The Ramón Areces Foundation has awarded research grants to 12 projects in Social Sciences, to be developed over the next three years in centres and universities in Madrid, Catalonia, Navarre, Aragon and Andalusia. Of the projects selected, three are promoted by researchers from the Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB). The researchers in question are Cristina Bellés, Anastasia Terskaya and Luca Salvadori.

Cristina Bellés will study the impact of maternity benefit supplements. Her work focuses on the design of a maternity pension supplement to provide additional income based on the number of children a woman has. Bellés will analyse the legislative change of 2016, which raised the benefit for women with two or more children, and will assess the effect of this law on the decision to retire and divorce. She will also examine the subsequent reform of 2021.

Anastasia Terskaya will address the economics of parenting, presenting empirical estimations, theoretical analyses and policy recommendations. Her aim is to test several key predictions contained in established economic models and to develop new models in the field of family economics. Her research will focus on determining the economic factors that contribute to the formation of families, fertility rates and parental investments, including parenting styles. She will also explore whether and to what extent parental investments are motivated by equality or efficiency concerns.

Luca Salvadori will research taxation. He plans to use confidential anonymised administrative data and inspection records observed over a long period of time, in countries with different levels of development and tax bases, to investigate the impact of tax inspections on future taxpayer filing behaviour.

The aim of these grants awarded by the Ramón Areces Foundation, which are now in their 23rd year, is to foster a solid research structure in Spain, focusing on the areas of greatest need and promoting Spanish social sciences and economics, especially among talented young scholars.