PUBLICATIONS

"Information Technology and Credit: Evidence from Public Guarantees" with F. De Marco, Management Science, 70.9 (2024): 6202-6219. 

winner of the 9th SUERF/UniCredit Foundation Prize 2022

Presented at: AFA (2021), SIPA/BPI Columbia Annual Conference (2021), EIEF (2021), Corporate Finance Day (2021), Credit Risk over the Business Cycle - Bundesbank (2021), EBA (2021), CBI Workshop (2021)*, FINEST Banking Conference (2020), Erasmus School of Economics (2020), Bocconi University (2020)*, University of Padua (2020)*

This paper investigates whether banks' information technology (IT) and physical branch presence affect the supply of government guaranteed credit. For identification, we exploit loan level data and the institutional features of the Italian public guarantee scheme during Covid-19. We find that banks with better IT provide more, cheaper and faster guaranteed loans, but the structure of local banking markets still matters: banks with better IT charge lower rates in less concentrated markets. Moreover, despite the high volume of online loan applications, guaranteed lending remained local: banks lent more in their core markets and where they have a larger market share.

Media coverage: Italy's deleveraging success could help limit messy COVID-19 defaults (S&P Global Market Intelligence, 2021)

"Female Innovative Entrepreneurship and Maternity Risk", Review of Finance, Volume 28, Issue 4, July 2024, Pages 1383–1418 

Presented at: XXXIV SIEP Conference (2022), 3rd Brazilian Meeting on Family and Gender Economics (2022), 4th INSEAD-Doriot Entrepreneurship Conference (2022), 2nd Discrimination and Diversity Workshop UEA (2022), Erasmus School Economics (2020), BI Oslo (2020), KU Leuven (2020), University of Bristol (2020), LSE (2019), QMUL 2nd Economics and Finance PhD Workshop (2019)

I investigate how female innovative entrepreneurship responds to shocks to maternity risk, defined as the possibility of unexpected pregnancies. Exploiting the liberalization of an emergency contraception pill in Italy, combined with cross-sectional variation in access to abortion, I find that lower maternity risk leads to an increase in equity holdings, initial investments, and probability of being executive of younger female founders. Firms with more female-held equity also become riskier but more likely to attract venture capital in their early stages. Therefore, decreasing maternity risk reduces the gender gap in entrepreneurship, and it allows women to select into riskier ventures.

Media Coverage: SHE Leads Dashboard (Erasmus Center for Entrepreneurship, 2023)

WORKING PAPERS

"Advantageous Selection in Fintech Loans", with M. Pelosi, Revise & Resubmit, Journal of Financial Economics 

winner of the Unicredit Foundation Junior Researcher Best Paper Award presented at IBEO - Alghero 2024

Presented at: IBEO - Alghero (2024), Queen Mary University of London (2024)

Using data from the largest online lender in the United States, we document advantageous selection in loan amount. Exploiting a natural experiment within the platform, we show that borrowers who select larger loans are less likely to default. This selection is driven by households in states with bankruptcy-friendly laws, where borrowers' default costs are lower. A simple model of household borrowing shows that our results can be explained by the fact that borrowers facing higher loan prices search more intensively for cheaper loans. This effect is stronger for the safest borrowers, as they enjoy the greatest benefits from switching. 

"Bank Market Power and Firm Creation in Innovative Industries", Revise & Resubmit, Review of Finance

Presented at:  5th INSEAD-Doriot Entrepreneurship Conference (2023), MFA (2023), Benelux Banking Day (2022), 5th EntFin Association Conference (2021), EFiC (2021), 37th AFFI Conference (2021), 7th Emerging Scholars in Banking and Finance Conference (2020), 4th Junior Entrepreneurial Finance and Innovation Workshop (2020), LSE (2018), HEC Paris PhD Conference (2017)

I examine how banking competition affects the creation of innovative firms. Exploiting the 2012 Start-Up Italy Act, designed to foster the creation of innovative firms through public bank guarantees, I document that the policy increased the creation of innovative firms by 24% between 2012 and 2015. Using a difference-in-difference-in-differences design, I show that this effect is more than halved in provinces where banking competition is weaker. This leads to fewer venture capital deals, less guaranteed lending, and lower leverage for these firms, resulting in higher entrepreneurial migration. I conclude that bank market power is detrimental to innovative firm creation.

