Economics Research Community Seminar – Professor Gabriella Conti
Title: The Menopause Penalty
Date: 14 February 2024
Time: 13:30-14:30
Location: NUBS.2.03
If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:
Speaker: Professor Gabriella Conti, Professor of Economics, University College London
Gabriella’s areas of interest are health economics, the economics of human development, and biology and economics. Her research draws on both the biomedical and the social sciences with the aim of understanding the developmental origins of health inequalities, the role of child development as input in the production of lifecycle health and the behavioural and biological pathways through which early life shocks, investments and policies affect well-being throughout the lifecourse. Gabriella has published in top journals in different disciplines, such as Science, PNAS, Pediatrics, the Economic Journal, the Journal of Econometrics and Lancet. Her work has been mentioned in the New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and discussed in the British Parliament. Gabriella has been awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics, which “recognises the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising”; and the Nick Hales Award from the DOHaD society, for a “young and emerging investigator who has made an outstanding scientific contribution to the DOHaD field”. She is also the PI of a 5-year ERC Consolidator Award from the European Research Council and ranks among the top 3% Female Economists for the last 10 years publications.
Abstract:
Menopause is a major biological shock to women, marking the end of their reproductive years. Despite its relevance, scant research has studied how it impacts social dynamics, labour market outcomes, or health care demand. Using high-quality linked national register administrative data, combined with a stacked difference-in-differences design, we estimate the effect of menopause diagnosis on marriage stability, earnings, reliance on social safety net programs, and demand for medical care. We find that menopause affects a broad swath of women’s lives, ranging from increased visits to doctors upon the menopause onset to a persistent decline in earnings and increased used of social transfers. The reduction on earnings is similar to that found for studies on the child “penalty” and it amounts to 20% relative to pre-menopause level. Our results suggest that policies aimed at supporting women who suffer more serious symptoms around the menopausal transition may have significant labor market benefits.