Blog

During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world introduced emergency cash transfer programs to mitigate economic hardship. But beyond their immediate financial effects, could these policies also influence personal decisions such as childbearing? A recent study by Alexandre Gori Maia (UNICAMP) and colleagues from the DECODE Project, published in Demographic Research, assesses whether receiving emergency aid during the pandemic affected the likelihood of pregnancy among young women in Pernambuco, Brazil.

Hate speech on social media is often portrayed as a major driver of political polarization and a serious threat to democratic institutions. Yet a fundamental question remains largely unanswered: does exposure to online hate actually change how people vote? A new study by Alexandre Gori Maia (UNICAMP) and Esther Menezes (São Paulo State Government) offers one of the most comprehensive empirical assessments of this issue, focusing on the 2022 Brazilian presidential election.

A central question in economic demography is how individuals make life-course decisions under uncertainty. Among these decisions, childbearing stands out as particularly sensitive to risk. But what happens when uncertainty is not new and it is shaped by past experiences of risk? A recent study by Letícia Marteleto (University of Pennsylvania), Molly Dondero (American University), and Alexandre Gori Maia (UNICAMP) provides an answer. Using a novel mixed-method approach, the authors examine how the experience of a prior health shock (the Zika epidemic) influenced women’s attitudes toward childbearing during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

Who owns the rainforest – and who has the right to use it – might seem like a simple question. But, in the Brazilian Amazon, that question lies at the heart of one of the world’s most persistent environmental challenges. A new study from Alexandre Gori Maia (UNICAMP) in partnership with João Paulo Mastrangelo (Universidade Federal do Acre) and Stella Schons (Virginia Tech) provides some of the strongest evidence yet that secure land tenure – not merely possessing a land title – plays a critical role in reducing deforestation and improving compliance with environmental laws.

Who is considered “fit” to have a baby? At first glance, the answer should be simple: every woman has the fundamental right to decide whether and when to have children. Yet across the world—and especially in unequal societies—some women face far greater scrutiny, stigma, and social barriers than others. A new study by Letícia Marteleto (University of Pennsylvania), Sneha Kumar (Northwestern University), Luiz Gustavo Fernandes Sereno (UNICAMP), and Alexandre Gori Maia (UNICAMP) provides some of the clearest evidence to date that social approval for childbearing is deeply stratified by race, class, and other intersecting socioeconomic characteristics.