We’re delighted to be joined by two new postdoctoral researchers: Gabriela Deschamps and Ossian Prane.

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We caught up with Gaby and Ossian to find out what they plan to do during their time at the Stone Centre and afterwards, what their research is about, and what they think are the most pressing issues economics should address.

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Gabriela Deschamps

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What drew you to UCL and the Stone Centre?

I was drawn to the Stone Centre at UCL because it is an excellent place for research. I am particularly interested in contributing to the work on horizontal inequalities from the gender angle.

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What are your research interests?

I am interested in studying gender inequalities in developing countries, with a particular focus on inequalities within the household and the policies that can help reduce them. Most of my work has examined the determinants of domestic violence, and I also have ongoing projects that use rich time-use data to better understand household dynamics.

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What do you hope to achieve during your Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Stone Centre?

I hope to continue working on the projects I began during my PhD and also start new ones. I am also excited to contribute to CORE Econ by creating material of research that I find exciting. Lastly, I plan to attend the seminars at UCL and IFS to stay engaged with ongoing research, and I would like to use this time to build collaborations with new colleagues.

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What do you think are some of the pressing economic issues at the moment?

I will speak from my area of expertise. One pressing issue is the very high prevalence of physical and sexual violence against women. This is not something that disappears with economic development. It remains pervasive across countries and contexts, and there is still a lot we do not understand about the dynamics within the household that sustain it. I also worry that gender inequalities in the household may become more pronounced in the future, especially given recent political shifts in some countries towards more conservative policies. This makes it even more important to identify which policies can protect women and reduce these inequalities.

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What do you plan to do after your post-doc?

I will begin my appointment as Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Gothenburg.

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Ossian Prane

What drew you to UCL and the Stone Centre?

I was drawn to the high quality of the UCL Department of Economics and the focus of the Stone Centre/CORE Econ on key policy questions, such as mitigating wealth inequality and climate change.

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What are your research interests?

I am interested in how environmental policy and globalization affect green technology adoption, emissions, and labor market outcomes. I work with firm-level administrative datasets and combine quasi-experimental designs with structural approaches.

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What do you hope to achieve during your Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Stone Centre?

My goal during this post-doc is to start up some new high-potential projects and to finalise and submit my job market paper. I also hope that I will be able to contribute to CORE Econ and the research community at the Department of Economics.

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What do you think are some of the pressing economic issues at the moment?

I think an interesting economic question at the moment is how the rise of more protectionist trade policies will impact the green transition of the global economy. The trade-environment nexus is highly complex, and it is unclear how higher tariffs will affect the path of global emissions over time.

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What do you plan to do after your post-doc?

I will start as an Assistant Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics.

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Thanks to Gaby and Ossian for speaking with us. We look forward to following their progress at the Stone Centre.