Research

WORKING PAPERS

Hacking Anti-Immigration Attitudes and Stereotypes: a Field Experiment in Italian High-Schools (with S. Giunti, A. Guariso and I. Solmone), IZA DP No. 17978 and LdA WP n.499, 2024. AEA RCT Registry. Media: l'Avvenire, LaVoce.info

Jobs for votes? Political Patronage and Electoral Mobilization in Albania (with Luca J. Uberti and Drini Imami), mimeo.

Debunking Myths: Ancestral Narratives and Social Cohesion in India (with Resuf Ahmed, Riccardo Ghidoni, Stefano Piasenti and Alessandro Saia), in progress (fieldwork ongoing)

Impressions for a lifetime: youth exposure to immigration and anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany (with Jacopo Mazza and Marco Scipioni), in progress

MAIN PUBLICATIONS

Agricultural Transformation and Farmers' Expectations: Experimental Evidence from Uganda (with Jacopo Bonan and Harounan Kazianga),  Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming 2025. Project background

Political Backlash to Refugee Settlement: Cultural and Economic Drivers (with Francesco Campo, Sara Giunti and Giulia Tura), Journal of Public Economics, vol. 250, 105467, 2025. Media: Lavoce.info, Non-technical summary

Refugee Crisis and Right-Wing Populism: Evidence from the Italian Dispersal Policy  (with Francesco Campo and Sara Giunti), European Economic Review, Vol.168: 104826, 2024. Coverage:  LaRepubblica, IlFoglio, Redattoresociale, Viedifuga, StranieriinItalia, IlTempo, LaSicilia, Vita, AffariItaliani, WorldMagazine, Amnesty International Italia, ActionAidItalia, LaVoce.info.

Emigration from Developing Countries: Selection, Income Elasticity and Simpson’s Paradox (with Michael A. Clemens), Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 171: 103359, 2024. Coverage: The Economist, Voice from America, CGDev Blog, UN Dispatch, IZA Newsroom, TheNewEuropean, CSAE Blog, VoxDev.

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. Media:  VoxEU,

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. 

Talents and Cultures: Immigrant Inventors and Ethnic Diversity in the Age of Mass Migration (with Francesco Campo, Andrea Morrison and Gianmarco Ottaviano), Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol. 20 (5):1971-2011, 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 Formation of Migrant Networks (with Margherita Comola), The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 117 (2): 592–618, 2015. Non technical summary

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. Featured in Michael Clemens's Blog Post

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

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

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Curse or Blessing? Mutinational Corporations and Labor Market Outcomes in Africa (with Giovanni Prarolo and Tommaso Sonno), Review of World Economics, Vol.161, 339–371, 2025.

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, Vol. 33 (4), 390-410, 2024. 

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

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.

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.

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