VIARENGO, Martina

Labor economics, Development (cooperation and aid policies), Emerging economies, Knowledge (education and aid policies), Governance (local and international), Migration policies and law, Gender (women and public policies)

2007 PhD, London School of Economics and Political Science
2003 M.A., Northwestern University
2002 B.A. summa cum laude, Department of Economics, University of Turin

2025 Full Professor in the Department of Economics at the Geneva Graduate Institute
2016 - 2024 Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Department of Economics at the Geneva Graduate Institute
2011 - 2016 Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the Geneva Graduate Institute
2011 Faculty Associate, Harvard University, Center for International Development
2009 - 2011 Full-time Economist at the Centre for Economic Performance of the London School of Economics and Political Science (promoted in June 2009)
2008 - 2011 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government and Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School
2007 - 2009 Full-time Research Economist at the Centre for Economic Performance of the London School of Economics and Political Science

• Viarengo M. (joint with Nano E. and U. Panizza) (2024) “Merit-based Scholarships for University Graduates: A Generation of Italian Economists,” Labour Economics, Vol. 90 (October), pp. 102569
• Viarengo M. (joint with Di Falco S., A.B. Kis and U. Das) (2024) “Leaving Home: Cumulative Climate Shocks and Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 87, pp. 321-345
• Viarengo M. (joint with Müller T. and P. Pannatier) (2023) “Labor Market Integration, Local Conditions and Inequalities – Evidence from Refugees in Switzerland,” World Development, Vol. 170 (October), pp. 106288
• Viarengo M. (joint with Manea R., P. Piraino) (2023) “Crime, Inequality and Subsidized Housing: Evidence from South Africa,” World Development, Vol. 168, pp. 106243
• Viarengo M. (joint with Lee T., G. Peri) (2022) “The Gender Aspect of Immigrants’ Assimilation in Europe,” Labour Economics, Vol. 78, pp. 102180
• Viarengo M. (joint with Ganguli I., R. Hausmann) (2020) “Gender Differences in Professional Career Dynamics: New Evidence from a Global Law Firm,” Economica, Vol. 88, pp. 105-128
• Viarengo M. (joint with Bandiera O. M. Mohnen, I. Rasul) (2019) “Nation-Building through Compulsory Schooling during the Age of Mass Migration,” [LSE-Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Paper No. 057], Economic Journal, Vol. 129, No. 617(1), pp. 62–109
• Viarengo M. (Joint with McNally S. and Machin S.) (2018), “Changing How Literacy is Taught: Evidence on Synthetic Phonics,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 217-241
• Viarengo M. (Joint with Gibbons S. and McNally S.) (2017), “Does Additional Spending Help Urban Schools? An Evaluation Using Boundary Discontinuities,” Journal of the European Economic Association, November
• Viarengo M. (Joint with Pritchett L.) (2015), “The State, Socialization and Private Schooling: When will Governments support Alternative Producers?”, Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 51, No. 7, July, pp. 784-807
• Viarengo M. (Joint with Martinez-Fritscher A. and A. Musacchio) (2014), “Colonial Institutions, Trade Shocks, and the Diffusion of Elementary Education in Brazil, 1889-1930”, NBER Working Paper No. 20029; Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 10-075, Journal of Economic History, Vol. 74, No. 3, pp.730-766
• Viarengo M. (Joint with Freeman R.B.) (2014) “School and Family Effects on Educational Outcomes across Countries”, Economic Policy, (lead article), Vol. 79, No. 29, July, pp.395-446
• Viarengo M. (Joint with Bandiera O., I. Rasul) (2013), “The Making of Modern America: Migratory Flows in the Age of Mass Migration”, Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 102, May, pp. 23-47
• Viarengo M. (Joint with Murtin F.) (2011), “The Expansion and Convergence of Compulsory Schooling in Western Europe: 1950-2000”, Economica, Vol.78, No.311, pp.501-522
• Viarengo M. (joint with Holmlund H., S. McNally) (2010) “Does Money Matter for Schools?”, Economics of Education Review, Vol.29, pp.1154-1164

Selected Awards, Fellowships and Research Grants

Eisenhower Fellowship, Royal Economic Society, European Union, Swiss National Science Foundation, Swiss National Center for Competence in Research, Russell Sage Foundation, Einaudi Foundation, Rotary Foundation, Newton International Fellowship awarded by the British Academy and the Royal Society, elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum