
Alessandra Voena
Professor of Economics, University of Chicago
Alessandra Voena is a labour and development economist whose research focuses primarily on the economics of the family and the economics of science and innovation. Her most recent work studies the economic consequences of the cultural norms around marriage on human capital investments in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. She is currently a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, a Research Affiliate at CEPR and a faculty research fellow at NBER. She served as a Ruffolo Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Voena received a PhD in economics in 2011 from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Torino in Italy in 2005. She was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship in 2017 and the Carlo Alberto Medal in the same year.
Recent work by Alessandra Voena
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Economic shocks and the age of marriage in sub-Saharan Africa and India
The age of marriage responds to economic conditions. Reducing child marriage requires understanding the economic role of culture and institutions
Articles : Institutions & Political Economy
Published 13.03.20
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Reducing fertility in sub-Saharan Africa
Why do we still see very high fertility rates in Zambia when women want to have fewer children and are open to the use of contraceptives?
Published 30.10.19
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Bride and prejudice: The price of education
Without other subsidies, well-intentioned activism against bride price may cause more harm than good for investing in girls’ education.
Nava Ashraf Natalie Bau Nathan Nunn Alessandra Voena
Published 21.06.17