Fabio Sabatini is a Full Professor (Professore Ordinario) of Economics at Sapienza University of Rome. He served as Director of the European PhD Programme in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies from November 2018 to November 2022.
He is Research Fellow at IZA - Institute of Labor Economics (Bonn).
Fabio obtained the Italian national scientific qualification (abilitazione scientifica nazionale) as Full Professor (professore ordinario) of Political Economy (sector 13/A1), Economic Policy (13/A2), Public Economics (13/A3) and Applied Economics (13/A4).
Fabio's Google Scholar Citation Profile is here (H-Index = 34 as of July 2025; citations = 4848). His personal RePEc statistics are here.
He writes a Substack blog and newsletter on economics, politics, and science policy (in Italian). The English-language version is The Civic Economist.
• Full Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Law, Faculty of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome.
• Research Fellow IZA - Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn.
Other appointments and affiliations
• Associate Researcher, Grupo de Investigaciòn Capital Social y Series Temporales, Universidad de Zaragoza.
• Member of the Health, Econometrics and Data Group, University of York.
• Member of the Social Capital Working Group of the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE), University of London.
• November 2018 - November 2022: Director of the European PhD Programme in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies.
• December 2015 - December 2020: Associate Professor of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Economics and Law.
• March 2011 - December 2015: Assistant Professor (Ricercatore a tempo indeterminato), Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Economics and Law.
• November 2010 - June 2012: Senior Researcher (Ricercatore a tempo determinato), University of Trento, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse).
• November 2006 - October 2010: Research Fellow, University of Siena, Department of Economics and Faculty of Political Sciences.
• July 2006 - July 2007: Holder of a Research Grant funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization for the research project The Role of FAO and IFAD in Building Social Capital in Rural Areas, University of Padua, Department of Economics Marco Fanno.
• October 2005 - November 2006: Research Fellow, University of Cassino, Department of Economics.
• Editor of the NEP (New Economics Papers) Report on Social Norms and Social Capital within the RePEc Project.
• Reviewer for the following peer-reviewed journals: Applied Economics, Applied Economics Letters, Applied Research in Quality of Life, Berkeley Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, BMC Public Health, British Journal of Sociology, Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society, Chaos, Comparative Political Studies, Computers in Human Behavior, Contemporary Economic Policy, Demography, Economic Modelling, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, European Economic Review, European Journal of Political Economy, European Sociological Review, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Cultural Economics, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Economic Psychology, Journal of Economic Surveys, Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Journal of Happiness Studies, Kyklos, Labour Economics, Macroeconomic Dynamics, Metroeconomica, New Political Economy, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Oxford Economic Papers, Plos One, Regional Studies, Research Policy, Review of Development Economics, Review of Economics of the Household, Review of Income and Wealth, Review of Network Economics, Review of Social Economy, Small Business Economics, Social Forces, Social Indicators Research, Social Networks, Social Policy & Administration, Social Science and Medicine, Technology in Society, Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, Voluntas, World Development.
Check my ORCID profile to see my most recent certified refereeing activities.
I occasionally review book proposals for Edward Elgar, Oxford University Press, and Routledge.
• Laurea in Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, 2001. Summa cum laude.
• PhD in Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, 2006.
• 2017, September 4-6: invited speaker at the workshop "ICTs and well-being", Oslo, Norway.
• 2016, December 12-13: invited speaker at the conference "Social Capital", Fukuoka, Japan.
• 2015, October 23-24: member of the scientific committee and invited speaker at the Conference "Social capital". Konya, Turkey.
• 2015, July 23-27: invited speaker at the Sino-German Symposium on "Informal Institutions, social capital and economic development". Tianjin, China.
• 2015, June, 18: invited speaker at the Monday Lunch Seminar, University of Zaragoza, Department of Economics.
• 2015, May 12: invited speaker at the Research on Monday seminar, Tinbergen Institute, Erasmus University of Rotterdam.
• 2014, October 24: invited speaker at the workshop "Social capital, instutions and economic development ". Valencia, Spain.
• 2014, October 12: invited speaker at the workshop: " Arguing on social media ", within the Italian Internet Festival, Pisa, Italy.
