Published and Forthcoming Papers:

Digital Highways and Firm Turnover (with Carlo Cambini)

Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 2023, Volume 32, 673-713

The Impact of Ultra-Broadband on Labor Income: An Event Study Approach (with Carlo Cambini and Laura Abrardi)

Forthcoming at Economics of Innovation and New Technology

Ultra-Fast Broadband Access and Productivity:  Evidence from Italian Firms (with Carlo Cambini and Elena Grinza) 

International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2023, Volume 86, 102901

Ultra-broadband Investment and Economic Resilience: Evidence from the Covid-19 Pandemic (with Laura Abrardi)

Telecommunications Policy, 2023, Volume 47, 102480 

Privacy regulation and online concentration during demand peaks: evidence from the E-commerce sector (with Geza Sapi) 

Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 2023, 50, 265-282

The Impact of Privacy Regulation on Web Traffic: Evidence from the GDPR (with Raffaele Congiu and Geza Sapi) 

Information Economics and Policy, 2022, Volume 61, 101003 

Online Privacy and Market Structure: Theory and Evidence (with Geza Sapi) 

Information Economics and Policy, 2022, Volume 60, 100985 

Working Papers:

iEnforcement and Road Safety (with Giorgio Caramma)

In this paper, we study how information technologies (IT) affect road safety through higher enforcement of traffic laws. Thanks to administrative geo-localized data on the universe of road accidents in a major Italian city, we assess the impact of IT on road safety within a quasi-random experiment that exploits the roll-out of intelligent red-light cameras in road intersections. Our findings suggest that IT-based enforcement (iEnforcement) significantly reduces accidents, but have negligible effects on injuries, as it affects mostly accidents that do not involve casualties. The impact is extremely local, and it is not driven by displacement effects toward uncontrolled roads. Exploring potential mechanisms, we find that the increase in road safety can be explained by higher coordination: iEnforcement improves coordination among road users by restraining them toward more compliant behavior. In turn, this affects overall road safety.

The Faster the Better? Advanced Internet Access and Student Performance (with Carlo Cambini and Sarah Zaccagni) 

Under revision

In this paper, we study the impact of high-speed internet access on student performance. Our empirical analysis leverages a unique dataset that combines information on ultra-broadband (UBB) diffusion in Italy with data on student performance in 2nd, 5th, and 8th grades for the period 2012-2017. We exploit the staggered roll-out of UBB, starting from 2015. Through an event study approach, we find evidence of endogeneity between student performance and broadband diffusion. We deal with this issue through an instrumental variable approach that exploits plausibly exogenous variation in the diffusion of the essential UBB input. Our results suggest that advanced internet connections significantly decrease student performance in Mathematics and Italian language in the 8th grade. In contrast, we do not find any significant effect in the 2nd and 5th grades. Male students from low-educated parental backgrounds are those more adversely affected, especially if they attend schools with a low IT usage.

Work in Progress:

• Cultural Exception? The Impact of Price Regulation on Prices and Variety of Books (with Christos Genakos, Mario Pagliero, and Tommaso Valletti)

• Broadband and Innovation (with Carlo Cambini, Pierluigi Murro, Fabiano Schivardi, and Francesco Sobbrio)

• Entry Deregulation, Firm Turnover and Labour Market Outcomes (with Matteo Broso, Carlo Cambini, and Giacomo Rosso)

• Privacy and Online Security (with Laura Abrardi and Geza Sapi)