The Reversal of the Mission: The Influence of Religious Leaders on Sociopolitical Attitudes
[Latest Draft] [SSRN] [2023 Wicksell Prize, European Public Choice Society]
This paper explores how religious leaders influence the religious and political attitudes of their communities. To do this, I build a novel dataset containing the universe of Catholic priests appointed to their parishes in rural Spain between 2000 and 2019. I leverage the quasi-natural experiment by which foreign-born priests are allocated to parishes and use a staggered difference-in-differences design to identify their influence on their communities. I show that foreign-born priests, whom I find more devoted to their cause, are effective in revitalizing local religiosity, evidenced by an increase in Catholic marriages and fertility, while fewer divorces. Politically, they increase electoral mobilization, shift communities toward Catholic-aligned positions, and reduce support for openly xenophobic parties. These effects are driven by their broader community engagement and their role in reinforcing in-group cohesion among native Spaniards. These findings highlight the significant role of religious leaders in shaping local sociopolitical attitudes.
Reverse Revolving Doors: The Influence of Interest Groups on Legislative Voting, with Josep Amer-Mestre
[Latest Draft] [SSRN] [Coverage: Promarket]
This paper investigates how legislators with a background in an interest group (i.e., reverse revolvers) influence other legislators' voting behavior. To answer this question, we collect novel data containing the universe of votes cast at the European Parliament between 2004 and 2019 and characterize legislators by their former working experience. Using the alphabetic allocation of seats, we find that seating beside reverse revolvers when the motion is relevant to their former interest groups increases co-voting by 2.4%, attendance by 1.3%, and decreases abstention by 14.8%. We find no influence on non-relevant ballots. We show that reverse revolvers exert the greatest influence during key votes, such as budget-related motions, and on pivotal colleagues, such as motion-drafting legislators, while reverse revolvers’ expertise is not decisive in persuading their colleagues. Our results show that revolving doors influence the political process when working in reverse.
Time Constraints and the Quality of Physician Care
[Latest Draft] [HEDG Working Paper]
This paper studies how easing time constraints improves workers' performance and output quality. I build a unique, high-frequency administrative dataset containing time-use data on all physicians in an outpatient department. I leverage a natural experiment by which physicians, when randomly affected by a cancellation, spend unexpected extra time with their next patient. I find that longer visits lead to improved care, evidenced by more detailed diagnoses, increased testing intensity, and lower drug prescriptions. I also find long-term health effects, measured by fewer hospital readmissions. These findings highlight that relaxing workers' time constraints significantly enhance their productivity and output quality.
Bishops and Ballots: How the Catholic Church Protected Its Privileges in Post-Franco Spain with Viivi Jarvi and Guadalupe Tuñón
[Draft available upon request]
The Hand of God at the Ballot Box: How Catholic Polling Places Shape Electoral Outcomes, with Antoni-Italo de Moragas and Teresa Esteban-Casanelles)
[Draft available upon request]