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AIEL 2026


41st Conference of the Italian Association of Labour Economics

Department of Law
Roma Tre University 

Rome, 17-19 September 2026 

Local Economic Shocks and Human Capital Formation: Evidence from University Students in Italy


Presenter

Luca De Benedictis (Mercatorum University)


Coauthors

Marco Delogu, Fernanda Gutiérrez Amaros, Simone Nobili and Gabriele Ruiu


Abstract

We examine how local economic shocks shape human capital formation by studying the effects of mass layoffs on university students in Italy. Using population-wide administrative data on university enrolment matched to geographically localised mass layoff events, we exploit staggered employment loss across municipalities in a difference-in-differences design.