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Working papers
“Can Female Directors Shrink the Gender Gap? Evidence From France” (with Louise Paul-Delvaux)
Can increasing female representation on corporate boards improve gender equality within firms? And if so, does it come at the expense of financial performance? To answer these questions, we construct a comprehensive panel of directors for all French firms from 2008 to 2021, and exploit a 2010 gender quota as an exogenous shock to board composition. In response to the quota, publicly listed firms increase their female board share from 11\% to 42\% while large non-listed firms exhibit a much more modest rise. We hence exploit firms' pre-quota listing status in difference-in-differences and IV strategies. We find that female representation on the board significantly improves labor outcomes for women: an increase in the female board share leads to (i) a rise in the representation of women among top earners and a higher likelihood that a woman becomes CEO ; and (ii) a reduction in gender wage gaps throughout the wage distribution. We show that these gains for women do not come at the expense of the firm's financial performance: while we observe an increase in labor costs, overall profitability remains unaffected. Finally, we identify factors that may explain the effectiveness of female directors. Boards with higher female representation are more likely to use their CEO compensation-setting power to advance gender equality. Our evidence also suggests that the impact of female directors may be enhanced by their top executive experience and access to key board committees.
“What is essential is visible to the eye: saliency in class rank and its effect on academic achievements” (with Julien Hédou, Paolo Sestito and Falco Bargagli-Stoffi)
Peer comparisons can substantially impact behavior and well-being, but large-scale field evidence that individuals use ordinal rank information is lacking. Leveraging a unique panel dataset and an extensive survey of Italian students, we propose a new strategy to identify students’ reactions to the perception of their primary school class rank. Exploiting a "visible'' rank from teachers' exam grades, and an "invisible'' rank from unreported standardized test scores, we show that rank perception significantly affects students' academic performance and motivation. This suggests that rank disclosure can be effectively utilized in settings where peer comparisons naturally occur, like schools or firms.
Work in Progress
“Take-up of Parental Leave Policies: The Role of Managers” (with Louise Paul-Delvaux)
Paid Family Leave (PFL) policies are designed to support new parents as they navigate the often conflicting demands of work and family responsibilities. Beyond government mandates, firms are actively expanding parental leave benefits as a strategy to attract and retain talent. However, the determinants of employees' take-up are unclear. While previous literature has shown that coworkers' behaviors could have a significant impact on program participation, the role of managers remains unknown. Specifically, if information friction leads employees to hold incorrect beliefs about their manager's stance on parental leave, such firm programs could be underutilized. In this paper, we combine confidential HR data from a major French multinational corporation and employee surveys to examine how information friction influences the take-up and duration of parental leave.
“Family Firms in France” (with Carola Frydman)
Family firms are the most common type of firms in the world, thereby playing crucial role in the allocation of resources in most economies. Yet, research on this topic has been limited by a lack of access to data on closely held firms, and even basic facts remain unknown. This paper uses France, where more than half of mid- and large-sized firms are closely-held, as a case study. Leveraging detailed data on equity ownership and an administrative panel with comprehensive coverage of private-sector firms, this paper aims to provide detailed evidence on the characteristics that make family-firms specific, including corporate governance, financials, industry composition, size, and human capital.
“Does Firms' Ownership Structure Impact their Responses to Shocks? Evidence from France” (with Carola Frydman)
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