Alessandro Di Nallo
Lecturer in Sociology and Demography, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). Guest Researcher, MPIDR · Affiliate, Dondena Centre.
Department of Political and Social Sciences
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Barcelona, Spain
I am a Lecturer (tenure-track) in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, where I am a member of the DemoSoc research group. I am also a Guest Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock and an affiliate of the Dondena Centre at Bocconi University in Milan.
At the MPIDR I collaborate with the BIOSFER project (European Research Council, Horizon Europe; PI: Mikko Myrskylä), where I was a postdoctoral researcher between 2024 and 2025.
I am co-PI (with Clara Cortina) of REPRODIV, a project on diverse reproductive trajectories and their sociodemographic drivers and implications, funded by the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) under the Generación de Conocimiento programme.
My research sits at the intersection of sociology and demography. I study how socioeconomic conditions and life-course events shape family and reproductive outcomes, with a current focus on perinatal outcomes (live birth, miscarriage, stillbirth), fertility, pregnancy loss, and their consequences for well-being, health, and partnership stability. I also work on job loss and union dissolution, and on the spatial demography of Italy. I completed my PhD in Social Demography at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in 2019.
news
| Oct 12, 2026 | New article out in Social Science Research: “Women’s job market outcomes around live births and pregnancy losses”. |
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| Jul 16, 2026 | Our project REPRODIV (“Diverse reproductive trajectories: sociodemographic drivers and implications”) has been selected for funding by the Spanish Research Agency (AEI), with €135,000 and a predoctoral contract. I am co-PI, together with Clara Cortina (PI). |
| Sep 01, 2025 | I joined Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) as a Lecturer in the Department of Political and Social Sciences. |
| Mar 01, 2025 | New article out in Demography: “Sleeping with the enemy. Partners’ heterogamy by political preferences and union dissolution” (with Bruno Arpino). |
| Jan 15, 2024 | I joined the MPIDR as a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC project BIOSFER (PI: Mikko Myrskylä). |
selected publications
- Soc. Sci. Res.
Roma (2018), dir. Alfonso CuarónWomen’s job market outcomes around live births and pregnancy lossesSocial Science Research, 2026What happens to women’s working lives after a pregnancy loss? Following women in the UK from before their first pregnancy to more than five years after it, I find that a loss is followed by an hourly wage about 6 to 7% lower in the first year, and by employment, hours and earnings that decline from the second year onwards. Women who have a live birth show the well-known child penalty, immediate and lasting; a pregnancy loss carries labour-market costs of its own, on a different timetable. - Env. Res.Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and miscarriage: The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort studyEnvironmental Research, 2026A nested case–control study in the Norwegian MoBa cohort: no clear association between maternal PFAS levels and miscarriage.
- DemRes
Juno (2007), dir. Jason ReitmanThe partnership context of first parenthoodDemographic Research, 2025When, and in which partnership, do people in the UK have their first child? Following individuals from their teens into adulthood, I show that those from working-class families become parents earlier and more often outside marriage, most often within cohabitation, while those from higher-class families delay parenthood and tend to have their first child within marriage. Cohabiting first births have become more common across all groups over successive cohorts, yet the class gradient in the timing and context of first parenthood persists. - Demography
The Way We Were (1973), dir. Sydney PollackSleeping with the enemy. Partners’ heterogamy by political preferences and union dissolutionDemography, 2025Do partners with opposing political views stay together? Drawing on nearly 29,000 British couples between 1991 and 2019, we find that political heterogamy is associated with a higher risk of union dissolution, an association that grew more visible around the Brexit referendum. The pattern suggests that political differences can erode relationship stability much like other forms of value mismatch, and that a polarised climate can make those differences harder to bridge. - PDR
Pieces of a Woman (2020), dir. Kornél MundruczóCouples’ Subjective Well-being around Live Birth and Pregnancy LossPopulation and Development Review, 2025The gendered emotional responses of both partners around live births and pregnancy losses. - Hum. Reprod.Job loss during pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage and stillbirthHuman Reproduction, 2023Job loss during pregnancy nearly doubles the risk of pregnancy loss.