Working papers

“Chaos and Unpredictability with Time Inconsistent Policy Makers,” June 2023.

“Refining Public Policies with Machine Learning: The Case of Tax Auditing” with L. Guiso (EIEF), C. Lacava (Goethe University), D. Miller and E. Patacchini (Cornell), 2023.

“Tax Professionals and Tax-Evasion”, with L. Guiso (EIEF), C. Lacava (Goethe University) and E. Patacchini (Cornell), April 2022.

“A Graphical Lasso Approach to Estimating Network Connections: The Case of U.S. Lawmakers,” with F. Crawford (Yale), E. Patacchini (Cornell) and S. Peng (Microsoft)., February 2021.

“Social Groups and the Effectiveness of Protests,” with B. Morton (NYU) and E. Patacchini (Cornell), September 2021.

Published, accepted or forthcoming papers:

“Organizing for Collective Action: Olson Revisited,” with T. Palfrey (Caltech), Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming, November 2023.

“Professional Interactions and Hiring Decisions: Evidence from the Federal Judiciary,” with Jorgen M. Harris (Occidental College) and E. Patacchini (Cornell), Journal of Labor Economics, 2023, forthcoming.

“Endogenous Social Interactions with Unobserved Networks,” with E. Patacchini (Cornell) and E. Rainone (Bank of Italy), Review of Economic Studies, 2022, 89(4): 1694–1747.

“Abstentions and Social Networks in Congress,” with V. Leone Sciabolazza (Univ. of Naples) and E. Patacchini (Cornell), Journal of Politics, 2023, forthcoming.

“Coalition Formation in Legislative Bargaining,” Journal of Political Economy, November 2021, 129(11): 3206-3258.

"Econet: An R package for parameter-dependent network centrality measures," with V. Sciabolazza (University of Naples), E. Patacchini (Cornell) and S. Peng (Microsoft), Journal of Statistical Software, 2022, 102(1), 1–30.

"Effectiveness of Connected Legislators" with V. Leone Sciabolazza and E. Patacchini, American Journal of Political Science, 2020, 64(4): 739-756. Lead Article. Selected as the Best Article on Effective Lawmaking published in 2020 by the Center for Effective Lawmaking at Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia.

"The Political Economy of Weak Treaties," with B. Harstad, Journal of Political Economy, 2020, 128(2): 544-590.

"The Political Economy of Public Debt: A Laboratory Study," with S. Nunnari and T. Palfrey, Journal of the European Economic Association, 2020, 18(4): 1969-2012.

“Social Networks in Policy Making,’’ with Eleonora Patacchini, Annual Reviews of Economics, 2020, 11:473-494.

"Optimal Dynamic Contracting: the First-Order Approach and Beyond" with R. Lamba, Theoretical Economics, 2019, 14(4): 1435—1482.

"The Informational Theory of Legislative Committees: An Experimental Analysis," with E. Lai, W. Lim and J. Tao-yi Wang, American Political Science Review, 2019, 113(1): 55-76

"Influencing Connected Legislators," with E. Patacchini, Journal of Political Economy, 2018, 126(6): 2277-2322 

"Public Protests and Policy Making," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2017, 132(1): 485-549.

"Participation and Duration of Environmental Agreements" with Bard Harstad, Journal of Political Economy, 2016, 124(1): 160-204.

"The Dynamic Free Rider Problem: A Laboratory Study,'' with S. Nunnari and T. Palfrey, 2016, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 8(4):268-308.

"A Political Economy Theory of Fiscal Policy and Unemployment," with Stephen Coate, Journal of the European Economic Association, 2016, 14(2): 303-337.

"Self-Control and Peer Groups: An empirical Analysis," with C. Diaz and E. Patacchini, 2017, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 134: 240-254.

"Growth and Fiscal Policy: a Positive Theory" with Levon Barseghyan, Journal of Monetary Economics, 2016, 82: 36-51.

"The Costs and Benefits of Balanced Budget Rules: Lessons from a Political Economy Model of Fiscal Policy,"  with M. Azzimonti and S. Coate, Journal of Public Economics, 2016, 136: 45-61.

