PAPERS
“Can
high school counselors help the economics pipeline?” with Melissa Gentry (Texas A&M) and Jonathan Meer (Texas
A&M). Forthcoming, American Economic Association P&P. Email me for draft.
· Presented at ASSA 2023: slides
· Video recording
of the presentation, as part of the CSWEP session on “Gender in the
Economics Profession”
“Role
Models in Developing Countries.”
In preparation for the Handbook of
Experimental Development Economics, edited by Utteeyo
Dasgupta and Pushkar Maitra. Edward Elgar. August 2022. PDF.
“Proud to belong: The impact of ethics training on police
officers,” 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. PDF, June 2022.
·
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.
“Gender and
leadership in organizations: The threat of backlash” with P. Chakraborty (Centenary College).
First draft: 2018. Revised: June 2022. PDF.
·
Online
Appendix with the instructions of the lab and online experiments.
·
Previous drafts circulated under the titles
“Gender differences in top leadership roles: Does worker backlash
matter?” and “Gender and leadership in organizations: Promotions,
demotions and angry workers”]
“Influencing
youths’ educational aspirations and gender attitudes through role models:
Evidence from Somali schools” with E.
K. Kipchumba (BRAC), C. Porter (Lancaster University)
and M. Sulaiman (BRAC). February 2021. PDF. New draft coming soon.
·
VoxDev Talk with Munshi Sulaiman
·
The
Takeaway Policy Brief, Mosbacher Institute for
Trade, Economics and Public Policy.
PUBLISHED AND FORTHCOMING PAPERS
“Mobilizing
parents at home and at school: An experiment on primary education in Angola”
with V. Di Maio
(World Bank), S. Leeffers (Nova University of Lisbon)
and P. Vicente (Nova University of Lisbon). Novafrica
working paper 2002, February 2020. Accepted. Economic Development and
Cultural Change. PDF.
·
Project website; GlobaDev Blog post
“Health
Workers’ Behavior, Patient Reporting and Reputational Concerns:
Lab-in-the-Field Experimental Evidence from Kenya” with I. Mbiti (U of Virginia). Experimental Economics, 25.2 (2022):
514-556. Ungated: PDF.
·
Instructions
of the lab-in-the-field experiment here.
“Corrupt Police” with K. Abbink
(Monash University) and D. Ryvkin (FSU). Games and
Economic Behavior, 123: 101-119, September 2020. Ungated PDF.
“Gender
Differences in the Choice of Major: The Importance of Female Role Models” with C. Porter (Lancaster University). American
Economic Journal: Applied, 12(3):
226–254. PDF. Ungated here.
·
Media
Coverage: Dow
Jones Moneyish,
Pacific
Standard, The
University Network, Forbes.
·
Read
about the study in the new CEPR eBook on Women and Economics.
·
Read
an early summary of the study: SMU
Press release.
·
Watch
a short
video of me talking about the study.
“Motivating Whistleblowers” with J. Butler (UC Merced)
and G. Spagnolo (SITE, Stockholm School of
Economics). Management Science 66.2: 605-621, 2020. Available here.
Ungated here: PDF.
“Corruption and competition among bureaucrats: An experimental
study”, with D. Ryvkin (FSU). Journal
of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 175, July 2020, pp
439-451. PDF.
Experimental instructions here.
“Is more competition always better? An
experimental study of extortionary corruption”, with D. Ryvkin
(FSU). Economic Inquiry, 57 (1), January 2019: 50-72. PDF.
“Corruption, Social Judgment and Culture: An Experiment”, with T. Salmon (SMU). Journal of Economic Behavior and
Organization, 142: 64-78, 2017. PDF.
“I paid a bribe: An
experiment on information sharing and extortionary
corruption”, with D. Ryvkin (FSU) and James
Tremewan (U of Vienna). European Economic Review,
94: 1-22, 2017. PDF
“Participatory accountability and
collective action: Experimental evidence from Albania”, with A. Barr
(U of Nottingham) and T. Packard (The World Bank). European Economic Review, 68: 250–269, 2014. PDF
“Intermediaries in
corruption: An experiment”, with M. Drugov
(Carlos III de Madrid) and J. Hamman (FSU). Experimental Economics,
17(1): 78-99, 2014. PDF.
