Abstract: As many countries face ageing populations, national healthcare systems are challenged by increasing economic pressures from vaccine-preventable diseases. To contrast vaccine hesitancy, health authorities recommend gentle communication techniques instead of paternalistic approaches in both in-person and less costly digital campaigns. We conduct a factorial survey experiment on a representative sample of 12000 Italians aged 40+ and test whether gentle communication outperforms traditional approaches and other behavioural nudges in a cost-effective video campaign for the flu vaccine. While the perception of informants improves, willingness to vaccinate decreases by 7.4% (3 percentage points), and actual uptake remains unchanged. Causal forests reveal that this inconsistency is not the result of cognitive resistance, but rather of different reactions in non-overlapping groups. The vast majority experiences null behavioral effects. However, while a negligible minority of older, chronically ill participants may react positively, gentle communication backfires by reducing uptake in a possibly larger group with initially lower skepticism. 

Abstract: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of creative STEM activities on the propensity to enrol in a STEM university course and career aspirations on a sample of 710 high school students in Italy. The activities covered courses on 3D printing, laser cutting, and programming, and were taught by FabLabs, non-profit digital fabrication laboratories with an innovative pedagogical approach grounded in learn-by-doing, problem-solving skills, and creativity. Participation in the activities was voluntary, but counted for credit. We find that access to these courses increased students’ intentions to pursue STEM majors at university (6 p.p., +17%) and STEM careers (7.4 p.p., +40%), possibly through to an increased STEM self-efficacy (7.3 p.p., +22%), namely students’ beliefs in their ability to pursue STEM studies.

Abstract: I investigate the long-term effects of theocracy on political preferences and religiosity, exploiting a river that separated the theocratic Papal States from secular states for three centuries. To disentangle the effect of theocracy from other confounders, I propose a novel extension to geographic regression discontinuity designs, the Difference-in-Geographic Discontinuities (DIG). While religiosity and political preferences descriptively differ discontinuously at the river, the causal effect of theocracy is null. Using existing and novel datasets spanning eight centuries, I suggest that pre-existing inheritance norms affected religiosity and political preferences by increasing collectivism and social capital, thereby neutralizing the impact of theocratic institutions.

Abstract: This study investigates the effect of increasing female representation in executive positions within local governments on municipal expenditures. We leverage a 2014 reform in Italy that mandated 40% gender quotas in the executive councils of municipalities with more than 3,000 residents. To isolate the impact of gender quotas from other policies active at the same population cutoff, we employ a difference-in-discontinuities approach. We document that the policy effectively increases female representation in local governments, and descriptively it brings younger, less experienced female politicians into the executive councils. Our findings reveal that the increase in female executives shifts resources away from culture toward schooling, with the budget share allocated to preschools and schools rising by 23% and 10%, respectively, and the one to culture decreasing by 37%. This indicates that including women in executive roles can influence the allocation of municipal resources.

Abstract: This paper explores the understudied link between self-consciousness and vaccine scepticism, combining an experimental approach with causal forests to estimate individual treatment effects. Leveraging data from a lab experiment with Italian university students, we find that individuals who are more easily induced to self-conscious responses (e.g., feeling shame or embarrassment) tend to hold stronger vaccine misbeliefs. Rather than a causal effect of self-consciousness elicitation on vaccine attitudes, our results highlight a correlation between pre-treatment attitudes and susceptibility to self-conscious emotions. This underlines the importance of policy interventions aimed at effective public health communication, since more sceptical individuals may avoid discussing with health professionals or develop self-conscious emotions as the result of these discussions, further exacerbating their vaccine hesitancy.