Maria's main research interests are development and political economics, with a focus on gender issues and environmental policy. She earned her PhD from the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES) at Stockholm University, and pursued her undergraduate studies at Bocconi University in Milan.

Academic Publications

Trading Favors? UN Security Council Membership and the Sub-National Allocation of Aid (with Raj Desai and Anders Olofsgård), The Review of International Organizations (forthcoming)

Aid Effectiveness in Times of Political Change: Lessons from the Post- Communist Transition (with E. Frot and A. Olofsgård ),  World Development (2014)

The Impact of a Food For Education Program on Schooling in Cambodia (with M. Cheung),   Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies (2014)

PRME Nordic (with Guénola Abord-Hugon Nonet, Caroline Aggestam Pontoppidan, Caroline Dale Ditlev-Simonsen, Jan Hermes, Leena Lankoski, Sofia Lundberg, Sanchi Maheshwari,  Samuel Petro Sebhatu, Nikodemus Solitander and Mattias Sundemo), in ”The PRME Global Movement”, Routledge, 2022 

Working papers

Economic determinants of violence in the home: the case of Sweden during Covid-19 (with Manne Gerell) SITE Working Paper N. 60 PAP

Domestic violence legislation. Awareness and support in Latvia, Russia and Ukraine (with Pamela Campa, Maria Krumina, Elena Paltseva, Anna Pluta and Solomiya Shpak) SITE Working Paper N. 58

Selective attention and the importance of types for information campaigns (with Benjamin Mandl) PAP at AEA RCT Registry. December 2018

Prostitution and Violence. Evidence from Sweden (with G. Immordino, F. F. Russo, and G. Spagnolo) SITE Working Paper N. 52

Leniency, tigers and flies. Evidence from Chinese anti-corruption (with Martin Duwfenberg, Giancarlo Spagnolo and Bei Qin)

The Donor Footprint and Gender Gaps (with Evelina Bonnier and Anders Olofsgård) UNU-WIDER Working Paper N. 130, 2017.

Leniency, Asymmetric Punishment and Corruption. Evidence from China (with Giancarlo Spagnolo and Bei Qin) SITE Working Paper N. 34 

Aid Effectiveness: New Instrument, New results? (with Emmanuel Frot). SITE Working Paper N. 11. 

Work in progress 

Within country and cross-country effects of Asymmetric Prostitution Laws: Evidence from Reform in Canada (with Ina Ganguli and Giancarlo Spagnolo) PAP 

Latest Policy Publications

The effects of sanctions, FREE Policy Brief Series, March 10, 2022

The Nordic Model of Prostitution Legislation: Health, Violence and Spillover Effects, FREE Policy Brief Series, April 21, 2019

Intimate Partner Violence, Norms and Policies, FREE Policy Brief Series, March 5, 2017

Kronvittnen kan ha avskräckande effekt (in Swedeish), SvD Brännpunkt, March 15, 2013 

Do Economic Sanctions Work?, FREE Policy Brief Series, March 19, 2012

Tax Meat to Save the Baltic Sea, FREE Policy Brief Series, September 12, 2011

FITNESS CHECK OF THE EU LEGISLATION ON PREVENTING AND COMBATTING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT - Country report: Sweden, ICF, London

Evaluation der Krisenbewältigung Covid-19 bis Sommer 2021, with Andreas Balthasar , Stefan Essig, Thomas von Stokar, Anna Vettori, Andrea von Dach, Judith Trageser , Philipp Trein, Sara Rubinelli , Christoph Zenger, and Günter Weiss, Interface, Luzern

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