What initially drew you to the study of labor economics and entrepreneurship? Were there specific events, mentors, or personal experiences that significantly influenced your academic focus?
My research agenda was shaped by a combination of academic and personal influences. I’ve always admired Claudia Goldin’s work. Her research on marriage, contraception, and the changing role of women in the labor market shows how policies, like access to reproductive healthcare, can profoundly reshape women’s roles in society by giving them more control over their futures. On a more personal level, my own family’s story also played a role. My grandparents migrated to Milan from Southern Italy. They didn’t have an education or resources, but they had been apprentices in a tailor shop. It occurred to them that they could build something from what they knew—sewing. This eventually led them to open their own tailor shop, specializing in women’s couture and wedding dresses. Their story made me curious about why people take risks and choose entrepreneurship, especially when they don’t have much to fall back on.
As a postdoctoral fellow at UBC’s Stone Centre, how does your research improve our understanding of wealth and income inequality? Who do these findings apply to?
My research sheds light on how childbirth, a pivotal life event, exacerbates the gender gap in entrepreneurship, contributing to wealth and income inequality. I show that women entrepreneurs experience sharp declines in firm performance and income after childbirth. My work aims to understand the role played by family decisions. For example, decisions made within couples about who assumes the primary caregiving role can affect a woman’s ability to start or maintain a business. The mechanisms underlying these choices—such as societal expectations around gender roles or limited access to affordable childcare—play a key part in understanding why some families accumulate wealth while others don’t. These findings are relevant for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and labor economists seeking to understand the long-term implications of family dynamics on economic mobility.
Your research highlights the significant impact of childbirth on women’s entrepreneurial activity. Given that entrepreneurship is a key driver of economic growth and a major source of wealth accumulation, how do you see this gender gap in entrepreneurship contributing to broader patterns of wealth inequality?
When women decide to become entrepreneurs and to start a family, they may face additional challenges such as balancing caregiving responsibilities, limited access to financing, and social norms that influence their business decisions. This contributes to a slower growth in women-owned businesses compared to men’s. Since entrepreneurs play a crucial role in job creation and innovation, any barriers that disproportionately affect women—such as child penalties—limit their ability to create economic opportunities for themselves and for others. Given that entrepreneurship is often a pathway to significant wealth accumulation, this gender gap can result in fewer opportunities for women to build businesses that generate wealth at the same scale as their male counterparts
How can your research be used to identify solutions to these issues? To whom are these solutions most relevant?
My research offers insights into some of the most debated policy areas today, especially regarding family policies. In Canada and other countries, expanding childcare availability has become a key focus of policy discussions, given its potential to enable parents, especially women, to remain in the labor market. However, it’s essential to understand the costs these policies impose on taxpayers and how the benefits are distributed across different groups. My research helps understand which families benefit most from these policies and whether they help address the economic penalties that women, particularly entrepreneurs, face after childbirth. When it comes to gender norms, the implications are more complex. Addressing societal expectations that women bear primary childcare responsibilities could involve interventions such as promoting paternal leave or changing workplace cultures to support both men and women in balancing work and family.
During this fellowship, how do you see your research evolving to further explore the dimensions of wealth and income inequality?
I will first contribute to the groundwork of data creation and measurement, in collaboration with Statistics Canada. Measuring wealth inequality is challenging, and the first step is ensuring that we have comprehensive datasets that captures different dimensions of wealth. One of my goals is to understand how much of the observed inequality is driven by entrepreneurship—whether it serves as a vehicle for wealth creation for a broader population or if it primarily benefits those who already have resources, essentially transferring wealth within families rather than creating new opportunities.