Even though one in four women worldwide has experienced violence from an intimate partner (IPV) at least once in their lifetime, some of the factors driving it remain poorly understood. This study quantifies the impact of extreme temperatures on IPV seasonality, with a particular focus on its increase during the summer months. Using granular administrative data on IPV in Spain for the period 2006-2022, we find that extreme heat leads to a 6% rise in total IPV offences, with a stronger increase for severe cases. We explore several mechanisms, including increased time exposure to the partner and potential modifications in reporting behaviour. Importantly, we also show that the effects are stronger in areas facing substantial negative labour market shocks. Our projections indicate that a rise in average temperatures would result in 85-190 additional severe IPV offences per year, emphasizing the role of climate resilience for the successful implementation of IPV prevention strategies.

Fiscal drag arises when nominal tax parameters remain unchanged despite nominal income growth, thereby increasing effective tax rates and revenue. We use Spanish administrative tax records and a detailed microsimulation model to examine fiscal drag in personal income taxation through two complementary approaches. First, we estimate tax-to-base elasticities to assess the progressivity of the tax system and potential fiscal drag under homogeneous income growth. We uncover significant heterogeneity in elasticities across income sources, across the individual income distribution and in the underlying mechanisms. Second, we conduct counterfactual simulations to quantify the actual impact of fiscal drag from 2019 to 2023, finding it accounts for about a third of revenue growth. Our findings offer insights for public finance modelling, revenue forecasting, and tax policy design.

February 3, 2026 – Aula Magna – Edifici Històric de la UB

January 22-23, 2025 – Faculty of Economics and Business

Aunque inicialmente la teoría económica y la investigación empírica subrayaban los posibles efectos del salario mínimo legal vigente sobre la destrucción de empleo, existe una creciente evidencia empírica –basada en metodologías más eficientes y mejores bases de datos– que ha mejorado nuestra comprensión de las políticas de salario mínimo y ha reformulado, en parte, esta perspectiva (Dube y Lindner, 2024).

Student performance at university significantly influences individual decisions and future opportunities, especially in labour markets. This paper analyses the impact of local crime on student performance during higher education, with a focus on potential gender differences. Following students over their bachelor’s years, the identification strategy exploits granular local crime variation – violent and non-violent crimes – near students’ residences before sitting a final exam. We consider both spatial and temporal patterns of crime exposure by estimating a panel data model with student, exam and district-month fixed-effects to provide causal estimates. Our findings suggest that violent crimes have a negative impact on student performance, while non-violent have no significant effect. Notably, the results are mainly driven by high-ability female students, with suggestive evidence that male students in the bottom or middle parts of the grade distribution are also affected.