I am Professor of Economics at the University of Bologna in the Department of Economics. I am also LSE Visiting Fellow, an IZA Research Fellow, and a Dondena (Center for Research and Social Dynamics) Research Affiliate at Bocconi University. From 2026 to 2028 I will be council member of ESPE.

I am the recipient of an ERC Consolidator Grant titled HARSH: "Uncovering the Roots of Harsh Parenting" for the period September 2025–August 2030.

The main focus of my research is understanding the determinants and long-term consequences of children’s health and wellbeing. My work complements the existing economic research on early childhood development, by looking at what are the main biological and behavioural mechanisms through which a shock experienced while in-utero or in the first few years of life influences health and development later on. My current work investigates the main socio-economic drivers of violence against children, from child abuse or neglect to female genital cutting. I also study the causal effect of maternal health services improvements on intergenerational health outcomes, and the impact of air pollution on mortality and economic outcomes later in life. Finally, I am interested in the interplay between the environment and genetic in influencing fertility behaviour. At the early stage of my career I did some work on statistical modelling for infectious diseases and on the evaluation of vaccination programs. To investigate my research questions I use micro-data from across developed (mainly US and UK) and developing countries (mainly Africa).
Elisabetta De Cao joined IZA as a Research Fellow in May 2020.