Media Coverage: All About Finance (World Bank, 2021) 

"Self-Employed Mothers: Child Penalties, Maternity Benefits, and Family Health", with D. Karpati

We study the effects of motherhood on self-employed women’s business activity, and the moderating role of maternity benefits. Using rich administrative data from the Netherlands, we first document that childbirth reduces the business revenue of self-employed women by about 60% in the quarter of birth and 25% subsequently. We then study the introduction of a flat-rate maternity cash benefit for the self-employed. Exploiting variation in benefit eligibility by birth month, we estimate that mothers eligible for the benefit further reduce their business revenue and income in the first two years after childbirth. The decrease in business income amounts to approximately half of the benefit amount, leading to an overall increase in household income. Eligible mothers likely spend more time with their child, as the use of formal daycare is significantly reduced. Lastly, we assess the effects of benefit eligibility on the well-being of mothers and their children. While we find no impact on household composition or maternal (mental) health, the maternity benefit does reduce health expenditures and medicine use among children in their first year after birth.

"Inflation and floating-rate loans: Evidence from the euro-area",  with F. De Marco, T. Eisert, and G, Schepens

We provide novel evidence on how monetary policy affects inflation through the floating rate channel. Using euro-area corporate loan data from 2021 to 2023, we find that the short-run impact of monetary tightening on inflation is 50% smaller in markets dominated by floating-rate loans. Firms with floating-rate loans keep prices elevated to offset higher borrowing costs, thereby reducing the effectiveness of monetary policy tightening. This effect is stronger in concentrated, high markup markets, where firms can more easily pass on higher prices to their customers, as well as in markets with highly leveraged or illiquid firms. Since firms with floating-rate loans face an increase in their financial burden, their loan terms are more frequently renegotiated, often resulting in reduced spreads and a shift from floating to fixed rates. The varying prevalence of floating-rate loans helps explain the heterogeneity in monetary policy transmission within the euro-area, as floating rate contracts are more prevalent in peripheral countries, whereas fixed rates contracts are more common in core countries. 

"Human capital acquisition in VC-backed companies", with M. Ryduchowska and S. Wang

Presented at : 6th INSEAD-Doriot Entrepreneurship Conference (2024), ESE (2022), BI Oslo (2021)

Media Coverage: Seattle Times (2023)

This study explores the role of human capital in start-ups around the time of their first venture capital (VC) financing deals. We document significant gender and racial disparities in employment, with women and minorities underrepresented. Our findings reveal that VC-backed firms experience substantial employment growth post-funding, resulting in increased workforce diversity. It does not imply changes in hiring strategies but rather a notable shift toward lower seniority positions and supporting job categories. Additionally, there is a tendency to hire individuals with previous VC-backed experience or those new to the workforce. This study highlights the evolution of employment structures and diversity within start-ups.

"ACA-MEDIA: A new dataset of media coverage of academics", with I. Lachana and M. Xu

Presented at: 8th MWZ-CEPR Text-as-Data Workshop (2024)

This paper presents ACA-MEDIA, a novel dataset on the media coverage of academic researchers in economics, finance and management from 2010-2023. The dataset includes venue, date, the researcher covered, and their gender for 20,518 media citations of 4,164 researchers. In contrast to the previous literature, we also consider media articles that do not cite specific research papers. In these articles, researchers comment on current news, or are portrayed for their oeuvre and influence on others. We constructed the data to facilitate the exploration of the determinants for and effects of the media coverage of academic research and researchers. 

