Ludovica Gambaro, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral researcher
Ludovica joined the Department of Sociology as postdoctoral researcher in 2020. She is a quantitative social scientist, with a broad research interest in the design, delivery and effects of social policies in relation to poverty and inequality. Her work has focused in particular on two areas: 1) inequalities in childhood, and the way they may relate to social policies affecting family and education services, housing and neighbourhoods; 2) gender inequalities in the labour market, and in particular the institutional mechanisms that contribute to the (low) monetary rewards attached to care occupations. She previously held a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship at the German Institute for Economic Research and research positions at UCL (University College London) and LSE (London School of Economics). She obtained a PhD in Social Policy from the LSE, an MPA also from the LSE and a degree in Economics from Bocconi University.
Her current project with Professor Pia Schober is entitled: "Parental gender socialization across diverse families”.
Publications
Gambaro, L., Buttaro, A., Joshi, H., & Lennon, M. C. (2022). Does residential mobility affect child development at age five? A comparative study of children born in U.S. and U.K. cities. Developmental Psychology, 58(4), 700–713. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001288
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10146550/1/Gambaro_Buttaro_Joshi_Lennon_2022_deposit.pdf
Buttaro, A., Gambaro, L., Joshi, H., & Lennon, M. C. (2021). Neighborhood and Child Development at Age Five: A UK–US Comparison. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19), 10435. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910435
Gambaro, L., Neidhöfer, G., & Spiess, C. K. (2021). The effect of early childhood education and care services on the integration of refugee families. Labour Economics, 72, 102053. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2021.102053
https://www.zew.de/publikationen/the-effect-of-early-childhood-education-and-care-services-on-the-social-integration-of-refugee-families-2
Moulton, V., Goodman, A., Nasim, B., Ploubidis, G. B., & Gambaro, L. (2020). Parental Wealth and Children’s Cognitive Ability, Mental, and Physical Health: Evidence From the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Child Development, 92(1), 115–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13413
Gambaro, L., Marcus, J., & Peter, F. (2019). School entry, afternoon care, and mothers’ labour supply. Empirical Economics, 57(3), 769–803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-018-1462-3
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/214192/1/AtSchool_MaternalLabourSupply_Accep.%20Version.pdf
Stewart, K., Campbell, T., & Gambaro, L. (2019). The peer composition of pre-school settings in England and early recorded attainment among low-income children. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 40(6), 717–741. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2019.1583549
https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/100214/
Mostafa, T., Gambaro, L., & Joshi, H. (2018). The Impact of Complex Family Structure on Child Well‐being: Evidence From Siblings. Journal of Marriage and Family, 80(4), 902–918. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12456
Campbell, T., Gambaro, L., & Stewart, K. (2018). ‘Universal’ early education: Who benefits? Patterns in take-up of the entitlement to free early education among three-year-olds in England. British Educational Research Journal, 44(3), 515–538.https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3445
https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/87649/7/Campbell_Universal%20early%20education_2018.pdf
Gambaro, L., Joshi, H., & Lupton, R. (2017). Moving to a better place? Residential mobility among families with young children in the Millennium Cohort Study. Population, Space and Place, 23(8), e2072. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2072
Gambaro, L. (2017). Who is minding the kids? New developments and lost opportunities in reforming the British early education workforce. Journal of European Social Policy, 27(4), 320–331. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928717719196
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/222548/1/Minding%20Kids.pdf
Gambaro, L., & Joshi, H. (2016). Moving home in the early years: What happens to children in the UK? Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v7i3.375
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1505697/
Gambaro, L., Joshi, H., Lupton, R., Fenton, A., & Lennon, M. C. (2016). Developing Better Measures of Neighbourhood Characteristics and Change for Use in Studies of Residential Mobility: A Case Study of Britain in the Early 2000s. Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, 9(4), 569–590. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12061-015-9164-0
Gambaro, L., Stewart, K., & Waldfogel, J. (2015). A question of quality: Do children from disadvantaged backgrounds receive lower quality early childhood education and care? British Educational Research Journal, 41(4), 553–574. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3161
https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60010/1/Stewart_etal_Question-of-quality_2014.pdf
Gambaro, L., Stewart, K., & Waldfogel, J. (eds) (2014). An equal start?: Providing quality early education and care for disadvantaged children. Bristol; Chicago: Policy Press.
Caliendo, M., Gambaro, L., & Haan, P. (2009). The impact of income taxation on the ratio between reservation and market wages and the incentives for labour supply. Applied Economics Letters, 16(9), 877–883. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504850701222103
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/34182/1/543736288.pdf