About

Paola Giuliano is a professor of economics at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, holding the Chauncey J. Medberry Chair in Management. In 2025, she was appointed faculty vice chair of academic personnel. Her main areas of research are culture and economics and political economy. Giuliano holds a B.A. in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan, graduating summa cum laude in 1997, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, obtained in 2003. She is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, and a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn. Her research has been widely covered by major media outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Forbes, Foreign Affairs, Businessweek, Time, The Economist, The Guardian, Financial Times, the Boston Globe, CNBC, KPCC, and PBS. Giuliano teaches MBA courses in Global Macroeconomics and Managerial Economics at UCLA Anderson.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Economics
• Sociology
• Economic growth
• Political economy
• Demography
• Market economy
• Public administration
• Econometrics
• Development economics
• Mathematics
• Statistics
• Law

Selected publications

• Sticky Traditions: Origin, Persistence, and Evolution of Cultural Norms

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2026-04-01

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter reviews the growing literature on the origin, persistence and evolution of cultural norms.I begin by examining the deep historical forces that shape the formation of cultural norms, with particular attention to the role of geography, pre-industrial societal characteristics, political institutions, and historical shocks.I then analyze the mechanisms through which cultural norms persist and evolve, emphasizing the roles of vertical, horizontal, and oblique transmission.Next, I examine the complex interaction between culture and institutions, and discuss the conditions under which cultural norms change.Several conclusions emerge.Cultural norms tend to persist over remarkably long periods, though the speed of change varies significantly across traits.Norms rooted in deep historical values are the most resistant to change, while attitudes related to prosociality and redistribution adapt more quickly.Understanding the origins and persistence of cultural norms has important implications for policy: policies that fail to account for local cultural context risk being ineffective or generating unintended consequences, while well-designed interventions can successfully shift cultural norms.Finally, I discuss the growing evidence on cultural mismatches -situations where norms that were adaptive in historical environments become maladaptive in new contexts -and outline directions for future research.

  PublisherDOI

• Sticky Traditions: Origin, Persistence, and Evolution of Cultural Norms

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Aggregate Shocks and the Formation of Preferences and Beliefs

  Journal of Economic Literature · 2025-06-01 · 12 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  A growing body of work highlights how aggregate shocks shape preferences and beliefs. This review synthesizes findings from sociology, social psychology, and economics to explore the significance of these shocks, how the period in which they are experienced matters, and their lasting effects. It examines economic shocks such as recessions, inflation, and trade shocks, alongside noneconomic shocks like migrations, wars, terrorist attacks, pandemics, and natural disasters. Key conclusions emerge: aggregate shocks influence political preferences, risk attitudes, and institutional trust; experiences during young adulthood have stronger, enduring impacts; and economic shocks generally shift preferences toward the political right, while noneconomic yield more varied outcomes depending on the context. The review also evaluates empirical methodologies, their limitations, and mechanisms underlying these effects. By analyzing how shocks alter societal values and behaviors across generations, this work provides insights into the long-term consequences of major disruptions on individual and collective decision-making. (JEL D72, D81, D83, D91, E32, H23, Z13)

  PublisherDOI

• A Blood Test for the Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis

  International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2024-01-30 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune chronic disease characterized by inflammation and demyelination of the central nervous system (CNS). Despite numerous studies conducted, valid biomarkers enabling a definitive diagnosis of MS are not yet available. The aim of our study was to identify a marker from a blood sample to ease the diagnosis of MS. In this study, since there is evidence connecting the serotonin pathway to MS, we used an ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) to detect serum MS-specific auto-antibodies (auto-Ab) against the extracellular loop 1 (ECL-1) of the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptor subtype 2A (5-HT2A). We utilized an ELISA format employing poly-D-lysine as a pre-coating agent. The binding of 208 serum samples from controls, both healthy and pathological, and of 104 serum samples from relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) patients was tested. We observed that the serum-binding activity in control cohort sera, including those with autoimmune and neurological diseases, was ten times lower compared to the RRMS patient cohort (p = 1.2 × 10−47), with a sensitivity and a specificity of 98% and 100%, respectively. These results show that in the serum of patients with MS there are auto-Ab against the serotonin receptor type 2A which can be successfully used in the diagnosis of MS due to their high sensitivity and specificity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Beliefs that Entertain

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Aggregate Shocks and the Formation of Preferences and Beliefs

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Alberto Alesina (1957–2020)

  2024-01-01

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• Aggregate Shocks and the Formation of Preferences and Beliefs

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2024-07-01 · 3 citations

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Beliefs that Entertain

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2024-04-01 · 2 citations

  reportOpen access

  Economic research on entertainment is scant despite its large share of time use.We test economic theories of belief-based utility in the context of video-game engagement.Using data on 2.8 million matches from League of Legends, we find evidence supporting reference-dependent preferences, loss aversion, preferences for surprise and suspense, preferences for clumped surprise, and flow theory from psychology.We then leverage our estimated model and an evolutionary algorithm to find the information-revealing process that maximizes player engagement.We find that the optimal version of the game has increased game play equivalent to 43% of the winner-loser gap.

  PublisherDOI

• Aggregate Shocks and the Formation of Preferences and Beliefs

  IMF Working Paper · 2024-09-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Alberto Alesina

  Harvard University

  263 shared

• Nathan Nunn

  150 shared

• Paola Sapienza

  149 shared

• Antonio Spilimbergo

  118 shared

• Armin Falk

  BRIQ Institute on Behavior and Inequality

  61 shared

• Pierre Cahuc

  61 shared

• Benjamin Enke

  51 shared

• Yiming Cao

  Boston University

  51 shared

Awards & honors

• Young Economic Award from the European Economic Association…
• European Economic Association Young Economist Award (2004)
• Winner of the 2013 IPUMS Research Award for 'On the Origins…