Matthew Collins

Welcome @collinsmatthew.bsky.social!
We’re excited to introduce him as a new network member. His research covers topics in applied microeconomics related to human capital, child development and inequalities. 📚

Learn more about his work: sites.google.com/view/matthew...
🔗 www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/ne...

To read more, check out our working paper here: www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/pu...

These effects are largely absent in more male-dominant cultures. We posit that this heterogeneity occurs due to differences in women's bargaining power within the household around decisions related to fertility.

Moreover, exploiting cross-sectional variation in time exposed to FPE, we find that FPE led to greater female empowerment in several domains: Greater contraceptive use, decision-making power, higher labour force participation, higher rates of divorce and lower tolerance for IPV.

For children born after the introduction of FPE, we find higher rates of survival and school enrolment, consistent with a quantity-quality trade-off. But these effects are moderated by local gender norms, with effects on fertility and enrolment concentrated among more gender-equal cultures.

Specifically, we examine the introduction of FPE in sub-Saharan Africa using Demographic and Health Surveys from 17 countries. We develop a panel of women's fertility histories and use a within-ethnicity, across-country DiD to identify the causal effect of FPE, finding a 4% reduction in fertility.

Free Primary Education is widely seen as a tool to promote long-term growth, but in a new working paper (🚨),
@eleonoraguarnieri.bsky.social, Helmut Rainer and I show that the effects are more immediate and wide-reaching, with FPE leading to reduced fertility and greater female empowerment.

Cool event alert! Join us in Galway in September for a workshop on replication in economics and Ireland's very first replication games. Full details in Matthew’s thread below. Please repost/share widely.

If you would like to present at the replication workshop, send us an email!

To sign up for the replication game: i4replication.org/games.html

On the 26th (Friday), we host the replication games. We are looking for junior and senior academic faculty, postdocs, PhD
students, and other researchers.

On the 25th (Thursday), we kick things off with a full-day workshop on the theme of replication in economics, with Derek Mikola as keynote speaker. We welcome submissions on past/ongoing replication work.

Ireland's 1st replication games!

In collaboration with the @i4replication.bsky.social, and as part of the annual CERIS Workshop, we are hosting Ireland's first replication games in Galway on September 25-26th.

🔊 Great news! @collinsmatthew.bsky.social will join us as a guest researcher next week from May 19th to 23rd!

🧐 Check out his website for more info on his research in in applied microeconomics:
sites.google.com/view/matthew...
🔗 www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/gu...

If you’re in Galway on March 10th or can travel there, come along to this #IWD2025 event!

We are hiring! The University of Galway is on the market for an Assistant Professor in economics.

The position is open to any field and is a permanent, tenured position.
(1/5)

Get in touch if you are interested in applying. The ad is posted at www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKT516/l... and econjobmarket.org/positions/11... (account required to view)

Plus, you get to live in Galway!
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The University was also named Times University of the Year for 2022: universityofgalway.ie/about-us/new...
(3/5)

You will join a vibrant and growing Economics department, with 25 faculty, 11 post-docs and ca. 30 PhD students.

Some of our recent pubs include AEJ: Applied, JPubE, J of Applied Econometrics, JET, JUE, JDE, J of Banking and Finance, JHE, JEBO, etc. etc.

(2/5)

We are hiring! The University of Galway is on the market for an Assistant Professor in economics.

The position is open to any field and is a permanent, tenured position.
(1/5)