·
Winner
of the Editor’s prize for the best
paper published in Experimental Economics in the year 2014.
“Combining top-down and
bottom-up accountability: Evidence from a bribery experiment”. Journal
of Law, Economics and Organization, 28(3): 569-587, August 2012. Online advance access here.
“Anti-corruption
Policies: Lessons from the Lab”, with K. Abbink.
In D. Serra and L. Wantchekon (eds.) New Advances in Experimental Research on
Corruption, Research In Experimental Economics Volume 15, Bingly:
Emerald Group Publishing, June 2012.
“Intrinsic
motivations and the non-profit health sector: Evidence from Ethiopia”,
with P. Serneels (UEA) and A. Barr (U of Nottingham) Personality
and Individual Differences, 51(3):
309-314. PDF.
“How corruptible are you?
Bribery under uncertainty”, with D. Ryvkin
(FSU), Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 81(2012): 466-477.
PDF.
“Corruption and Culture: An experimental Analysis”, with A. Barr (U of Nottingham), Journal of Public Economics, 94, Issues 11-12, December 2010. PDF .
“The effects of externalities and
framing on bribery in a petty corruption experiment”, with A. Barr (U
of Nottingham), Experimental Economics, 12 (4):
488-503, 2009. PDF.
Discovering
the Real World –Health Workers’ Career Choices and Early Work
Experience in Ethiopia, with P. Serneels (UEA) and M. Lindelow
(World Bank), The World Bank, Washington DC.
Pre-doctoral Publications
“Empirical Determinants of Corruption: A
sensitivity Analysis,” Public Choice 126 (1-2),
225-256, 2006. PDF.
This is based on my undergraduate thesis at Bocconi
University, under the supervision of Guido Tabellini
and Eliana La Ferrara.
“The twin effects of
globalization: Evidence from a sample of Indian manufacturing firms,” with F. Daveri and P. Manasse, Rivista of Politica Economica, 2010:
223-254.
I worked on this project as a pre-doctoral Research
Assistant. I still remember the shock and happiness I experienced when
Francesco and Paolo asked me to be a coauthor on the paper.
EDITED VOLUME
New
Advances in Experimental Research on Corruption, edited with Leonard Wantchekon
(Princeton University), Emerald Group Publishing, June 2012.
WORK IN PROGRESS
· ON GENDER, EDUCATION, LABOR
“The long term impact of childhood abduction trauma on
the preferences, attitudes and psychological well-being of women in Northern
Uganda” with A. Cassar (University of San Francisco), Eeshani
Kandpal (The World Bank), Miranda Lambert (Texas
A&M University) and Christine Mbabazi (Makerere University).
·
Pre-registration:
AER Registry.
“Recruiting
Economics Majors: The Impact of an Information Campaign Targeted at High School
Counselors” with J. Meer (Texas
A&M University).
·
Pre-registration:
AER Registry.
“Improving
the college experience: An encouragement experiment” with Catherine Porter (Lancaster University) and Daniel Gomez Vasquez
(Texas A&M University).
·
Pre-registration:
AER Registry
“Women’s leadership in VSLAs” (working title), with Kjetil
Bjorvatn
(Norwegian School of Economics), Shymal Chowdhury
(University of Sydney), Catalina Franco (Norwegian School of Economics), and Munshi Sulaiman (BRAC).
“Can
different communication methods decrease gender bias in the workplace?” (working title), with T. Salmon (Southern Methodist University).
“Dismantling gender stereotypes in STEM careers
among adolescents and their parents: Experimental evidence from Peruvian schools” with Marcos Agurto
(Universidad de Piura) and S. Sudipta (Virginia Tech
University).
·
ON POLITICAL ECONOMY, SERVICE PROVIDERS, AND CORRUPTION
“Information, beliefs and
anti-corruption activism: An Experiment”
with F. Afridi (Indian Statistical Institute), A. Basistha (Indian Statistical Institute) and A. Dhillon (King’s College).
·
Pre-registration: AsPredicted.
“Do
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)
“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 January 2023