A Scholar of Family, Demography and Health as a New Assistant Professor

A mum of two will study family and fertility, among other subjects, as an Assistant Professor at Bocconi's Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management, effective from 1 September.

Nicoletta Balbo has a long lasting relation with Bocconi. She graduated here and has been a research assistant at the Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy before leaving Milan for the Netherlands, where she obtained a PhD in Sociology at the University of Groningen in 2012. After the PhD she returned to Bocconi and has first been a postdoctoral researcher on a publicly funded project on fertility, then an AXA Postdoctoral Fellow on a research project regarding adolescent substance use.

"My research interests lie at the convergence of sociology of the family, demography and sociology of health", Balbo says. She already has prestigious publication under her belt, and particularly an article about fertility contagion among friends in American Sociological Review and a paper on fertility and subjective well-being, forthcoming in Demography.

Among the projects she's working on, one involves Bocconi professors Alessandra Casarico and Simone Ghislandi. "We are analyzing how changes in maternal leave policies impact on mothers' subjective well-being", she summarizes.

With two children aged 1 and 3 and a challenging job, Balbo is sacrificing her passion for sports. "In the past I've practiced many of them and used to be a competitive swimmer", she explains, "but now I'm restricted to a gym".