Skip to main content

About the Author(s)

David Figlio Profile

David Figlio is Gordon Fyfe Professor of Economics and Education and provost at the University of Rochester. He is an NBER research associate affiliated with the programs on Children and on the Economics of Education.

Figlio previously was Orrington Lunt Professor and dean of the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. He has also served on the faculties of the University of Florida and the University of Oregon. He was founding editor of Education Finance and Policy and editor of the Journal of Human Resources from 2015 to 2021, before which he was coeditor from 2012 to 2015. He has served as an editorial board member of numerous scholarly journals and is a past president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy.

Figlio has written extensively on a range of topics such as school accountability, school choice, economics of higher education, immigrants in education, and the relationship between early health, family background, and educational outcomes. Representative recent papers include “What’s in a Grade? School Report Cards and the Housing Market,” with Maurice E. Lucas; “The Effects of Poor Neonatal Health on Children’s Cognitive Development” with Jonathan Guryan, Krzysztof Karbownik, and Jeffrey Roth; and “Family Disadvantage and the Gender Gap in Behavioral and Educational Outcomes,” with David Autor, Karbownik, Roth and Melanie Wasserman.

Paola Giuliano Profile

Paola Giuliano is a professor of economics and the Chauncey J. Medberry Chair in Management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She is a research associate in the Political Economy Program of the NBER, a research affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London) and a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn). Giuliano’s main areas of research are culture and economics, and political economy.

Giuliano’s research focuses on factors that shape differences in the evolution of culture across societies. Her research addresses questions such as: What role do differences in the distribution of social preferences and beliefs play in explaining economic outcomes, at the level of countries, social groups or over time? Where do these differences come from? How do they interact with institutions?

Giuliano has published studies on the importance of a wide range of factors that are crucial for economic development, including gender norms, family structures, support for democracy, and preferences for redistribution.

Giuliano holds a BA from Bocconi University (Milan) and a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. She received the Young Economist Award from the European Economic Association in 2004 and was a coeditor of the Journal of the European Economic Association from 2015 until 2021.

Paola Sapienza Profile

Paola Sapienza is the Donald C. Clark/HSBC Professor of Finance at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University. She is a research associate in the Corporate Finance and Political Economy Programs of the NBER, a research affiliate of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London), and a Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute.

Sapienza’s research interests span cultural economics, economic development, financial economics, and political economy. Her work on culture investigates how preferences and beliefs are formed, transmitted across generations, and influence economic decisions. Her topics include the effect of social capital and trust on the use and availability of financial contracts, how cultural biases affect economic exchanges among nations, whether lack of trust explains limited stock market participation, and the impact of gender norms and stereotypes on economic outcomes. She also has published research on the role of governmental institutions in financial markets, lobbying, risk preferences, corporate culture, and corporate governance.

She grew up in Italy, where she studied economics at Bocconi University, and received her PhD in economics from Harvard University.

Endnotes

1. Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?” Sapienza P, Zingales L, Guiso L. NBER Working Paper 11999, February 2006, and Journal of Economic Perspectives 20(2), Spring 2006, pp. 23–48; “Culture and Institutions,” Alesina A, Giuliano P. NBER Working Paper 19750, December 2013, and Journal of Economic Literature 53(4), December 2015, pp. 898–944.   Go to ⤴︎
2. Long-Term Orientation and Educational Performance,” Figlio D, Giuliano P, Özek U, Sapienza P. NBER Working Paper 22541, August 2016, and American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 11(4), November 2019, pp. 272–309.   Go to ⤴︎
3. Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival, Third edition. Hofstede G, Hofstede GJ, Minkov M. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010.   Go to ⤴︎
4. Culture, Gender, and Math,” Guiso L, Monte F, Sapienza P, Zingales L. Science 320(5880), May 2008, pp. 1164–1165. Go to ⤴︎
5. Born in the Family: Preferences for Boys and the Gender Gap in Math,” Dossi G, Figlio D, Giuliano P, Sapienza P. NBER Working Paper 25535, February 2019, and Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 183, March 2021, pp. 175–188; “The Family Origin of the Math Gender Gap Is a White Affluent Phenomenon,” Dossi G, Figlio D, Giuliano P, Sapienza P. NBER Working Paper 28326, January 2021, and AEA Papers and Proceedings 111, May 2021, pp. 179–183.   Go to ⤴︎
6. The Demand for Sons: Evidence from Divorce, Fertility, and Shotgun Marriage,” Dahl G, Moretti E. NBER Working Paper 10281, February 2004. Published as “The Demand for Sons,” Review of Economic Studies 75(4), October 2008, pp. 1085–1120.   Go to ⤴︎
7. Gender Discrimination in the Family,” Bharadwaj P, Dahl G, Sheth K. In The Economics of the Family, vol. 2, edited by E. Redmount, pp. 237–266. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio Publishers, 2015.   Go to ⤴︎
8. Gender Achievement Gaps in US School Districts,” Reardon S, Fahle E, Kalogrides D, Podolsky A, Zárate R. CEPA Working Paper 18-13, 2018; “An Empirical Analysis of the Gender Gap in Mathematics,” Fryer R, Levitt S. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2(2), April 2010, pp. 210–240.     Go to ⤴︎
9. Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Educational Performance of US-Born Students,” Figlio D, Giuliano P, Marchingiglio R, Özek U, Sapienza P. NBER Working Paper 28596, March 2021.   Go to ⤴︎

More from NBER

In addition to working papers, the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter, the NBER Digest, the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability, the Bulletin on Health, and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship — as well as online conference reports, video lectures, and interviews.

15th Annual Feldstein Lecture, Mario Draghi, "The Next Flight of the Bumblebee: The Path to Common Fiscal Policy in the Eurozone cover slide
  • Lecture
Dr. Mario Draghi, who served as President of the European Central Bank and Prime Minister of Italy, presented the 2023...
2023 Methods Lectures, Jesse Shapiro and Liyang (Sophie) Sun, "Linear Panel Event Studies" Primary tabs
  • Lecture
Overview: Linear panel event studies are increasingly used to estimate and plot causal effects of changes in policies...
2023, SI Economics of Social Security, Panel Discussion, "Long-Term Dynamics of the Employment-to-Population Ratio" Primary tabs
  • Lecture
Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Lynde and Harry Bradley...

© 2023 National Bureau of Economic Research. Periodical content may be reproduced freely with appropriate attribution.