Marta Favara
PhD in Economics - University of Essex
marta.favara@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Marta is a Senior Researcher at the Oxford Department of International Development at the University of Oxford where she is leading the quantitative research agenda of Young Lives since 2015. She is also a Research Fellow at the Oxford Martin School Programme on African Governance and an IZA Research Affiliate. Before joining Young Lives, she worked as an economist at the World Bank. She obtained a PhD in Economics from the University of Essex (UK) and a Masters in Economics from the University of Leuven (Belgium).
Her main research interests include development economics (poverty, inequality and early childhood development); labour economics (education and gender) and behavioural economics (choice under uncertainty, adolescent risk behaviours). Her recent work focuses on foundational skills formation and young people’s behaviour (transition to the labour market, fertility decision and schooling enrolment). In addition, she investigates the role of aspirations and subjective expectations as potential self-enforcing mechanisms underlying poverty and gender inequality.
Publications
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JournalClinical Nutrition ESPEN
Interaction between genetic risk score and dietary carbohydrate intake on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels: Findings from the study of obesity, nutrition, genes and social factors (SONGS)
2025 Ramatu Wuni, Katherine Curi-Quinto, Litai Liu, Dianela Espinoza, Anthony I. Aquino, Juana del Valle-Mendoza, Miguel Angel Aguilar-Luis, Claudia Murray, Richard Nunes, Lisa Methven, Julie A. Lovegrove, Mary Penny, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez, Karani Santhanakrishnan Vimaleswaran
Cardiometabolic traits are complex interrelated traits that result from a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors. This study aimed to assess the interaction between genetic variants and dietary macronutrient intake on cardiometabolic traits [body mass index, waist circumference, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerol, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting […]
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Young Lives attrition report: Round 7
2025 María de los Ángeles Molina, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez, Amanda Woodman
Over more than 20 years, Young Lives has followed two cohorts born seven years apart (Favara et al. 2021). This technical note documents the attrition rates from the seventh round of the Young Lives survey carried out in Ethiopia, India (the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) and Peru in 2023–24, when the Younger Cohort […]
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JournalEconomics & Human Biology
Long-term effects of early life rainfall shocks on foundational cognitive skills: Evidence from Peru
2024 Nicolás Pazos, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez, Douglas Scott, Jere Behrman
Global warming is changing precipitation patterns, particularly harming communities in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Whilst the long-term effects of being exposed to rainfall shocks early in life on school-achievement tests are well-established, there is little population-based evidence from LMICs on the mechanisms through which these shocks operate. Executive functions (EFs) are key for children’s learning […]
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JournalEconomics of Education Review
Late-childhood foundational cognitive skills predict educational outcomes through adolescence and into young adulthood: Evidence from Ethiopia and Peru
2024 Jennifer López, Jere R. Behrman, Santiago Cueto, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez
We estimate associations between foundational cognitive skills (inhibitory control, working memory, long-term memory, and implicit learning) measured at age 12 and educational outcomes measured at ages 15 and 19–20 in Ethiopia and Peru, using the Young Lives data. The estimates adjust for rich sets of controls and include measurements of children’s baseline abilities. For a […]
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JournalWorld Development
Does early nutrition predict cognitive skills during later childhood? Evidence from two developing countries
2024 Alan Sanchez, Marta Favara, Margaret Sheridan, Jere R. Behrman
The existing evidence linking early undernutrition to educational outcomes in developing countries is largely focused on assessing its impacts on grade attainment and achievement test scores, with limited evidence on the foundational cognitive skills required to perform well at school. We use unique data collected in Ethiopia and Peru as part of the Young Lives […]
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Unpacking the post-lockdown employment recovery of young women in the global south
2021 Douglas Scott, Richard Freund, Marta Favara, Catherine Porter, Alan Sanchez
This paper analyses the difference in short-term employment recovery between young men and women in India, Peru and Vietnam following the national lockdowns imposed in all three countries during 2020. The authors employ a mediation model to establish whether – and to what extent – commonly suggested mechanisms are responsible for a relatively slower recovery among […]
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Consequences of teenage childbearing in Peru: Is the extended school-day reform an effective policy instrument to prevent teenage pregnancy?