"Bank Board Diversity and Women's Access to Credit: Evidence from Italy", with A. D'andrea, T. Eisert, and D. Urban

winner of the XS Grant by the NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek)

We study how female board representation affects banks' propensity to lend to female-led firms. Using the introduction of a mandatory gender quota in Italy as well as loan-level data, we find that once banks increase female board representation, they lend more to female firms, both in terms of the extensive and intensive margins. These lending relationships do not produce more non-performing exposures. We also find evidence consistent with spillover effects of the board gender quota to rank-and-file employees as banks promote more women responsible for setting lending policies.

"Media coverage of female Economists, Business, and Finance scholars", with I. Lachana and M. Xu

winner of the AFFECT/JFE Proposal Grant 2023

In this paper, we provide the first systematic evidence on the patterns of media coverage of Economists, Business, and Finance scholars from US research-intensive universities. More specifically, we study whether and how media coverage of researchers varies with gender. We find that male scholars receive 12% more coverage by popular media. This gender gap is mainly due by the scarcity of senior women. Seniority explains the entire gender gap for Economists, Accounting, and Management scholars. In Finance and Marketing, however, a gender gap persists after controlling for seniority, publication record, and experience. Finally, papers by all-female co-author teams are less likely to feature in the media.

ACTIVE WORKS IN PROGRESS

"Biodiversity, Nitrogen Deposition, and Entrepreneurial Agricultural Buyouts",  with D. Karpati and C. Mueller

The excessive deposition of reactive nitrogen compounds originating from livestock farming represents a major threat to European biodiversity. Buyout programs, in which agricultural entrepreneurs can voluntarily discontinue their operations in return for compensation, may be effective and politically viable tools to limit nitrogen deposition. In this paper, we study what motivates entrepreneurs to participate in agricultural buyout programs using data from two large-scale programs in the Netherlands. In co-operation with Dutch government agencies, we merge rich microdata on nitrogen deposition values, buyout program participation, and financial and agricultural characteristics. We then estimate, among a sample of about 8,000 eligible farms, which farm and entrepreneurial characteristics predict participation, including productivity, profitability, capital structure, pollution levels, and succession plans. The correlation of participation rates with such characteristics is crucial for the overall effectiveness of buyout schemes. We also identify the causal effects of compensation on participation by exploiting a sharp discontinuity in nitrogen deposition levels that determines the amount of compensation farmers would receive. Our compensation-elasticity estimate can help governments to design cost-efficient buyout programs. 

"Do incubators foster the quantity and quality of innovation in the local ecosystems? Evidence from a developed country"  with P. Landoni and G. Sansone

We hand-collect a novel dataset of the universe of Italian incubators. We use this dataset to investigate what is the contribution of these institutions to the quantity and quality of innovation in local entrepreneurial ecosystems.

"What Works? Short-time Work & Public Guarantees - Evidence from Italy"

I use data from the biggest economic region in Italy to study and compare the effects of selecting into short-time work programs and public guarantee programs during Covid-19, using data on individual firms and their workers. 

NON-ACTIVE WORKS IN PROGRESS

"Liaisons Dangereuses - Relationship Banking and the Venture Capital Industry"

Presented at: LSE (2017)

I study how the existence of benefits from relationship lending in the banking sector could be detrimental to the scope and success of Venture Capital. I construct a model in which entrepreneurial choices are tilted towards less innovative projects to reap the benefits of relationship banking. On the one hand, this allows entrepreneurs using bank lending to overcome credit constraints, generated by high monitoring costs. On the other hand, relationship banking benefits cause the entrepreneur to opt for more traditional projects, forgoing more profitable innovative projects and VC financing. The mechanism is exacerbated by higher costs to obtain venture capital and lower VC expertise (i.e. lower VC value added). The model shows how banks and venture capitalists are linked through entrepreneurial choice and how relationship banking can be a factor in explaining the lack of success of certain countries in developing venture capital industries.

"On Timing of Share Repurchases" with M. Xu

Using a new, hand-collected, data-set on all open market share repurchases by publicly traded companies in the UK, we investigate patterns and dynamics of these transactions.