My research activity primarily focuses on the intersection between the study of social inequalities and the impact evaluation of public policies. First and foremost, I study which policy tools (scholarships, loans, incentivized savings) are most appropriate for promoting university participation—in terms of enrollment, performance, and completion—among students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. Remaining within the scope of educational opportunity inequalities, I am also interested in analyzing the role that institutional reforms and economic crises may play in terms of achievement and attainment.
A more recent area of research I have started to pursue concerns the school-to-work transition with a dual focus: i) understanding the role that scholarships may play in the labor market; ii) analyzing the imbalances that arise between labor supply and demand by examining the skills required by the labor market using online job advertisements.
A third theme characterizing my research agenda relates to social cohesion. This was the focus of my doctoral dissertation, in which I explored definitional and measurement issues before studying the role played by social inequalities. Currently, I am working on further developments in two areas: i) distinguishing the role that different resources—economic, cultural, and social—may have in influencing levels of social cohesion; ii) understanding the role that exogenous shocks, such as economic crises and the COVID-19 pandemic, may have.
Finally, a topic I have recently become interested in concerns the cultural dimensions of aging. Specifically, I am interested in analyzing in detail the role that education can play in various areas relevant to so-called active aging, such as health and active participation in social life.