2019 Alan Sanchez, Marta Favara
In Peru, approximately 14 out of 100 female adolescents are mothers. Teenage childbearing is a major policy concern, as most studies point to a negative impact of early fertility on maternal outcomes and on the birth and future of the children. This paper investigates the role of extended school-day programmes, primarily seen as a means […]
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No longer children: What do Young Lives children do when they grow up?
2018 Marta Favara, Grace Chang, Alan Sanchez
No longer children: What do Young Lives children do when they grow up? is a Young Lives research report, synthesising research from the past two survey rounds (in 2013 and 2016) to reflect on how the experience of poverty early in life affects future opportunities, documenting children and young people’s trajectories from school into post-secondary […]
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Psychosocial competencies and risky behaviours in Peru
2016 Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez
There is a growing concern about the prevalence of risky behaviours among young people, which ultimately lead to worse outcomes later in life, including lower salaries and worse socio-economic and life outcomes. On the other hand, there is little evidence about the prevalence of these behaviours and their determinants in the context of developing countries. […]
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JournalThe Journal of Develoment Studies
Young Lives, interrupted: Short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents in low- and middle-income countries
2022 Marta Favara, Richard Freund, Catherine Porter, Alan Sanchez, Douglass Scott
Researchers examine the situation of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in four low- and middle-income countries using data from a large-scale phone survey conducted in 2020. The survey was part of Young Lives, a 20-year longitudinal study of two cohorts of young people born in 1994 and 2001 in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), […]
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JournalNutrients
Role of government financial support and vulnerability characteristics associated with food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic among young Peruvians
2021 Katherine Curi-Quinto, Alan Sanchez, Nataly Lago-Berrocal, Mary E Penny, Claudia Murray, Richard Nunes, Marta Favara, Anisha Wijeyesekera, Julie Lovegrove, Victor Soto-Cáceres, Karani Santhanakrishnan Vimaleswaran
Using data from the longitudinal study Young Lives Peru, the authors investigated the profile of the young people in the study affected by food insecurity during the pandemic. They take into account the sociodemographic characteristics of Peruvian prendemic households and other shocks that made them more vulnerable. They also assess the government’s response role
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JournalInternational Journal of Epidemiology
Cohort profile update: The Young Lives study
2021 Marta Favara, Gina Crivello, Mary Penny, Catherine Porter, Ellanka Revathi, Alan Sanchez, Douglas Scott, Le Thuc Duc, Tassew Woldehanna, Andy McKay
• Young Lives is a longitudinal study tracking two cohorts of children in four low-and-middle-income countries [Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam]. • The survey started in 2002 and three rounds were completed by 2009. Two further rounds took place in 2013 (round 4) and 2016 (round 5). Most recently the round planned for 2020 was […]
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JournalMedrxiv
The evolution of young people’s mental health during COVID-19: Evidence from four low-and-middle-income-countries
2021 Catherine Porter, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez, Douglas Scott
Aunque COVID-19 presenta menos riesgo de morbilidad o mortalidad grave para los jóvenes, la crisis económica resultante ha afectado sus medios de subsistencia. Hay relativamente poca evidencia sobre la salud mental de los jóvenes en los países de ingresos bajos y medios (LMIC) a medida que avanza la pandemia. Dos encuestas telefónicas consecutivas (agosto/octubre y […]
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JournalReview of Development Studies
Understanding teenage fertility in Peru: An analysis using longitudinal data
2020 Marta Favara, Pablo Lavado, Alan Sanchez
Reducing the prevalence of teenage pregnancy remains an elusive goal for public policy in Peru. Researchers use longitudinal data from the Young Lives Study in Peru to investigate on an extensive set of early circumstances and life changes that might be the risk factors for teenage childbearing—about one out of five girls in the sample […]
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