journal articles
Piano, Ennio E., and Alvarez, Sean-Patrick (forthcoming). "Servants of two masters: Principal-agent problems and the prevalence of 'slave-hiring' across industries in the antebellum US South."The European Economic Review.
Piano, Ennio E., and Rounaet, Louis C. (forthcoming). "Constitutional Change among American Indian Tribes." Public Choice.
Piano, Ennio E., Bauer, Benjamin W., and Piano, Clara E. (forthcoming). Competition within the Church: Market entry and the rise of traditional Catholicism in the US. Kyklos.
Piano, Clara E., and Piano, Ennio E. (forthcoming). Ite Missa Est: Traditionis Custodes and the Supply of the Traditional Latin Mass in England and Wales. Journal of Economics, Management, and Religion.
Piano, Ennio E., and Rouanet, Louis (2024). The Calculus of American Indian Consent. Public Choice, 199, 341–366.
Piano, Ennio E. (2024). A theory of the city-state: The rise and the decline of the rule of law in Medieval Italy. Kyklos, 77(1), 97-117.
Piano, Ennio E., and Rouanet, Louis (2023). Drafting the Great Army: The political economy of conscription in Napoleonic France. The Journal of Economic History, 83(4), 1057–1100.
Piano, Ennio E., and Piano, Clara E. (2023). Contracting Creativity: Patronage and Creative Freedom in the Italian Renaissance Art Markets. European Review of Economic History, 27(3), 311-335. (Lead article).
Piano, Ennio E., and Piano, Clara E. (2023). Bargaining Over Beauty: The Economics of Contracts in Renaissance Art Markets. The Journal of Law and Economics, 66(2), 225-257. (Lead article).
Discussed on the Penn's Exchange Podcast
Piano, Ennio E., and Al-Bawwab, Rania (2023). The artist as entrepreneur. Review of Austrian Economics, 36, 23-41.
Discussed on MTSU on the record
Piano, Ennio E. (2022). Specialization and the firm in Renaissance Italian art. The Journal of Cultural Economics, 46, 659-697.
Piano, Ennio E., and Hardy, Tanner (2022). Rent seeking and the decline of the Florentine school. Public Choice, 192, 59-78.
Piano, Ennio E., and Piano, Clara E. (2021). In persona Christi Capitis: Agency problems when God is the principal. Journal of Economics, Management, and Religion, 2, 2150002.
Piano, Ennio E. (2021). Organizing high-end restaurants. Economics of Governance, 22, 165-192.
Leeson, Peter T., and Piano, Ennio E. (2021). The Golden Age of Mercenaries. European Review of Economic History, 25(3), 429-446.
Piano, Ennio E., and Salter, Alexander W. (2021). The fundamental Coase of development: Property rights foundations of the effective state. Journal of Institutional Economics, 17(1), 37-52.
Piano, Ennio E. (2020) "Coase goes to war: Contract choice on the battlefield." Revue d'Economie Politique, 130(6), 1001-1023.
Rouanet, Louis, and Piano, Ennio E. (2020). Filling the ranks. European Review of Economic History, 24(4), 696-715.
Piano, Ennio E. (2020). Desertion as theft. Journal of Institutional Economics, 16(2), 169-183. .
Piano, Ennio E., and Rouanet, L. (2020). "Economic calculation and the organization of markets." Review of Austrian Economics, 33(3), 331-348.
Piano, Ennio E., and Carson, Trey. (2020). Scalp-taking. Rationality and Society, 32(1), 40–66.
Boettke, P. J., & Piano, E. E. (2019). Capital, Calculation, and Coordination. Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, 37, 9-24.
Piano, Ennio E. (2019). State capacity and public choice: A critical survey. Public Choice, 178(1-2), 289-309.
Murtazashvili, I., and Piano, Ennio E. (2019) "Governance of Shale Gas Development: Insights from the Bloomington School of Institutional Analysis." Review of Austrian Economics, 32, 159-179.
Murtazashvili, I., & Piano, E. E. (2019). More Boon Than Bane How the US Reaped the Rewards and Avoided the Costs of the Shale Boom. The Independent Review , 24(27), 249-272.
Lucas, D. S., Fuller, C. S., Piano, E. E., & Coyne, C. J. (2018). Visions of entrepreneurship policy. Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, 7(4), 336-356.
Fuller, Caleb, Lucas, David S., and Piano, Ennio E. (2018). Rooking the state. International Review of Law and Economics, 55, 12-20.
