Research

WORKING PAPERS

Hacking negative immigration attitudes and stereotypes: a randomized intervention in high-schools in Italy (with Sara Giunti, Andrea Guariso and Irene Solmone), in progress

Dubunking ancestral narratives: roots, ethnic identity and social cohesion (with Riccardo Ghidoni and Alessandro Saia), in progress

Political Backlash to Refugee Settlement: Cultural and Economic Drivers (with Francesco Campo, Sara Giunti and Giulia Tura), IZA DP No. 16245  and Cefes WP N.522, 2023.

Emigration from Developing Countries: Selection, Income Elasticity and Simpson’s Paradox (with Michael A. Clemens), CGD WP 539, IZA DP 13612, 2020. Featured in The Economist, Voice from America, CGDev Blog, UN Dispatch, IZA Newsroom, TheNewEuropean, CSAE Blog. Revisions requested at the Journal of Development Economics.

Refugee Crisis and Right-Wing Populism: Evidence from the Italian Dispersal Policy (with Francesco Campo and Sara Giunti), IZA DP 14084, 2021.  Revisions requested at the European Economic Review

Agricultural Transformation and Farmers' Expectations: Experimental Evidence from Uganda (with Jacopo Bonan and Harounan Kazianga), LdA WP n.458, 2019.  Revisions requested (second round) at the Review of Economics and Statistics.


PUBLICATIONS

International Migration Intentions and Illegal Costs: Evidence from Africa-to-Europe Smuggling Routes (with Guido Friebel, Miriam Manchin and Giovanni Prarolo), Journal of International Economics, Vol. 148, 103878  2024.

Social Networks and Economic Transformation: Evidence from a Resettled Village in Brazil (with Margherita Comola and Carla Inguaggiato), Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization,  Vol. 221, 17-34, 2024. 

Curse or Blessing? Mutinational Corporations and Labor Market Outcomes in Africa (with Giovanni Prarolo and Tommaso Sonno), Special Issue on "African regional and global integration", Review of World Economics, forthcoming 2024. 

Nutritional and Schooling Impact of a Social Protection Program in Ethiopia: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure (with Mengesha Yayo Negasi), Journal of African Economies, forthcoming 2023.

Talents and Cultures: Immigrant Inventors and Ethnic Diversity in the Age of Mass Migration (with Francesco Campo, Andrea Morrison and Gianmarco Ottaviano), Journal of European Economic Association, Vol. 20 (5), 1971-2021, 2022.

The Impact of Family Size and Sibiling Structure on the Great Mexico-U.S. Migration (with Massimiliano Bratti and Simona Fiore), Journal of Population Economics, Vol.33, 483–529, 2020.

South-South Migration and the Labor Market in South Africa (with Costanza Biavaschi, Giovanni Facchini and Anna Maria Mayda), Journal of Economic Geography, Vol.18 (4), 823-853, 2018.

The Impact of Migration on Child Labor: Theory and Evidence from Brazil (with Garance Genicot and Anna Maria Mayda), in Markets, Governance and Institutions in the Process of Economic Development, Festschrift in Honor of Kaushik Basu, Oxford University Press, 2017. [Table of Contents]

International Migration and Child Labor in Developing Countries (with Anna De Paoli) The World Economy, Vol.40 (4), 678-702, 2017.

The Effects of Migration on Child Labor in Home Countries, IZA World of Labor, 2016: 286.

The Formation of Migrant Networks (with Margherita Comola), The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 117 (2), 592–618, 2015. Non technical summary

The Welfare Impact of Land Redistribution: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Initiative in Malawi (with Franklin Simtowe), World Development, Vol. 72, pp. 53–69, 2015.

Parental Health and Child Schooling (with Massimiliano Bratti), Journal of Health Economics, 35: 94–108, 2014.

Xenophobic attacks, migration intentions and networks: evidence from the South of Africa (with Guido Friebel and Juan M. Gallego), Journal of Population Economics, 26 (2): 555-591, 2013.

Labor Migration and Social Networks Participation in Southern Mozambique (with Juan M. Gallego), Economica, 80 (320): 721-759, 2013. See Michael Clemens's Blog Post

What drives individual attitudes towards immigration in South Africa? (with  Giovanni Facchini and Anna Maria Mayda), Review of International Economics, 21 (2): 326-341, 2013.

International Migration and Gender Differences in the Home Labour Market: Evidence from Albania (with Gero Carletto), Labour Economics, 19 (6): 870–880, 2012. See WB Blog Post

Rural out-migration and economic development at origin. What do we know?, Journal of International Development, 24 (1): 102-122, 2012.

Catastrophic and impoverishing effects of health expenditure: new evidence from the Western Balkans (with C. Bredenkamp and M. Gragnolati) Health Policy and Planning, 26:   349-356, 2011.

Social determinants of labor market status of ethnic minorities in Britain (with Martin Kahanec), Research in Labor Economics, 29, 167-195, 2009.

Migration and Technological Change in Rural Households: Complements or Substitutes?, Journal of Development Economics, 85-(1-2) 150-175, 2008. 

Agricultural technology adoption and poverty reduction: a propensity-score matching analysis for rural Bangladesh, Food Policy, 32, 372–393, 2007.

Farm Households Production Theories: a Review of ‘Institutional’ and ‘Behavioural’ responses, Asian Development Review, 24 (1), 2007

Summary of Thesis: ‘Technology Adoption and Migration in Rural Households in Developing Countries’, Rivista Italiana degli Economisti, N.1-2006.



"I do not see how one can look at figures like these without seeing them representing *possibilities*. Is there some action a government of India could take that would lead the Indian economy to grow like Indonesia's or Egypt's? If so, what exactly? If not, what is it about the "nature of India" that makes it so? The consequences for human welfare involved in questions like these are simply staggering: once one starts to think about them, it is hard to think about anything else." Robert E. Lucas, "On the Mechanics of Economic Development." Journal of Monetary Economics. 22 July, 1988, pp. 5.