Danila Serra
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danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
Danila Serra
@danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
7.3K followers 980 following 93 posts
Associate Professor of Economics at Texas A&M University. Experiments on corruption, gender, education. #firstgen

https://people.tamu.edu/~dserra/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Danila Serra
melissadgentry.bsky.social
I am excited to announce I am on the #EconJobMarket this year! 🎉 My research explores economic barriers for people with disabilities at the intersection of labor, public, and health economics.

My #EconJMP examines how reliable transportation transforms outcomes for this population. 🧵1/6
Photo shows the title page for an academic paper titled "Driving Inclusion: The Effect of Improved Transportation for People with Disabilities" by Melissa Gentry. The abstract is as follows: People with disabilities face substantial barriers to economic and social participation. I explore the extent to which these barriers are overcome by the availability of reliable and flexible transportation, which may serve as ``reliability insurance'' in case other modes of transit fail. Leveraging the roll-out of Uber, I use a stacked difference-in-differences approach to show that the availability of reliable and flexible transportation leads to improvements in social and economic participation through increased marriage rates and labor force participation, and reduced reliance on public assistance. The reduction in public assistance outweighs expected rideshare costs, lending support to the recent push towards public-private partnerships in the transportation space.
November 7, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
chloergibbs.bsky.social
📣 BUT IS IT ECONOMICS?

*New at EJ* “Research Similarity and Women in Academia,” Piera Bello, Alessandra Casarico & @deboranozza.bsky.social, on role of research similarity btw applicants & selection committees for academic promotions, and the implications for gender diversity: tinyurl.com/mrd8cpkf
Screenshot of abstract of paper: We investigate the extent to which research similarity between senior and junior researchers is related to promotion in academia and study implications for gender diversity among academic staff. Using data on the universe of job applications for tenure track assistant professor positions in economics in Italy, and applying NLP techniques (i.e., document embeddings) to the abstract of each publication of the scholars in our dataset, we propose a novel measure of research similarity that can capture the closeness in research topics, methodologies or policy relevance between candidates and members of selection committees. We show that the degree of similarity is strongly associated with the probability of winning. Moreover, while there are no gender differences in mean similarity, the maximum similarity with selection committee members is lower for female candidates. This gender gap disappears when similarity is calculated focusing only on female committee members. The results suggest that similarity bias in male-dominated environments may have implications for gender and research diversity.
November 7, 2025 at 5:41 PM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
Congratulations to my former student Daniel Gomez-Vasquez!

Very proud advisor over here🎉🎉🎉
#econsky
November 2, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
novafrica.bsky.social
Do you want to learn more about @NovaSBE
#PhD in #Economics and how you can pursue your doctoral studies in #DevelopmentEconomics? Do you have questions to ask?

Join us online Wednesday Oct 29 | 4pm: lnkd.in/dh_XMcKX

Apply here: lnkd.in/dCkjAdGc
novafrica.bsky.social NOVAFRICA @novafrica.bsky.social · 27d
🚀 Applications are open for the #PhD in #Economics at @NovaSBE !

Shape the future of #DevelopmentEconomics with hands-on research, full funding and collaboration with NOVAFRICA researchers.

🔗 Apply: www.novasbe.unl.pt/en/programs/...
🔗 More about NOVAFRICA: novafrica.org
October 27, 2025 at 11:55 AM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
This was a fantastic conference that I was lucky to participate in.
Thanks to @alexeble.bsky.social @ashleyywong.bsky.social and the other organizers. I learned a lot!
alexeble.bsky.social Alex Eble @alexeble.bsky.social · 17d
Happening now here at @barnardcollege.bsky.social: the second incarnation of the Gender in the Global Economy Conference.

Program attached - more updates to come!
October 26, 2025 at 2:59 PM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
It’s always great when you go to a conference and find one of your “no club” members and @aeacswep.bsky.social peer mentors in the program!
@tderyugina.bsky.social
August 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
Looking forward to participating in the BIG Forum event at @biglabnd.bsky.social next month!
biglabnd.bsky.social BIG Lab @biglabnd.bsky.social · Aug 13
The Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Forum is September 25-26 at Notre Dame. We'll have talks by @danilaserra-eco.bsky.social @deankarlan.bsky.social @tedmiguel.bsky.social @novosad.bsky.social and @taryndinkelman.bsky.social. #econsky
Register now! 👇

biglab.nd.edu/news-events/...
August 13, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
laurakgee.bsky.social
Seeing co-authors (@amandayagan.bsky.social‬ Bo Cowgill Jonathan Meer) IN PERSON, seeing my @aeacswep.bsky.social Mid-Career mentoring buddy (@danilaserra-eco.bsky.social) and CeMent mentee (Amanda Chuan), and all sorts of other shenanigans that won't be posted here
July 27, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Danila Serra
laurakgee.bsky.social
Another great @nber.org summer institute has come and gone. Highlights were a great dinner with the crowd from Children/Families
July 27, 2025 at 11:53 AM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
Thank you to all who replied. I got the data I needed!
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social Danila Serra @danilaserra-eco.bsky.social · Jun 24
#EconSky

Does anybody have DHS data for Bangladesh?