Piano, E. E. (2018). Outlaw and economics: Biker gangs and club goods. Rationality and Society, 30(3), 350-376.
Discussed on the Economics Detective Podcast
Piano, Ennio E. (2017). Free riders: The economics and organization of outlaw motorcycle gangs. Public Choice, 171, 283–301.
Discussed on the Economics Detective Podcast
Boettke, Peter J. and Piano, Ennio E. (2016). Baumol’s productive and unproductive entrepreneurship after 25 years. Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, 5, 130–144.
other publications
Leeson, Peter T., and Piano, Ennio E. (Forthcoming). Property Rights and Public Choice. In Christian Bjornskov and Richard Jong-A-Pin, eds: Elgar Encyclopedia of Public Choice. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Piano, Ennio E. (2023). Risky business? A review of Jonathan Nelson & Richard Zeckhauser’s Risk in Renaissance Art: Production, Purchase and Reception. Journal of Cultural Economics, 47, 547–554.
Candela, Rosolino, and Piano, Ennio E. (2019). The art and science of economic explanation. Journal of Institutional Economics. (Introduction to a special issue in honor of Yoram Barzel).
Boettke, Peter J., Palagashvili, Liya, and Piano, Ennio E. (2017). Federalism and police: An applied theory of fiscal attention. Arizona State Law Journal, 49, 907-933.
Palagashvili, Liya, Piano, Ennio E., and Skarbek, David. (2017). The rise and fall of institutions. Elements in Austrian Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
books
Murtazashvili, Ilia, and Piano, Ennio E. (2018). The political economy of fracking: Private property, polycentricity, and the shale revolution. New York: Routledge.
working papers
Piano, Ennio E., and Alvarez, Sean-Patrick. "Tying the freeing-hand: The interest group origins of manumission restrictions in the Antebellum South." Under Review.
Piano, Clara C., and Piano, Ennio E. "The Medieval Origins of Spousal Consent."
Piano, Ennio E., Alvarez, Sean-Patrick, and Piano, Clara E. "The sexual exploitation of enslaved women: Evidence from 'slave-hiring' in Late Antebellum Virginia."
Piano, Ennio E. "Economic explanations."
work in progress
Acta non Verba: Was the Counter-Reformation 'Cheap Talk'? (with Clara E. Piano & Colin Harris)
From Club to Crime (with Rohan Shah)
The Economics of (Late Medieval) Tournaments
The organization of the barbering industry (with Caleb Fuller)
fall 2025
Econ 202: Principles of Microeconomics
spring 2025
Econ 202: Principles of Microeconomics
Econ 307: Applied Price Theory
fall 2024
Econ 312: Law & Economics
spring 2024
Econ 2420: Principles of Microeconomics
Econ 7660: History of Economic Thought (PhD)
fall 2023
Econ 2420: Principles of Microeconomics
Econ 7410: Public Choice I (PhD)
spring 2023
Econ 2420: Principles of Microeconomics
Econ 7660: History of Economic Thought (PhD)
fall 2022
Econ 2420: Principles of Microeconomics
Econ 7410: Public Choice I (PhD)
spring 2022
Econ 2420: Principles of Microeconomics
Econ 7660: History of Economic Thought (PhD)
fall 2021
Econ 2420: Principles of Microeconomics
Econ 3500: The Economics of Religion
spring 2021
Econ 2420: Principles of Microeconomics
Econ 7660: History of Economic Thought (PhD)
fall 2020
Econ 2410: Principles of Macroeconomics
Econ 2410: Principles of Microeconomics
spring 2020
Econ 2420: Principles of Microeconomics
Econ 3500: The Economics of the Past
fall 2019
Econ 2410: Principles of Macroeconomics
Econ 2420: Principles of Microeconomics
spring 2018
Econ 309: Economic Problems of Public Policy
Econ 365: Topics in Economic History
fall 2017
Econ 365: Topics in Economic History
Econ 340: Introduction to Mathematical Economics
Last update: October 2025
I'm an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Mississippi, where I am also the Graduate Studies Coordinator, and the Associate Editor of Public Choice. Before joining Ole Miss, I was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Middle Tennessee State University and a faculty member at the Political Economy Research Institute. I study the economics of formal and informal contracts in a variety of historical contexts, from 19th century armies to motorcycle gangs, from high-end restaurants to Renaissance art markets.