Petra Persson
Petra Persson | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Stockholm University, Stockholm School of Economics, Columbia University |
| Occupation(s) | Economist, Assistant Professor of Economics |
| Years active | 2010s–present |
| Employer(s) | Stanford University, National Bureau of Economic Research |
| Known for | Contributions to public and labor economics, family choices and policy interaction |
Petra Persson is a Swedish economist serving as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Stanford University. She is distinguished for her contributions to Public and Labor Economics, particularly examining how family choices interact with policy frameworks. Her research primarily investigates the connections between public policy, family welfare, and informal societal norms.
As a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Persson is noted for her analyses on topics such as paternity leave, family breakdowns, and maternal health outcomes. She has previously completed postdoctoral appointments at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and held a Predoctoral Fellowship within the Harvard Kennedy School Women and Public Policy Program.
Education and career
Persson holds a B.A. in Political Science and Mathematics from Stockholm University, an M.Sc. in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics, and earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University. Her doctoral thesis explored themes including social insurance, marriage markets, communication dynamics, attention control, and paternalistic behavior.
Her professional journey began as an Analyst at Goldman Sachs, followed by a position as Research Associate at the World Bank. After completing postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford’s economic policy research institutes, she currently holds the role of Assistant Professor at Stanford and maintains a Faculty Research Fellowship at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
In addition, Persson serves as a referee for prominent academic journals such as the American Economic Journal, International Economic Review, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Public Economics, and provides peer reviews for the National Science Foundation.
Teaching
In her capacity as Assistant Professor at Stanford University, Persson instructs two doctoral-level courses in Economics. Economics 243 addresses household engagement with the social insurance system, covering areas like Social Security, health insurance, unemployment benefits, and parental leave policies. Economics 300 is designed to mentor third-year PhD candidates in crafting their research manuscripts.
Academic affiliations
Persson is affiliated with multiple academic institutions and fellowships:
- 2024-2025: Faculty Fellow, Stanford Clayman Institute for Gender Research
- 2024–present: International Fellow, NHH Centre for Experimental Research on Fairness, Inequality and Rationality
- 2017–present: Distinguished Research Affiliate, CESifo Research Network
- 2016–present: Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research
- 2015–present: Research Affiliate, Centre for Economic Policy Research
- 2015–present: Faculty Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
- 2011–2024: Research Affiliate, Research Institute of Industrial Economics
Research
Persson’s scholarly work investigates how family decision-making aligns with policy environments, focusing on three core areas:
- The relationship between family conduct and government policies
- Family behavior’s impact on wellbeing
- The influence of informal institutions on family dynamics
Social Insurance’s Effect on the Marriage Market (2018)
In her 2018 study titled “Social Insurance and the Marriage Market,” Persson explores the consequences of tying survivors’ benefits to marital status on the dynamics of the marriage market. Analyzing Swedish data following the 1989 abolition of survivors' insurance, she demonstrates that eliminating these benefits results in a decline in long-term marriages originating from cohabitation, an increase in divorce rates among couples who are matched but remain unmarried, and heightened selectivity among single individuals seeking partners. These outcomes emphasize marriage’s role as a critical strategy for securing long-term financial stability.
The Impact of Paternal Workplace Flexibility (2019)
Together with Maya Rossin-Slater, Persson applies a regression difference-in-differences (RD-DD) approach to evaluate how fathers’ access to flexible work arrangements influences mothers’ postpartum health. Building on evidence that mothers face disproportionate domestic responsibilities, the research investigates fathers’ demand for workplace adaptability and its indirect effects on maternal wellbeing. Utilizing administrative records from Sweden’s “Double Days” reform—which permitted both parents to simultaneously take full-time parental leave for up to 30 days—Persson finds that increased paternal scheduling flexibility significantly lowers maternal postpartum health risks. This work highlights that mothers bear a larger share of career setbacks and household duties when fathers are less responsive.
Borrowing Preferences Among Family and Friends (2015)
Persson examines why individuals frequently opt for formal loans despite family and friends offering credit at below-market or even negative interest rates. Her findings suggest that informal family loans carry hidden social costs and lack enforceable obligations, which motivates borrowers to seek formal financial institutions instead. Specifically, social indebtedness obliges borrowers to reciprocate with favors disproportionate to the low-cost capital received. Persson points out that intermediaries such as community lending groups can harness social capital effectively while reducing these implicit familial costs.
Effects of Family Disruptions on Mental Health Across Generations (2016)
In this American Economic Review article, Persson and Maya Rossin-Slater investigate how maternal stress caused by family breakdowns influences mental health outcomes later in life. Using Swedish population data, they distinguish the prenatal impact of maternal loss from losses occurring during an infant’s first year. Their results link such prenatal exposure to adverse birth outcomes, elevated infant hospitalization rates, increased childhood ADHD medication usage, and higher adult consumption of anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications. The study underscores the potential welfare improvements achievable by preventing fetal stress associated with family disruptions and socioeconomic hardship. After initial acceptance, the preprint drew criticism for failing to cite comparable research; these references were added in the final version. Additionally, a comment challenged their control group definition, arguing it might artificially produce significant findings. Persson and Rossin-Slater acknowledged this concern and confirmed their primary conclusions remained robust following reanalysis with the suggested control group adjustments.
