Publications:
Mobile Internet, Skills, and Structural Transformation in Rwanda, Research Policy, 52(10), 104871, 2023 (with B. Caldarola, M.Grazzi, M.Occelli)
Trade and Value Chain Participation: Domestic Firms and FDI Spillovers in Africa, The World Economy , 2023 (with B. Hoekman) [AERC special issue on Value Chain Development, Trade and Economic Transformation in Africa]
Aid and Internal Migration in Malawi, World Development, 162: 106134, 2023 (with M. Lanati and F. Santi)
Services, Jobs and Economic Development in Africa, The World Bank Research Observer, 38(1): 147–178 (with L. Baccini, B. Hoekman, M. Fiorini) [VoxEU][IGC Blog][Project Webpage]
Roads and Jobs in Ethiopia, The World Bank Economic Review, 36(4):999-1020, 2022 (with M. Fiorini)
Trade Liberalization, Employment and Gender in Ethiopia, Journal of Development Studies, 58(11): 2366-2392, 2022 (with G. Giovannetti and A. Vivoli)
Trade Liberalization, Roads and Firm Productivity, Journal of Development Economics, 153: 1-18, 2021 (with M. Fiorini and A. Sundaram) [IGC blog] [IGC Policy Brief] [VoxDev][UNIDO IAP]
Chinese Official Finance and Political Participation in Africa, European Economic Review, 136: 1-28, 2021 (with F. Iacoella, B. Martorano and L. Metzger) [write up in The Conversation UK] [coverage by Italian newspaper Domani]
Markup Dispersion and Firm Entry: Evidence from Ethiopia, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 83(2): 299.327, 2021 (with K.A. Damoah and G. Giovannetti)
The productivity gaps of female owned firms: Evidence from Ethiopian census, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 69(2): 645-683, 2021(with D. Essers and K. Megersa)
Importing and Productivity: An Analysis of South African Manufacturing Firms, Review of Industrial Organization, 57: 411–432, 2020 (with L. Edwards and A. Sundaram)
Chinese development assistance and household welfare in sub‐Saharan Africa, World Development, 129(5): 1-21, 2020 (with B. Martorano and L. Metzger) [UNU-Merit blog]
Foreign Participation in Public Procurement and Firm Performance: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa, Review of World Economics, 156 (1): 41–73, 2020 (with B. Hoekman) [IGC Policy Brief] [UNIDO IAP blog piece]
FDI, Global Value Chains and Local Sourcing in Developing Countries, World Development, 113: 73-88, 2019 (with V. Amendolagine, A. Presbitero, and R. Rabellotti). [VoxEU][Bloomberg][EIBA 2017 best Paper track IB and Ec Geography]
What factors drive successful industrialization? Evidence and implications for developing countries, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 49(6): 266-276, 2019 (with N. Haraguchi and B. Martorano) [background paper for UNIDO Report on Structural Change] [2019 SCED Best Paper Award]
Manufacturing growth accelerations in developing countries, Review of Development Economics, 23(4): 1696-1724, 2019 (with N. Haraguchi, B. Martorano and A. Shingal)
Investors’ characteristics and the business climate as drivers of backward linkages in Vietnam, Journal of Policy Modeling, 41(5): 882-904, 2019 (with C. Franco and A. Seric)
Diverse twins: analysing China’s impact on Italian and German exports using a multilevel quantile regressions approach, Applied Economics, 50 (28), 3051-3065, 2018 (with G. Giovannetti and M. Velucchi).
Importing and Firm Export Performance: New Evidence from South Africa, South African Journal of Economics, 86, 79-95, 2018 (with L. Edwards and A. Sudaram).
Highly skilled returnees and the internationalization of EMNEs: Firm level evidence from China, International Business Review, 26 (3), 579-591, 2017 (with X. Fu and J. Hou). [IBR Best Journal Paper Award 2018]
Catching-up, Structural Transformation and Wage Inequality: Lessons from Asia, Industrial and Corporate Change, 26 (4):555-570, 2017 (with B. Martorano and D. Park). [ADB blog] [GPiD blog]
Spillovers from Agglomerations and FDI. A Multilevel Analysis on SSA Domestic Firms, Review of World Economics, 152(1): 147-176, 2016 (with A. Seric).
China’s competition and the export price strategies of developed countries, International Review of Applied Economics, 30 (2), 238-254, 2016 (with G. Giovannetti).
The impact of outward FDI on the performance of Chinese firms, China Economic Review, 36: 42-57, 2015 (with C. Cozza and R. Rabellotti). [WP version quoted by The Economist]
Structural change and wage inequality in themanufacturing sector: long run evidence from East Asia, Oxford Development Studies, 43(2): 212-231, 2015 (with B. Martorano).
Supply Chains and the Internationalization of Small Firms, Small Business Economics, 44(4): 465-485, 2015 (with G. Giovannetti and E. Marvasi).
FDI from Emerging Markets and the productivity gap - An analysis on affiliates of BRICS EMNEs in Europe, International Business Review, 24(4): 665-676, 2015.
Impact of South-South FDI and trade on the export upgrading of African economies, World Development, 64: 1-17, 2014 (with A. Amighini).
Investigating Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investments: How Can Firm-level Data Help? China & World Economy, 22(6): 44-63, 2014 (with A. Amighini, C. Cozza and R. Rabellotti).
Do Chinese SOEs and private companies differ in their internationalisation strategies? China Economic Review, 27: 312-325, 2013 (with A. Amighini and R. Rabellotti).
Innovative features in poverty reduction programmes: the impact evaluation of Chile Solidario on households and children, Journal of International Development, 24(8): 1030-1041, 2012 (with B. Martorano).
Successes in Social Protection: What lessons can be learned? Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 32(4): 439-453, 2011 (with A. de Haan, G. Giovannetti, and R. Sabates-Wheeler). [VoxEU]
Chinese FDI to Africa: What the nexus with Foreign Economic Cooperation? African Development Review, 22 (S1): 599-614, 2010.
Do Chinese exports crowd-out African goods? An Econometric Analysis by Country and Sector, European Journal of Development Research, 21(4): 506-530, 2009 (with G. Giovannetti).
Understanding China's Move into Africa: An Empirical Analysis, Journal of Chinese Business and Economic Studies, 7(1): 31-53, 2009 (with M. Biggeri).