Luca Stella

Broadband and Fertility

In a study published in the Population Studies (2019), Luca Stella, together with Francesco Billari and Osea Giuntella, explores the effects of access to high-speed Internet on fertility in Germany. The researchers find that DSL access increases the fertility of women aged 25–45. These results are entirely driven by highly educated women. In particular, they show that DSL availability increases the likelihood of teleworking, promotes part-time working and increases time spent on childcare by highly educated women. Overall, these findings suggest that increasing access to high-speed Internet may promote fertility among highly educated women by easing the burden of balancing work and family duties. At the same time, broadband might introduce a digital divide in fertility, allowing highly educated individuals to realize their fertility goals, while not improving those chances for less-educated individuals, who tend to be employed in less flexible occupations.

Luca Stella’s work focuses on three main areas: the effects of technological change on health and life-course choices, the economics of immigration and the economics of the family. In a current research project, Luca Stella and his collaborators are examining the impact of robot penetration on marriage and fertility rates.

Luca Stella is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Bocconi University. Before that, he worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Wuppertal. He has received a BSc and an MSc in Economics and Social Sciences from Bocconi University and obtained a PhD in Economics from the University of Padua. While working on his doctorate, he spent two years as a visiting student at Boston University. He is a Research Affiliate at IZA and the Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy.