S A R A  B O N I 

  Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Economics and Management

Piazza Università 1, 39100, Bolzano-Bozen (BZ), Italy

ResearchGate | Google Scholar | Linkedin | Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Economics and Management 


About me


I am a fourth-year PhD Candidate and Teaching Assistant at the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Faculty of Economics and Management. Currently, I am a trainee at the Economic and Market Analysis Division at the European Stability Mechanism (EMS) in Luxembourg. 

I have been a visiting researcher at the ifo Institute in Munich and at Warwick Business School (WBS) in Coventry, UK. A downloadable version of my CV is available here. 

My research interests encompass macro-finance, financial time series analysis and forecasting, applied macroeconomics, applied econometrics, mixed-frequency data analysis, and energy markets. 

Next talks: SNDE 2024; ISF 2024 

Contact: sara.boni@economics.unibz.it 



Research and Working Papers


Private Equity (PE) investments have gained increasing importance in recent years, yet many of their economic implications remain unclear. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the impact of PE buyouts on firm productivity, using a novel sample of 1,374 Italian PE-backed and matched control firms. In our event study, we find average total factor productivity losses of about 30% in the years following a PE buyout. This decline is primarily driven by an increase in input factors, coupled with stable output. The effect also varies based on the characteristics of the PE investor. Our findings suggest that PE investors capitalize on the above-average pre-buyout productivity of their targets, along with other sources, to generate returns for their financial sponsors. In addition, structural inefficiencies in the Italian institutional environment may also contribute to this decline, regardless of potential productivity-enhancing efforts by PE investors. 

Draft will appear soon

This paper proposes a non-parametric test for Granger causality in quantiles for data sampled at mixed frequencies. We extend the asymptotic normal distribution of Jeong et al., 2012 by modifying the test to fit mixed-frequency data.  In an economic application, we examine Granger causality between inflation, as a low-frequency macroeconomic variable, and a selection of commodity futures, including gold, oil, and corn, as high-frequency financial variables. We find that there exists a causal relationship between the two. The logarithmic returns on these commodity futures are a prima facie cause of inflation at the lower quantiles of the distribution and marginally around the median. 

Under review. Draft available on EconPapers.

This paper aims to analyze unemployment-generating supply shocks. It proposes a structural vector autoregressive model estimated via a newly assembled identification scheme that relies on a minimum set of sign restrictions dictated by economic theory and recent market developments. We show that unemployment-generating supply shocks coexist with standard supply, demand, financial, and investment shocks, and we assess their impact on different macroeconomic variables. An application to the US pharmaceutical industry finds that the supply shock caused by Covid-19 in the sector is one of a kind. Particularly, the newly identified shock increases industrial production and the unemployment rate, while decreasing producer prices in the US pharmaceutical industry.

 Under review. Draft available on EconPapers.

Teaching


I teach an introductory PhD course "Basic Statistics and Regression" taking place at the beginning of each semester.

Conferences and Seminars


I have presented my research at various international peer-reviewed conferences including: 


Held at the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen. Presented the paper "Nowcasting Inflation at Quantiles: Causality from Commodities". 

Held at EUR in Rotterdam (NL). Presented the paper "Nowcasting Inflation at Quantiles: Causality from Commodities". 

Held at BI Norwegian Business School  in Oslo (NO). Presented the paper "Nowcasting Inflation at Quantiles: Causality from Commodities". Awarded the PhD Student Travel Grant. 

Annual meeting of the SIdE. Held in Cagliari (IT). Presented the paper ""Private Equity Buyouts and Productivity: Firm-level Evidence from Italy".

Annual meeting of the American Finance Association. Held in New Orleans (LO, USA), participated at the PhD Students Poster Session with the paper "Private Equity Buyouts and Productivity: Firm-level Evidence from Italy", awarded the PhD student travel grant. 

The Society for Nonlinear Dynamics and Control, University of Central Florida, Orlando (FL, USA), paper presented "A Structural Analysis of Unemployment-Generating Supply Shocks with an Application to the US Pharmaceutical Industry"

Society for Computational Economics, Southern Methodist University & The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Dallas (TX, USA), paper presented "A Structural Analysis of Unemployment-Generating Supply Shocks with an Application to the US Pharmaceutical Industry"

Seminars and Workshops

I have actively participated to several seminars and workshop, including: 


  • 2023: LUISS Junior Workshop in Econometrics and Applied Economics (jointly with UNIBZ and BI Norwegian Business School). More info here. 
  • 2023: Dolomiti Macro Meetings. More info here.
  • 2022: Workshop in Economics and Finance (Unibz and University of Verona). More info here.
  • 2022: Reading Metrics. Reading group held and maintained by PhD students and junior researchers. More info here
  • 2022: UNIBZ PhD Workshop 
  • 2022: CEF 2022, An introduction to nonlinear solutions and estimation techniques, held by Alexander W. Richter (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas) and Nathaniel A. Throckmorton (William & Mary)