Working Papers
The Gig Economy and Crime [SSRN]
Coverage: CNN Brasil, CNN video, El Colombiano, Brasil 247
This study investigates how the expansion of gig work affects the level and geographic distribution of crime by leveraging the staggered rollout of the largest food delivery platform in Brazil (iFood), combined with the universe of geocoded property crime and robbery incident reports from São Paulo state. The rise in gig work reduced crime on average by 10.4%. The effect is larger in magnitude at times of day when the returns to delivery work are highest and in lower-income neighborhoods, where delivery workers disproportionately reside. There is no evidence that crime is displaced towards areas with high delivery demand.
Female Labor Productivity Reduces Domestic Violence: Evidence from Peru [SRRN]
This study investigates the impact of greater economic opportunities for women on domestic violence in Peru. I construct exogenous shifters of gender-specific labor productivity by exploiting gender-specific specialization in the production of major export crops, along with time variation in international crop prices and cross-sectional variation in crop planting patterns. Female labor productivity reduces domestic violence, including severe physical violence and female homicide. These effects are not driven by changes in total household income, increases in women's bargaining power in the household, or changes in beliefs about the role and treatment of women. Instead, evidence suggests that results are driven by increases in women's independence and the ability to seek support outside the domestic sphere. The effects are stronger in districts with more unequal gender norms, in contrast to theories of "male backlash" that predict the opposite.
High Temperatures Impede Productivity Growth on the Job (with Heather Schofield and Pedro Bessone)
We study how temperature affects productivity growth among Indian data-entry workers new to the job. Higher temperatures impede on-the-job learning, reducing the rate of productivity growth by 3.2 percentage points per degree Celsius over the past week. These effects are beyond temperatures’ contemporaneous impacts: each additional degree Celsius lowers same-day hourly productivity by 1.1% via increased breaks, with no change in days worked or in-office hours. The finding that higher temperatures not only reduce contemporaneous output, but also hinder learning-on-the-job has implications for both workers and firms in low-income countries facing rising temperatures, high turnover, and increasingly knowledge-based economies.
Other Research
Frankenthal, I. A., Alves, M. C., Tak, C., & Achatz, M. I. (2022). Cancer Surveillance for Patients with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome in Brazil: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. The Lancet Regional Health–Americas, 12.
This study aims to assess the cost-effectiveness of introducing annual screening in the Brazilian public health-care system for patients diagnosed with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, a prevalent cancer pre-disposition syndrome associated with high risks for a diverse spectrum of malignancies.
Frankenthal, I., & Dutta, D. (2021). Risk Factors for Gender-based Violence: The Case of Indian Agriculture. Oxfam Research Report.
This study documents the incidence of domestic and workplace violence among Indian female agricultural workers, and the factors that put these women at risk. It also describes in depth the working conditions and gender-based violence in tea plantations, where the vast majority of labor is female and qualitative evidence suggests violence against women is particularly prevalent.