About me

I am a PhD student and research fellow at the Department of Economics at the Universitat de Girona working under the supervision of Sara Ayllón. I am also a member of the research group Economics of Inequality and Poverty Analysis (EQUALITAS). In January 2025, I will join the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex as a visiting PhD student.

My research interests include poverty, inequality, applied microeconomics, public policy evaluation, labour economics and public economics. As part of my doctoral thesis, I am currently examining the impact of school meals on children’s outcomes within the framework of the SCHOOL_MEALS project (further details are available on the project webpage). Additionally, I am investigating how free school meals influence parental labour market outcomes.

Work in progress

Universal free school meals and work incentives: lessons from England.

• This paper analyses the effects of a transition from a means-tested to a universal school-meal programme on parental labour market outcomes. Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, we document that the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) policy increased labour supply and reduced inactivity rates among mothers whose children were eligible, compared to when the same children were older, ineligible and required to meet eligibility criteria to receive free school meals. The effects are particularly pronounced for single mothers, those in households where the father is employed and those whose children were previously eligible under the means-tested scheme. In contrast, no significant effects are observed for fathers. Our findings suggest that the policy strengthens work incentives by removing the risk of losing access to free school meals when mothers enter employment.

The causal impact of school-meal programmes on children in developed economies: A meta-analysis (with Sara Ayllón).

Teleworking and childcare across Europe: Is there a childcare digital divide? (with Sara Ayllón, Pablo Brugarolas and Enza Simeone).

Contact information

samuel.lado@udg.edu

Department of Economics, Universitat de Girona

C/Universitat de Girona, 10

17003 Girona, Spain