I am a development economist interested in studying the determinants and constraints of welfare-improving investment behavior in developing settings. My research work has focused on investment decisions in human capital -- education, health and especially migration -- labor supply, technology adoption and social networks. More recently, I have been working on the political economy of immigration and cultural diversity. Depending on the theoretical perspective and research design, I employ different data sources and empirical methods, including first-hand survey data, hystorical or administrative data and field experiments (RCTs).
I have been the principal investigator of projects funded by the World Bank, 3ie, IGC, the Italian Agency for Development & Cooperation and Fondazione Cariplo.
I hold a B.Sc. in Economics and Social Sciences (DES) from Bocconi University in Milan. Before graduate studies, I spent a year in Latin America, studying at the PUC in Santiago de Chile and working at ECLAC. After graduating, I worked for a year in the international development cooperation sector, managing projects in the Eastern Balkans and Central America. I then obtained a Master degree in Development Economics from the University of Sussex (UK) and a PhD in Economics from the University of Milan. I have been a visiting scholar at the European University Institute (RSC), the Department of Economics at NYU in the US and the Tinbergen Institute in Amsterdam. I have worked as a consultant for various international organisations (e.g. WB, UNDP, FAO, etc.) and national governments (mainly in the EU and Africa).
I was born and raised in Milan, but my family comes from the south of Italy. I spent my childhood travelling between northern and southern Italy. I used to observe very carefully how the landscape, norms and habits changed as I travelled, and how my grandparents had managed to give my parents life chances that were very different from their own. It was then, I believe, that I began to develop some of the questions that are still at the heart of my research today.
“Great innovation only happens when people aren’t afraid to do things differently” (Georg Cantor)