• 2014, September 7: invited speaker at the Global Economic Symposium "Restructuring Economies, Transforming Societies". Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• 2012, November 13: invited speaker at the Conference "Micro-Level Socialisation through Civic Engagement? Institutions, Associations and Trust". Brussels, Belgium.
• 2012, June 21-23: member of the Organizing Committee of the Association for Social Economics 2012 World Congress. Glasgow, UK.
• 2011, October 26: keynote speaker at the Conference "Knowledge-Based Development: Enterprises, Cities and Countries". Vale dos Vinhedos - Bento Gonçalves, Brazil.
• 2010, July 7: invited speaker at the conference "The Economic Effects of Trust". Santander, Spain.
• 2010, March 12: invited speaker at the workshop "Poverty, inequality and social protection in Africa". Brussels, Belgium.
• 2009, December 2-5: member of the scientific committee of the Conference "From GDP to Well-Being: Economics on the Road to Sustainability". Ancona, Italy.
• 2009, September 24: invited speaker at the Conference "Urban Policies and Social Capital". Lindköping and Gothenburg, Sweden.
• 2009, September 4: invited speaker at the Conference "Civil society, social capital and economic development". Stockholm, Sweden.
• 2007, November 8: invited speaker at the Conference: "Social capital and job creation in rural Europe". Lisbon, Portugal.
• 2007, June 1, invited speaker at the conference "The role of nonprofit organizations and social enterprises in the formation of social capital". Trento, Italy.
• 2007, March 4: invited speaker at the Conference "Social Networks, Transactional Economy, and Knowledge-Based Economy in Regional Development". Moscow, Russia.
• 2006, November 18: invited speaker at the Conference "Reviewing OECD experience in the social enterprise sector". Trento, Italy.
• 2006, October 18-19: organizer and chair of the Conference "Social Capital and Crime". Ottaviano (Naples), Italy.
• 2006, June 30: invited speaker at the Conference Social Capital, Sustainability and Socio-economic Cohesion within the EU MLG structure in development policy. London, UK.
• From 2007 to 2014 I have been member of the scientific committee of the Annual Workshop for Young Economists on Social Economy, which takes place every year in Forlì (Bologna, Italy) under the organization of the University of Bologna.
• 2014, November 10-15, presentation of the paper "Inherited tolerance and economic growth" at the 4th International Annual Research Conference "Cultural and Economic changes under cross-national perspective", Saint Petersburg, Russia.
• 2014, March 30, presentation of the paper "Internet use, social capital and subjective well-being" at the Conference: Social and Cultural Changes in Cross-National Perspective: Values and Modernization, Moscow, Russia.
• 2013, November 14, presentation of the paper "Will Facebook save or destroy social capital? An empirical investigation into the role of online interactions in the evolution of trust and networks" at the Conference "Cultural and Economic changes under cross-national perspective", Moscow, Russia.
• 2013, April 28: presentation of the project "The Internet, social capital and subjective well-being" at the Third LCSR International Workshop, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
• 2012, October 5: presentation of the paper "Structural social capital and health in Italy" at the Workshop Social Capital and Health. Padua, Italy.
• 2012, September 22: presentation of the paper "Employment instability, economic insecurity and fertility intentions: the case of Italy" at the Conference of the European Association of Labour Economists. Bonn, Germany.
• 2011, November 23: presentation of the paper "Economic Insecurity and Fertility: The Case of Italy" at the IARIW-OECD Conference on Economic Insecurity. Paris, France.
• 2009, December 5: presentation of the paper "The Solaria Syndrome: Social Capital in a Growing Hypertechnological Economy" at the Conference "From GDP to Well-Being: Economics on the Road to Sustainability". Ancona, Italy.
• 2009, June 25: presentation of the paper "Will growth and technology destroy social interaction? The inverted U-shape hypothesis" at the Conference "The evolution and formation of social networks". Paris, France.
• 2024/2025: Economia Politica. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2024/2025: Economia dello sviluppo sostenibile. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2023/2024: Economia Politica. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2023/2024: Economia delle risorse e dell'ambiente. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2022/2023: Economia Politica. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2022/2023: Economia delle risorse e dell'ambiente. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2021/2022: Economia Politica. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2021/2022: Economia delle risorse e dell'ambiente. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2021/2022: Policy evaluation (in English). European PhD Programme in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies.
