CEP | People | Maria Ventura

Biography

Maria is currently a PhD student in Economics at the LSE. Prior to this, she received her MSc in Economics at the LSE and BSc in Economics at Sapienza University of Rome. Her research interests are mainly in Labour and Public Economics.

Current areas of research include:

Occupational choice
Intergenerational mobility
Migration

Publications

CEP Covid-19 analyses

The self-employment trap?

The seventh LSE-CEP survey of the self-employed was undertaken in June 2023. The results revealed that the self-employed are still in the doldrums and their incomes and activity have not resumed to pre-pandemic levels. T... Read more...

Robert Blackburn, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

25 September 2023

Blog

Are the self-employed trapped?

Still affected by the cost-of-living crisis, the self-employed are still struggling to recover their finances and mental health. Many of them would leave for a salaried job, yet they appear to be stuck in self-employment... Read more...

Robert Blackburn and Maria Ventura

25 September 2023

Blog

Self-employment dwindles amid the cost-of-living crisis

As the Covid-19 crisis has made way for inflation and skyrocketing energy prices, the self-employed have not yet found their way out of the recent economic adversities. And many of them are now finding their way out of s... Read more...

Robert Blackburn and Maria Ventura

10 February 2023

CEP Covid-19 analyses

From Covid-19 to collapse? The self-employed and the cost of living crisis

The sixth LSE-CEP survey of the self-employed was undertaken in November 2022 and found that the downward trend in income levels of the self-employed reported in May 2022 has continued. The cost of living crisis is hitti... Read more...

Robert Blackburn, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

10 February 2023

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance

Supporting the UK's self-employed

Two years after the Covid-19 crisis began, incomes of the UK?s self-employed remain well below their pre-pandemic levels. Robert Blackburn and Maria Ventura explain why the solo self-employed, who represent about 85% of ... Read more...

Robert Blackburn and Maria Ventura

20 October 2022

Blog

Falling behind, the self-employed would sacrifice 10% of their income for an insurance scheme

Two years after the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, incomes of the self-employed in the UK are still well below their pre-pandemic levels. The number of self-employed workers dropped during the crisis and has not yet r... Read more...

Robert Blackburn and Maria Ventura

28 July 2022

CEP Covid-19 analyses

Covid-19 and the self-employed - A two year update

The fifth LSE-CEP survey of the self-employed of May 2022 provides an up to date picture of how Covid-19 and its aftermath keep affecting the self-employed. The findings show that, although working on average a little mo... Read more...

Robert Blackburn, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

28 July 2022

Blog

Earning less than before Covid-19, the self-employed struggle to make ends meet

Amid the renewed drives for economic growth, self-employed workers still struggle to recover fully from the COVID-19 crisis. Robert Blackburn and Maria Ventura write that In September 2021, 28% of workers reported financ... Read more...

Robert Blackburn and Maria Ventura

24 November 2021

Blog

Some of the self-employed are still struggling amid uncertainty about whether they could claim grants

The self-employed have not recovered from the pandemic despite five rounds of government support, find Robert Blackburn (University of Liverpool), Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura (LSE). More than a quarter are in financ... Read more...

Robert Blackburn, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

19 November 2021

CEP Covid-19 analyses

Covid-19 and the self-employed - 18 months into the crisis

A year and a half into the Covid-19 pandemic, growth and economic recovery are the latest watchwords amongst labour market commentators in the UK. In this report we continue to monitor the situation of the self-employed ... Read more...

Robert Blackburn, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

18 November 2021

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance

In brief... Covid-19 and self-employment

The pandemic has had particularly damaging economic effects on self-employed people in the UK. CEP has now run three surveys to capture the experience of these workers during the crisis. Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura ... Read more...

Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

15 June 2021

Blog

Update: How is coronavirus affecting the self-employed?

A year into the Covid-19 crisis, it is widely recognised that the UK's self-employed workers have been among the hardest hit. Survey evidence shows that the latest lockdown is once again leaving the self-employed with lo... Read more...

Jack Blundell and Maria Ventura

29 March 2021

Blog

Covid-19 and self-employment ten months into the crisis

Almost a year into the crisis, the latest lockdown has hit the self-employed hard in the UK. In January 2021, 57% of surveyed self-employed workers were earning less than A#1,000 per month, up from 31% in January 2020 an... Read more...

Jack Blundell and Maria Ventura

02 March 2021

CEP Covid-19 analyses

Covid-19 and the self-employed - ten months into the crisis

Almost a year into the Covid-19 crisis, it has become widely acknowledged that UK self-employment has been particularly hard hit. Here we continue our series investigating the experience of self-employed workers througho... Read more...

Jack Blundell, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

02 March 2021

CEP Covid-19 analyses

Covid-19 and the self-employed: six months into the crisis

Six months after Covid-19 first hit, it is clear that it is the greatest economic crisis of the modern age. The economy has contracted far more rapidly than in previous crises, with GDP dropping by a record 19.5 per cent... Read more...

Jack Blundell, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

10 November 2020