Rigissa Megalokonomou

​Assoc. Prof. in Economics

 ​​Long Term Effects of Teachers: Evidence from a Teacher Value Added Approach 

  • with Victor Lavy (Warwick)

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Same-Gender Peer Role Models (Under Review, Review of Economic Studies)

  • Academic Version: Working Paper, with Sofoklis Goulas (Stanford), Bhagya Gunawardena (University of Queensland) and Yves Zenou (Monash)
  • Award: Best Paper Award at the 2022 PhD Conference at the University of Western Australia (paper presented by Bhagya Gunawardena) 


​Female Classmates, Disruption, and STEM Outcomes in Disadvantaged Schools: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment  (Under Review, Journal of Public Economics)

  •  with Yi Zhang (Queensland) and Sofoklis Goulas (Stanford)


The STEM Major Gender Gap: Evidence from Coordinated College Application Platforms Across Five Continents (Submitted, Science)

  • with Isaac Ahimbisibwe, Adam Altjmed, Andres Barrios-Fernandez, Aspasia Bizopoulou, Martti Kaila, Jin-Tan Liu, Jose Montalban, Christopher Neilson, Jintao Sun, Sebastian Otero, Xiaoyang Ye


Disruptive Peers and Academic Performance: Short- and Long-Term Outcomes  (Under Review, Journal of Political Economy) 

  • with Sofoklis Goulas (Brookings) , Silvia Griselda (e61), and Yves Zenou (Monash)

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Flawed Oversight: Teachers Don't Catch AI's Grading Mistakes When AI is Harsh (Under Review, Nature Communications)

  • with Sofoklis Goulas (Brookings) and Panagiotis Sotirakopoulos (Curtin) 


The Impact of Talented Peers: Evidence from Exposure to Math Award Winners (Under Review, Journal of Labor Economics)  

  • with Vlassopoulos Michael (Southampton) and Yves  Zenou (Monash)  



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Working Papers and R&Rs

​​​​​​​​Does the Gender Composition of Judges Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Judges to Cases in Supreme Court Cases 

  • Status: Draft in Preparation, data collection is complete​


Your Sins are not Forgiven: Religious Judges in Supreme Court

  •  Status: Draft in Preparation with Evangelos Dioikitopoulos (Athens University of Economics and Business)


Gender Differences in Work Advice

  • Status: Running Pilots in preparation for the Experiment, with Juliana Silva-Goncalves (University of Sydney) and Roel van Veldhuizen (University of Lund)​


The Effect of Knowing you Are the Best Student in the Class

  • Status: Draft in Preparation, with Sofoklis Goulas (Stanford) and Won Fy Lee (Stanford)


The Effects of Female Teachers ​​​on School and University Outcomes

  • Status: Draft in Preparation, with Victor Lavy (Warwick); early draft in preparation ​​


​National Awards in Science and Spillover Effects to Peers: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

  • Status: Draft in Preparation, with Michael Vlassopoulos (Southampton) and Yves Zenou (Monash)  ​​​​​​​

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When Excellence Backfires: The Impact of Superstars on Peers

  • Status: Draft Prepared, Presentations in Progress, with Raul Mathias Leon (University of Chicago)

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​Causes and Consequences of the Spread of Christianity in the (Eastern) Mediterranean

  • ​with Sascha Becker (Warwick)
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 ​​Publications

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​​​Female Neighbors, Test Scores, and Careers (Volume 54, Issue 7, September 2025, Research Policy)


Female Top Performers are more Impactful Peer Role Models than Males, Teachers Say (Vol. 122, No. 6, February 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America PNAS)


Do Second Chances Pay Off? Evidence from a Natural Experiment with Low-Achieving Students (November 2024,  Journal of Public Economics)

  • Academic Version: Published Paper, with Aspasia Bizopoulou (VATT Institute for Economic Research) and Stefania Simion (Bristol) 



How Good Am I? Effects and Mechanisms Behind Salient Ranks  (November 2024, European Economic Review)

  • Academic Version: Published Paper,  with Yi Zhang (University of Queensland)
  • Yi Zhang was awarded the best student presentation award for presenting this paper at the 2022 Labour Econometrics Workshop at the University of Wollongong​
  • Media Highlight: Vox China ​

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​ Persistency in Teachers' Grading Biases and Effect on Longer Term Outcomes: University Admission Exams and Choice of Field of Study ​(April 2024, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics)​

  • Academic Version: NBER Working Paper, with Victor Lavy (Warwick)
  • ​Media Highlight:  Economic Society of Australia, Women in Economics Network, YouTube Video, 
  • Media Highlight: Teacher gender bias is real and has lasting effects on students’ marks and study choices, The Conversation​


​
​The Effect of the Exposure to Refugees on Crime Activity. Evidence from the Greek Islands  (November 2023, European Economic Review)​


Compulsory Class Attendance vs Autonomy (August 2023, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization)


Human Capital Depreciation and Returns to Experience  (November 2022, American Economic Review) 

  • Academic Version: NBER Working Paper, with Michael Dinerstein (Chicago) and and Costantine Yannelis (Chicago Booth)
  • Published Version: here
  • Online Appendix


Comparative Advantage and Gender Gap in STEM  (June 2022, Journal of Human Resources)

  • Academic Version: Working Paper, with Sofoklis Goulas (Stanford) and Silvia Griselda (Bocconi)                                
  • Awards: Recipient of: 2020 Best Paper Award on Gender Economics by UniCredit Foundation, Mardi Dungey Prize for the Best Paper, ANU, November 2019 and Best Paper Award at the 2020  Australian Gender Economics Workshop at QUT


​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Feedback, Learning and Performance: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial (November 2021,  Economic Journal)​​

  • Academic Version: Working Paper, with Isabella Dobrescu (UNSW), Marco Faravelli (Queensland) and Alberto Motta (UNSW)


​Class size and performance: At what cost? (2021,  European Economic Review)​​ 


​​Knowing who you Actually Are: The Effect of Feedback on Short and Long Term Outcomes  (2021, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization)


​​Do Parents Respond to Regulation of Sugary Drinks in Childcare? Evidence from California"  (2020, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization)

  • Academic Paper: Published Version, with Jiafei Hu  (University of Queensland) and Haishan Yuan (University of Queensland)


​School Attendance during a Pandemic (2020, Economics Letters)

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Marathon, Hurdling or Sprint? The Effects of Exam Scheduling on Academic Performance (2020, The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy)


Which Degrees do Students Prefer During Recessions? (2018, Empirical Economics)

​​​​ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5687-671X

    Work In Progress