• 2020/21: Economia Politica. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2020/2021: Economia dell'Unione Europea. Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2020/2021: Economics and Policy of Networks (in English). Sapienza Università di Roma, Facoltà di Economia.
• 2020/2021: Social and Cultural Economics (in English). European PhD Programme in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies.
• 2019/2020: Social and Cultural Economics. European PhD Programme in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies.
• 2019/2020: Economics and Policy of Networks (in English). Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2019/2020: Environmental Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2018/2019: Applied Economics (in English). European PhD Programme in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies.
• 2018/2019: Economics and Policy of Networks. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2018/2019: Public Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2017/2018: Applied Economics (in English). European PhD Programme in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies.
• 2017/2018: Economics and Policy of Networks (in English). Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2017/2018: Public Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2016/2017: Economics and Policy of Networks. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2016/2017: Public Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2015/2016: Advanced Public Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2014/2015: Advanced Public Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2013/2014: Advanced Public Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2013/2014: Public Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2012/2013: Public Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2012/2013: Political Economy (TA). Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2011/2012: Public Economics. Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2011/2012: Political Economy (TA). Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2009/2010: Mathematical Economics. University of Siena, Faculty of Political Science.
• 2009/2010: Social Capital and Development Processes. University of Siena, Faculty of Political Science.
• 2008/2010: Development Economics. University of Siena, Faculty of Political Science.
• 2008/2009: European Economic Policy. University of Siena, Faculty of Political Science.
• 2008/2009: Economics of Monetary Union. Università Telematica Guglielmo Marconi, Faculty of Economics.
• 2007/2008: Economics of Monetary Union. Università Telematica Guglielmo Marconi, Faculty of Economics.
• 2006/2010: Economic Policy (TA). University of Siena, Faculty of Political Science.
• 2006/2010: Political Economy (TA). University of Siena, Faculty of Economics.
• 2006/2010: Business Economics (TA). Siena University for Foreigners, Faculty of Economics.
• 2006/2007: Economics of Monetary Union. Università Telematica Guglielmo Marconi, Faculty of Economics.
• 2005/2006: Economics of Monetary Union. Università Telematica Guglielmo Marconi, Faculty of Economics.
• 2003/2004: Advanced Economic Policy (TA). Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics.
• 2003/2004: Economic Policy (TA). University LUISS Guido Carli, Faculty of Economics.
• January 2008 - August 2009: Consultant of the Department of Economics of the University of Trento within a research project on the measurement of social capital in the Province of Trento.
• October 2007 - December 2007: Consultant of the Associazione Studi e Ricerche per il Mezzogiorno within the Research Project "Capitale sociale e sviluppo economico nel Mezzogiorno italiano" (Social capital and economic development in the Italian Mezzogiorno).
• September 2007 - December 2007: Consultant at the International Project Office of the Università Telematica Guglielmo Marconi for the development of research projects to be submitted to the European Commission, with particular regard for the 7th European Framework Programme (7FP). Responsible for the development and management of the Collaborative project SOCIAL NET, ‘The role of social capital and public policy in determining EU development trajectories’, submitted to the 7FP.
• January 2006 - January 2007: Consultant of the University of Tuscia, Faculty of Economics, within the research project on "Social capital and local development: the case of Tuscia".
• July 2006 - November 2006: Consultant of the Organisation for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Task: preparing a paper to be used at the seminar on Social Enterprise and Social Capital organised by the OECD LEED Centre for Local Development and the World Bank, Trento, 15-18 November 2006.
• January 2006 - June 2006: Consultant of the University of Padua, Department of Economics “Marco Fanno”, within the research project on "Civil Economy and Microcredit".
• January 2006 - June 2006: Consultant of the RESTRIM Project (Restructuring in Marginal Rural Areas: the role of social capital in rural development), a European Commission Framework Five funded project that examines the role of civil society in promoting economic competitiveness and quality of life for rural residents.
• June 2004 - May 2005: Consultant of the Research Group of the University of Rome La Sapienza, Faculty of Economics, on "A Plan of Services for Managing City", co-funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).