Or is there a webpage where somebody managed to save previously available DHS data?

Thank you for your help!
June 24, 2025 at 12:46 PM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
#EconSky

Does anybody have DHS data for Bangladesh?

Or is there a webpage where somebody managed to save previously available DHS data?

Thank you for your help!
June 24, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by Danila Serra
joshua-goodman.com
Re-upping my advice about how to write a good title and abstract for an academic paper, appropriately called:

"How to Write a Title and Abstract"

Feel free to share this thread, which will focus on titles.

#EconSky #AcademicSky
June 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
deanyang.bsky.social
Great overview by @um-psc.bsky.social of our new review in @science.org about brain gain!

#EconSky #Migration
um-psc.bsky.social UM Population Studies Center @um-psc.bsky.social · Jun 6
👀 Smaller, lower-income countries often rue the loss of high-skilled workers who emigrate for greater opportunities, but PSC's @deanyang.bsky.social @umfordschool.bsky.social et al find this out-migration often comes with positive feedback loops for countries of origin. myumi.ch/rAwer #EconSky
As India responded to international demand for IT workers, more people acquired skills than emigrated-- raising the number of people with those skills at home.
June 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
I gave a keynote address today at the AEA CTREE conference and I used my hands A LOT!

(My husband was in the audience for the first time ever, and took photographic evidence of my insane use of Italian hands!🤷‍♀️)
May 30, 2025 at 7:26 PM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
In Palo Alto for a talk and so glad I was able to see Kalena last night (despite flight cancellations and rescheduling)
May 8, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
corinnelow.com
Thrilled to share the cover of my upcoming book, Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women's Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours. @flatironbooks.bsky.social, Sept 23! Containing 15 years of research & my personal story. Preorder links, book talks, & newsletter here! corinnelow.com/book
Orange, pink, and yellow book cover with white text, showing various objects representing women's lives, from a house to a kid's bike to an airplane, with some objects representing the stress of it all: dinner on fire, a broken high heel, a crying baby, a spilled coffee cup, and overflowing inbox. Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women's Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours. Corinne Low, PhD. On Sale 9.23.25.
May 2, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
riacton.bsky.social
This is a great paper on a timely topic! Congrats @danielfiroozi.bsky.social!
May 2, 2025 at 1:48 PM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
The one good news of the week is that @econcath.bsky.social & I were together in Lancaster as our paper “Gender Differences in the Choice of Major: The Importance of Female Role Models” (AEJ: Applied, 2020) reached 600 citations while we work on the follow-up study🎊

www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
April 10, 2025 at 7:05 PM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
Very happy to be in London for the @GLMLIC research conference at @LSEnews, learning about ongoing projects on gender and labor markets in low income countries.

@g2lmlic.bsky.social @iza.org
April 7, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
toddrjones.bsky.social
Mississippi State Univ. is hiring a tenure-track Econ Assistant Prof w/ August start!

Open field; pref. for applied micro & teaching PhD Micro I & II (Micro II this fall).

Apply: MSU site & www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing.php?JOE_ID=2025-01_111475768

Please repost—it's an off-cycle search. Thanks!
March 21, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
cullenhendrix.bsky.social
This is terrible, terrible news. My heart goes out to the staff at @wilsoncenter.org and my head is spinning at how this destroys a load-bearing element of the US foreign policy ecosystem.
abarbashin.bsky.social Anton Barbashin @abarbashin.bsky.social · Mar 15
Trump is eliminating Wilson Center, a stellar US foreign policy study establishment. Along with it goes the Kennan Institute - one of the best Russia study institutions.
I was fortunate to be a Kennan Fellow in 2017.
Such a loss
Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose.
www.whitehouse.gov
March 16, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
charlesjkenny.bsky.social
A new blog with Justin Sadefur on the USAID cuts. Based on a leaked list of cancelled contracts and data from foreignassistancedotgov we try to calculate how deep the cuts by country and sector.

www.cgdev.org/blog/usaid-c...
The USAID Cuts: Little Sign of Mercy for “Life-Saving” Health Programs
The bottom line: we estimate the cancelled awards represent somewhere over 34 percent of USAID programming. And notably, “life-saving” program areas like maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, malaria, ...
www.cgdev.org
March 14, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
aeraedresearch.bsky.social
AERA has just learned that all restricted-use NCES data licenses will be cancelled, possibly as early as March 20. We urgently request that all AERA members and others in the research community with restricted-use licenses take these two actions: www.aera.net/Research-Pol...
March 14, 2025 at 7:09 PM
danilaserra-eco.bsky.social
I will be in Lancaster visiting my friend and coauthor @econcath.bsky.social on April 1-11, with a short stay in London for the @iza.org @g2lmlic.bsky.social research conference on April 7-8.

I really need a break from this country.
March 14, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Danila Serra
j-pal.bsky.social
“The world must now affirm that human lives matter, no matter where they are.” In a new op-ed, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo call for governments, multilaterals, and philanthropists to double down on investing in evidence-backed programs that improve people’s lives. www.ft.com/content/43e9...
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo: Foreign aid can be effective without the US
In the wake of USAID cuts, wealthy nations and individuals must take the reins
www.ft.com
March 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM