iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

To summarise: social institutions can have non-monotonic effects across the life cycle. Age-sets incentivise early human capital investments but constrain later schooling. To read more: doi.org/10.65864/2xt...

doi.org

Social Institutions, Parental Investments and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Age-sets in Uganda | ifo Institute | CESifo

020

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Age-sets also shape policy impacts: Uganda introduced free secondary school in 2007, the first sub-Saharan African country to do so. The policy increased years of schooling by 2 years in non-age-set societies, but we find no detectable effect for those in age-set societies.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Models of human capital development predict that these early-life advantages should compound into greater education. Yet positive effects on education dissipate between 12-16, the typical ages of age-set initiation, when age-set responsibilities increase the opportunity cost of formal schooling.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Why do age-set children receive more human capital investments? Although age-set parents are less likely to cite old-age support motives, they are more likely to cite improving their children’s futures. We also provide suggestive evidence of a stronger link between human and social capital.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Age-set children receive 0.36 SD more parental human capital investment (and 0.52 SD in a fuzzy design). Greater investments correspond to higher rates of survival, greater height and weight, plus better performance on measures of early-life development.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

We exploit the spatial discontinuity between regions with and without age-set social structures, using four waves of the Ugandan DHS. This boundary is sharp – the probably that DHS respondents report being of an age-set ethnicity jumps by 72 pp at the boundary.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Age-sets organise societies into age-based groups. Children are typically initiated into one around age 12-16 and stay a member for life, moving up through grades of seniority alongside your peers. 11 of 29 Ugandan ethnicities have a documented history of the practice, mostly in the north-east.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

New paper 🧵 How do age-set social institutions shape human capital investments and educational attainment? Using variation in the presence of age-sets in Uganda, we find that they raise early-life investments but constrain later educational attainment. with Patrick McHale @dspika.bsky.social

110

Reposted by Matthew Collins

CESifo @cesifo.org · 10/12/2025

New Paper 📢 "Exposure to Inequality, Human Capital Investment, and Labor Market Outcomes" 💰💼 by @jbietenbeck.bsky.social @collinsmatthew.bsky.social Petter Lundborg & @kmajlesi.bsky.social Find out more about the latest CESifo Working Paper: 🔗 www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/pu...

031

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

So happy to finally see my Job Market Paper published at the @j-humanresources.bsky.social ! 🙌

0184

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

And for more details on the workshop (and games), see my previous thread:

010

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Join us in Galway for Ireland's first Replication Games! This year, we are hosting a replication games in collaboration with @i4replication.bsky.social, alongside the annual CERIS workshop. You can sign up for the replication games here 👇

120

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Check out our new working paper! See below for a thread summarising our findings!

130

Reposted by Matthew Collins

CESifo @cesifo.org · 05/08/2025

Welcome @collinsmatthew.bsky.social! We’re excited to introduce him as a new network member. His research covers topics in applied microeconomics related to human capital, child development and inequalities. 📚 Learn more about his work: sites.google.com/view/matthew... 🔗 www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/ne...

031

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

To read more, check out our working paper here: www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/pu...

000

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

These effects are largely absent in more male-dominant cultures. We posit that this heterogeneity occurs due to differences in women's bargaining power within the household around decisions related to fertility.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Moreover, exploiting cross-sectional variation in time exposed to FPE, we find that FPE led to greater female empowerment in several domains: Greater contraceptive use, decision-making power, higher labour force participation, higher rates of divorce and lower tolerance for IPV.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

For children born after the introduction of FPE, we find higher rates of survival and school enrolment, consistent with a quantity-quality trade-off. But these effects are moderated by local gender norms, with effects on fertility and enrolment concentrated among more gender-equal cultures.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Specifically, we examine the introduction of FPE in sub-Saharan Africa using Demographic and Health Surveys from 17 countries. We develop a panel of women's fertility histories and use a within-ethnicity, across-country DiD to identify the causal effect of FPE, finding a 4% reduction in fertility.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Free Primary Education is widely seen as a tool to promote long-term growth, but in a new working paper (🚨), @eleonoraguarnieri.bsky.social, Helmut Rainer and I show that the effects are more immediate and wide-reaching, with FPE leading to reduced fertility and greater female empowerment.

173

Reposted by Matthew Collins

John Cullinan @beta1hat.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Cool event alert! Join us in Galway in September for a workshop on replication in economics and Ireland's very first replication games. Full details in Matthew’s thread below. Please repost/share widely.

045

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

If you would like to present at the replication workshop, send us an email! To sign up for the replication game: i4replication.org/games.html

010

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

On the 26th (Friday), we host the replication games. We are looking for junior and senior academic faculty, postdocs, PhD students, and other researchers.

110

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

On the 25th (Thursday), we kick things off with a full-day workshop on the theme of replication in economics, with Derek Mikola as keynote speaker. We welcome submissions on past/ongoing replication work.

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Ireland's 1st replication games! In collaboration with the @i4replication.bsky.social, and as part of the annual CERIS Workshop, we are hosting Ireland's first replication games in Galway on September 25-26th.

1113

Reposted by Matthew Collins

CESifo @cesifo.org · 14/05/2025

🔊 Great news! @collinsmatthew.bsky.social will join us as a guest researcher next week from May 19th to 23rd! 🧐 Check out his website for more info on his research in in applied microeconomics: sites.google.com/view/matthew... 🔗 www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/gu...

051

Reposted by Matthew Collins

Emma Howard @howardemma.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

If you’re in Galway on March 10th or can travel there, come along to this #IWD2025 event!

002

Reposted by Matthew Collins

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

We are hiring! The University of Galway is on the market for an Assistant Professor in economics. The position is open to any field and is a permanent, tenured position. (1/5)

1115

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Get in touch if you are interested in applying. The ad is posted at www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKT516/l... and econjobmarket.org/positions/11... (account required to view)

000

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Plus, you get to live in Galway! www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

110

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

The University was also named Times University of the Year for 2022: universityofgalway.ie/about-us/new... (3/5)

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

You will join a vibrant and growing Economics department, with 25 faculty, 11 post-docs and ca. 30 PhD students. Some of our recent pubs include AEJ: Applied, JPubE, J of Applied Econometrics, JET, JUE, JDE, J of Banking and Finance, JHE, JEBO, etc. etc. (2/5)

100

Matthew Collins @collinsmatthew.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

We are hiring! The University of Galway is on the market for an Assistant Professor in economics. The position is open to any field and is a permanent, tenured position. (1/5)

1115