Toronto Population Network Speaker Series: Luca Maria Pesando — Dynamics of School Expansi

POP in for an excellent presentation! The Toronto Population Network Speaker Series brings together leading scholars working at the cutting edge of population research. From mortality and health to migration, fertility, and inequality, our speakers showcase innovative methods and substantive findings shaping contemporary population research. Open to students, faculty, and anyone with an interest in data and population dynamics, this series is a space to learn, ask questions, and connect across disciplines.

Luca Maria Pesando

Luca is an Associate Professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University - Abu Dhabi. His research focuses on social, economic, and digital demography with a strong public policy orientation. He studies family poverty, inequality, gender, and intergenerational processes, with an emphasis on how family change shapes educational inequalities. Using comparative approaches, he focuses on low- and middle-income countries and combines sociological and demographic theory with advanced econometric and statistical methods.

Dynamics of School Expansion and Inter-Caste Marriage in India

We examine whether the role of education as engine of socioeconomic change extends to altering social inter-mixing norms, specifically inter-caste marriage (ICM). We estimate the causal impact of exposure to primary schools on ICM in rural India by leveraging a large-scale school expansion program. Our findings indicate that a one-standard-deviation increase in school openings during a person's childhood (ages 0-9) significantly increases the likelihood of ICM by 6.9% of the sample mean. Exploring potential mechanisms, we find that the effect is not driven by increased years of education nor by delayed age at marriage.

Instead, we provide suggestive evidence that primary schools act as vital communal spaces offering opportunities for intermingling since young ages, ultimately weakening traditional social barriers and fostering more integrated social communities.

Upcoming events

• February 24: UofT Flash Session
• March 10: Orsola Torrosi – McGill University
• April 7: Mark Hayward – UT Austin
• April 21: Student Symposium
• May 5: Jenna Nobles – UC Berkeley