 "Dynamic Free Riding with Irreversible Investments," with Salvatore Nunnari and Thomas Palfrey, American Economic Review, 2014, 104(9): 2858-71.

 "When do conflicting parties share political power? An experimental study" with Lydia Mechtenberg, Journal of Experimental Political Science, 2015, 2(2): 139-151.

  "Cheap Talk with Multiple Audiences: an Experimental Analysis" with Uliana Makarov, Games and Economic Behavior, 2014, 83(C): 147-164.

  "Fiscal Policy over the Real Business Cycle: A Positive Theory,"  with Levon Barseghyan and Stephen Coate, Journal of Economic Theory, 2014, 148(6): 2223-2265.

  "A Dynamic Theory of Electoral Competition"Theoretical Economics, 2014, 9, 515-554.

"Legislative Bargaining and the Dynamics of Public Investment," * with Salvatore Nunnari and Thomas Palfrey, American Political Science Review, May 2012, 106 (2), pp. 407-429.

  "Comments on Prat and Stromberg, and Robinson and Torvik." Forthcoming in Advances in Economics and Econometrics: Theory and Applications, Tenth World Congress.

 "The Political Economy of Public Debt," Annual Review of Economics, Vol. 3, 2011.

 "The Dynamics of Redistributive Politics," * with Thomas Palfrey, Economic Theory, April 2012, 49 (3), pp. 739-777.

  "The Swing Voter's Curse in the Laboratory," * with Rebecca Morton and Thomas Palfrey. Review of Economic Studies, 2010, 77 (1), pp. 61-89.

"Information and Pivotal Voter Models in Large Laboratory Elections," * with Rebecca Morton and Thomas Palfrey. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, May 2008, v. 98, iss. 2, pp. 194-200.

"The Political Economy of Fiscal Policy," * with Stephen Coate. Journal of the European Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, April-May 2008, v. 6, iss. 2-3, pp. 367-80.

  "A Dynamic Theory of Public Spending, Taxation and Debt," * with Stephen Coate. Read here the review in NAJ Economics.  American Economic Review, March 2008, v. 98, iss. 1, pp. 201-36. Michael Wallerstein Award from the American Political Science Association for best article published in 2008 in the area of political economy.

  "Pareto Efficient Income Taxation with Stochastic Abilities," * with Stephen Coate. Journal of Public Economics, April 2008, v. 92, iss. 3-4, pp. 844-68.

"Efficiency, Equity and Timing in Voting Mechanisms," *  with Rebecca Morton and Thomas Palfrey, American Political Science Review, Volume 101, Issue 03, August 2007, pp 409-424.

"Inefficiency in Legislative Policy-Making: A Dynamic Analysis," * with Stephen Coate, American Economic Review, Vol. 97, n. 1, March 2007, pp.118-149.

 "Optimality and Renegotiation in Dynamic Contracting," * ,  Games   and Economic Behavior , Volume 60, Issue 2,    August 2007,   Pages 213-246.

"Joint Production in Teams,"  Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 130, n.1, September 2006, pp.138-167.

"Self-control in Peer Groups,"  Journal of Economic Theory with R. Benabou and J. Tirole, Vol. 123, n. 2, August 2005, pp. 81-220.

"Long-Term Contracting with Markovian Consumers," * American Economic Review, Vol. 95, n.3, June 2005, pp. 637-658.

 "Sequential Voting with Abstention," Games and Economic Behavior, Vol. 51, n. 2, May 2005, pp. 445-463.

 "Policy Advice with Imperfectly Informed Experts,"  Advances in Theoretical Economics: Vol. 4: 2004, No. 1. Winner of the 2005 Kenneth Arrow Prize in Economics for Junior Faculty.

"Trust, Coordination, and The Industrial Organization of Political Activism," Journal of the European Economic Association with Roland Benabou Vol.1, issue 4, June 2003.

"Multiple Referrals and Multidimensional Cheap Talk," Econometrica , Vol. 70, n.4, July 2002, pp. 1379-1401.