About me
I am a third-year PhD student in Economics at Tampere University and a member of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research (FIT). My research focuses on public and family economics. I am supervised by Assistant Professor Terhi Ravaska.
I am visiting the University of California, Berkeley in the academic year 2026–2027, hosted by Emmanuel Saez.
Research
Abstract
We study the effect of wealth shocks on timing of first births, and how responses depend on the career costs of early childbearing. We develop a two-period model in which fertility timing trades off short-run childcare costs against persistent earnings penalties, implying that wealth can accelerate childbearing only when borrowing constraints bind and career penalties are not too large. We test these predictions using Finnish population register data and exogenous variation from inheritances received from relatives other than parents or siblings, measured at the household level. Empirically, we implement a stacked difference-in-differences event-study design by age at treatment and education group. As a first step, we document substantial heterogeneity in child penalties by age and education, providing a natural mapping from the data to the model’s key parameters and guiding the analysis of inheritance-induced changes in fertility timing.
Abstract
This paper studies the impact of preferential tax treatment on firm successions using a 2004 Finnish reform that significantly reduced gift and inheritance taxes for business transfers within the family. We construct a repeated cross-section of firms from 1999 to 2010 and classify them as dynastic or non-dynastic based on the presence of the owner’s child on the board prior to succession. We compare trends before and after the tax reform to assess whether it influenced firms' decisions to sell, retain ownership within the family, or liquidate. We also examine whether firms engage in precautionary behavior prior to succession as well as key indicators of firm performance. Our estimates show that the likelihood of family succession rises immediately following the reform, with clear signs of anticipatory behavior. However, we detect no significant effects on behavioral or financial outcomes for firms. By linking firm succession dynamics to tax policy, our findings provide new evidence on how inheritance taxation shapes ownership continuity and financial behavior in family firms.