Human Trafficking and Prostitution Regulation (2018)
Together with Samuel Lee, Persson analyzes the prostitution market, which includes both voluntary participants and those who are coerced. The research assesses various policy approaches such as decriminalizing prostitution, criminalizing buyers or suppliers, and implementing licensing systems, all aimed at achieving outcomes similar to a free-market scenario without coerced individuals. Traditional policies tend to either fail in reducing trafficking or negatively impact voluntary workers. To address this, Persson suggests a combined strategy that integrates elements from the Dutch and Swedish frameworks: licensing sex work while penalizing clients who purchase sex from unlicensed providers. This approach seeks to diminish trafficking activities while promoting voluntary participation, thereby effectively restoring the ideal market conditions.
Origins of Health Disparities and the Role of Family Medical Expertise (2019)
In partnership with Yiqun Chen and Maria Polyakova, Persson explores how income influences health through access to medical knowledge within families. Focusing on Sweden—where formal healthcare access is largely uniform—Persson employs a quasi-experimental methodology using non-parametric data derived from Swedish medical school admissions lotteries. Findings indicate that medical expertise within families explains 18% of the health-related SES disparities. This expertise contributes to longer life expectancy, lowers the incidence of lifestyle-related illnesses, and enhances adherence to prescribed treatments. Importantly, limited access to such expertise disproportionately impacts lower-income households where family medical knowledge is scarce.
Publications list
| Year | Title | Publication | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | The Limits of Career Concerns in Federalism: Evidence from China | Journal of the European Economic Association, 14(2): 338-374 | Petra Persson, Ekaterina Zhuravskaya |
| 2016 | Violence and Entry in Prostitution Markets: Implications for Prostitution Law | Oxford University Press, Handbook of the Economics of Prostitution, ed. Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah. | Petra Persson, Samuel Lee |
| 2016 | Financing from Family and Friends | Review of Financial Studies, 29(9): 2341-2386 | Petra Persson, Samuel Lee |
| 2017 | Attention Manipulation and Information Overload | Behavioural Public Policy, 2(1), 78-106. | Petra Persson |
| 2018 | Family Ruptures, Stress, and the Mental Health of the Next Generation | American Economic Review, 108(4-5): 1214-52 | Petra Persson, Maya Rossin-Slater |
| 2020 | Social Insurance and the Marriage Market | Journal of Political Economy, 128(1): 252-300 | Petra Persson |
| 2020 | Does Medicine Run in the Family: Evidence from Three Generations of Physicians in Sweden | British Medical Journal, 371:m4453 | Petra Persson, Maria Polyakova, Katja Hofmann, Anupam B. Jena |
| 2022 | The Roots of Health Inequality and the Value of Intra-Family Expertise | American Economic Journal, 14(3): 185-223 | Petra Persson, Yiqun Chen, Maria Polyakova |
| 2022 | Human Trafficking and Regulating Prostitution | American Economic Journal, 14(3): 78-127 | Petra Persson, Samuel Lee |
| 2022 | A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Guideline Adherence and Access to Expertise | American Economic Journal, 4(4): 507-526 | Petra Persson, Amy Finkelstein, Maria Polyakova, Jesse M. Shapiro |
Working papers
- The Enduring Impact of Teacher Autonomy in Grading High-Stakes Exams (October 2017)
- Enrollment, Attrition, and Expenditure Patterns in ACA Marketplaces (January 2019)
- When Fathers Can Remain at Home: Workplace Flexibility for Dads and Its Effects on Maternal Health (October 2019)
- Commitment-Free Insurance: Insights from ACA Marketplace Data (December 2020)
- Marginal Diagnoses and Their Family Spillover Effects: ADHD as a Case Study (October 2022)
- Precision Medicine Targeting: Findings from Prenatal Screening Research (November 2022)
- Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: New Findings from Linked Administrative Records (November 2022)
Recognition and awards
Persson has been honored with numerous grants and accolades, such as the Fulbright Scholarship awarded in 2007, the Hewlett Foundation/IIE fellowship in 2012, the Spectrum Grant in 2016, and a research grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development in 2019. In 2012, she completed a research fellowship through Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program and has also held fellowships at both Stanford University and Brown University.
| Year | Title | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Dissertation Fellowship in Population, Reproductive Health, and Economic Development | Hewlett Foundation/IIE |
| 2012 | Dissertation Fellowship, Center for Retirement Research | Boston College |
| 2012 | Research Fellowship, Women and Public Policy Program | Harvard Kennedy School |
| 2013 | Research Grant | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
| 2016 | Spectrum Grant for Population Health Sciences | National Institutes of Health |
| 2016 | Health, Working Life, and Welfare Grant | Swedish Research Council |
| 2017 | Distinguished Research Affiliate Award | Ifo Institute for Economic Research |
| 2019 | Brown Faculty Fellow | Stanford University |