Publications

Employment Protection, Workforce Mix and Firm Performance, with Chiara Ardito, Fabio Berton and Lia Pacelli. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Volume 22 Issue 3, 15 June 2022, https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2021-0396. IZA DP No. 14613. [SLIDES]

Working Papers

Concentration and Mergers: Evidence from Italian Labor Markets. WP N. 186, LABORatorio R. Revelli, 2023. [WP]. R&R at Oxford Economic Papers. 

Monopsony and rent sharing: evidence from Italian hiring subsidies, with Lia Pacelli. WP N. 192, LABORatorio R. Revelli, 2024. [WP]. R&R at Economics Letters.

Do Alternative Work Arrangements Substitute Standard Employment? Evidence from Worker-Level Data, with Bernardo Fanfani. [WP] [SLIDES] [LAVOCE.INFO]

Ongoing

Inverting the chain? VAT collection regimes and tax compliance, with Davide Cipullo, Duccio Gamanossi Degl'Innocenti, and Marco Le Moglie. 

Abstract Value-Added Tax (VAT) is believed to maximize tax enforcement compared to alternative forms of consumption taxation because of three mechanisms that induce transaction reporting and tax compliance. First, each transaction is reported by the buyer and the seller. Second, buyer and seller face opposite incentives as any transaction generates a tax credit for the former and a tax liability for the latter. Third, withholding part of the tax at every stage of the production chain reduces the burden on the final good seller. Using administrative firm-level data from Italy, we study the effect of a reform that reverted the VAT collection mechanism on tax enforcement. The reform required buyers to pay the net-of-tax price of intermediate goods to sellers and instead pay the VAT amount to the government. We document that the reform increased the firm-level tax base of VAT by approximately 20 percent. We rationalize the findings in a simple theoretical model. As long as double reporting works imperfectly, reverted VAT collection regimes remove any incentives for tax evasion or tax avoidance for upstream and midstream firms while not reducing tax compliance of downstream firms. We also document empirically that the reform increased reported corporate profits and, in turn, corporate tax paid by treated firms. Finally, we document that improved balance sheets ease access to credit and increase firm productivity..

Recorded Workplace Accidents and Alternative but Formal Work Arrangements, with Giovanni Mastrobuoni and Roberto Nisticò.

Abstract This study estimates the effect of extremely flexible labor market contracts (labor vouchers) on work-related injuries. We use administrative microdata on work injuries (INAIL) for the Tuscany region, leveraging the introduction of vouchers for the agricultural sector in 2008. Serious work-related injuries increase when more flexible labor contracts become available. We also exploit several other data sources to investigate the underlying mechanisms. Preliminary results suggest that the effect is driven by injuries of undeclared workers who sign vouchers right after the injury, in a last minute attempt to gain insurance coverage. Our findings are in line with those of Di Porto et al. (2022), who find that firms use vouchers to cover undeclared work.

An inquiry on the demand for sex, with Riccardo Ciacci, Alessandro Corvasce, and Davide Dragone.

Others

Per ogni fine c'è un nuovo inizio, with C. Amenta, and C. Stagnaro. [WP] 

Directionality of spillovers in the EMU: Evidence from the EU sovereign debt Crisis, with Pietro Bombrezzi. 9th Giorgio Rota Best Paper Award. Published on the Quaderni del Premio «Giorgio Rota», n. 9, 2021 ISBN 978-88-94960-19-8. [SLIDES] [LAVOCE.INFO]

Abstract The presence of large systemic shocks on the European continent, such as the European Debt Crisis and more recently Covid-19, highlighted the fragility of the sovereign debt market. Our proposal aims at shedding light on this issue, relying on the use of the Diebold and Yilmaz methodology for the computation of directional spillover indices alongside a wavelet decomposition, in order to analyze the linkages among bonds yields and volatility in a sample of EU countries. Results indicate that linkages are relevant, for both yields and volatility, pre and post-crisis. We also find two cluster of countries: one spreading risk increasing bond yields’ volatility and one mitigating volatility. Overall, our analysis suggests that sovereign bond markets in Europe are highly connected, and sources of volatility are likely to be transferred easily between countries, hindering the financial stability of the Eurozone.