Pere A. Taberner

1. 2025

   Maurer, S., Sánchez-Vidal, M., Taberner, P. A., & Tucat, P. (2025). Targeted activation: Evaluating a public-private labour market policy in Barcelona. Gestión y Análisis de Políticas Públicas, 39, 78–88.

   2nd Prize, 3rd edition of the "Carlos Román" International Award for Public Policy Evaluation

   DOI Paper 5centims BIB Abstract

   @article{maurer2025targeted,
     author = {Maurer, S. and Sánchez-Vidal, M. and Taberner, Pere A. and Tucat, P.},
     title = {Targeted activation: Evaluating a public-private labour market policy in Barcelona},
     journal = {Gestión y Análisis de Políticas Públicas},
     number = {39},
     pages = {78--88},
     year = {2025},
     doi = {10.24965/gapp.11560},
     url = {https://revistasonline.inap.es/index.php/GAPP/article/view/11560}
   }
   

   Objectives: This article evaluates the impact of a local active labour market policy (POIL) implemented in the province of Barcelona, aimed at improving employment outcomes through public-private partnerships providing personalised support and placement in local jobs. Methodology: We combine a matching strategy with a difference-in-differences estimation using administrative data to estimate the causal effect of programme participation. Results: Participation in the programme increases the probability of finding employment by 3.4 percentage points. The effects are stronger among older workers, native individuals, and those with shorter prior unemployment spells. Conclusions: The findings highlight the potential of locally targeted active labour market policies to improve employment outcomes, particularly when interventions are tailored to sectoral needs and delivered through personalised support mechanisms.

2. 2025

   Montolio, D., & Taberner, P. A. (2025). Crime at your doorstep: Gender-specific effects on university student performance [IEB Working Paper 2025/07]. Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB).

   Paper Nada es Gratis BIB Abstract

   @techreport{montolio2025crime,
     author = {Montolio, D. and Taberner, Pere A.},
     title = {Crime at your doorstep: Gender-specific effects on university student performance},
     institution = {Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB)},
     type = {IEB Working Paper 2025/07},
     year = {2025},
     url = {https://ieb.ub.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Doc2025-07_merged.pdf}
   }
   

   Student performance at university significantly influences individual decisions and future opportunities, especially in labour markets. This paper analyses the impact of local crime on student performance during higher education, with a focus on potential gender differences. Following students over their bachelor’s years, the identification strategy exploits granular local crime variation – violent and non-violent crimes – near students’ residences before sitting a final exam. We consider both spatial and temporal patterns of crime exposure by estimating a panel data model with student, exam and district-month fixed-effects to provide causal estimates. Our findings suggest that violent crimes have a negative impact on student performance, while non-violent have no significant effect. Notably, the results are mainly driven by high-ability female students, with suggestive evidence that male students in the bottom or middle parts of the grade distribution are also affected

3. 2021

   Montolio, D., & Taberner, P. A. (2021). Gender differences under test pressure and their impact on student performance: a quasi-experimental approach. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 191, 1065–1090.

   DOI Paper Nada es Gratis BIB Abstract

   @article{montolio2021gender,
     author = {Montolio, D. and Taberner, Pere A.},
     title = {Gender differences under test pressure and their impact on student performance: a quasi-experimental approach},
     journal = {Journal of Economic Behavior \& Organization},
     volume = {191},
     pages = {1065--1090},
     year = {2021},
     doi = {10.1016/j.jebo.2021.09.021},
     url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268121004066}
   }
   

   Student performance at university is a strong determinant of individual decisions and future outcomes, most notably labour opportunities. Although published studies have found gender differences in student performance in response to pressure, little is known about such differences when university students respond to different levels of pressure, resulting from different stakes. Based on field data, this study aims to examine gender differences in student performance in response to different stakes when sitting multiple choice tests, a frequently employed exam format at university. To do so, the introduction of continuous assessment in the evaluation system of a university course allows us to exploit a unique quasi-experimental set up in which the same students take similar tests throughout the course but under different levels of pressure, i.e. facing different stakes. Exploiting individual student data in a panel data framework, we find that male students outperform their female counterparts when under high pressure. However, as the stakes faced decrease, the gender gap shrinks and even reverses in favour of female students at the lowest pressure scenario. We also analyse possible mechanisms responsible for the observed gender gap by studying whether students excel or choke under pressure depending on their gender, and by studying gender differences when omitting questions on multiple choice tests.

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