XXXVII Cycle
Doctoral students enrolled in the first year
In 2022, PhD students carried out studying and training activities by attending the courses encompassed in the study plan and the seminars/webinars offered by members of board as well as by other visiting professors. Moreover, they carried out research activities mainly aimed at refining and improving the idea behind their respective initial research projects.
Some of the courses that were held in the second and third terms (February-March and April-May) were conducted in-person, allowing students the opportunity to follow along remotely. Other courses were held exclusively remotely through the Zoom platform.
The following details will be given below:
a) List of PhD students enrolled to the frist year during 2022.
b) Information about training and research activities of each PhD student.
a) List of PhD students enrolled to the frist year during 2022:
1. Margherita Bove,
2. Gianmarco De Santis,
3. Hernan Daniel Munoz,
4. Michela Piccari,
5. Alessandra Quintigliano,
6. Federica Maria Raiti,
7. Matteo Sabatini,
8. Francesco Tucci.
b) Information about training and research activities of each PhD student
1. MARGHERITA BOVE
The student passed all the exams included in the study plan relative to the first year of her doctoral program with highest marks. She has also taken the following graduate courses:
- African History through the lens of Economics, online (Wheeler Institute for Business and Development).
- Geographic Information System (GIS) methods for quantitative spatial data analysis, online (Wheeler Institute for Business and Development).
- Summer school in International and Development Economics: Conflict, Social Cohesion, and Development, Bocconi University, Centre for Economic Policy Research, International Growth Centre, University of Milan, University of Milan Bicocca, Cattolica University, University of Turin.
During 2022, the doctoral student's research activity was aimed at expanding the literature review and collecting and processing data needed to develop the research project, which aims to explore the determinants of persistence and variation in social norms, particularly gender norms. As part of this, she worked on a project on the long-term effects of colonial policies on gender attitudes and norms in Mozambique. The project examines the regime of forced labor in cotton production during colonial times, which some historians and anthropologists say particularly affected women and caused a distortion in gender relations, using historical maps of cotton production areas and contemporary data, such as census data and DHS. As part of this project, Margherita Bove developed a questionnaire, which, through collaboration with UNU-WIDER and the CEEG research center at Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique), where she spent a visiting period; she also managed the organization of a field experiments, taking care of the selection and training of enumerators, and coordinating the pilot study in two villages in the south of the country. During the visiting period, Margherita Bove also collaborated with the CEEG research center and UNU-WIDER to prepare questionnaires on the KoboCollect software.
2. GIANMARCO DE SANTIS
Gianmarco De Santis was previously enrolled in the XXXVI cycle (without scholarship). Therefore, having already taken all the courses scheduled for the a.y. 2020/21 and having taken all the required exams, during 2022 he committed to take additional courses than the previous year. The doctoral student also attended following graduate courses:
- Summer School in Macroeconomic policies and evidences held in Ventotene organized by Sapienza University of Rome;
- Workshop in Behavioural Environmental Economics held in Sweden.
In addition, Gianmarco De Santis has been tutoring - remedial lectures and tutorials - in Economic Policy (Bachelor's Degree).
Regarding his research activity, Gianmarco de Santis was mainly involved in the development of the paper paper entitled "The Determinants of Decision Time" which is currently under review in the Journal of Economic Psychology. In this paper, which will constitute the first chapter of the dissertation, Gianmarco De Santis analyzes a dataset obtained from a laboratory experiment to study how different characteristics of the choice problem can influence the time required to make a decision. The results of this work were also presented in the following workshops:
- CIMEO Workshop in Experimental Economics, Sapienza Univeristy of Rome;
- BEEN Workshop, Sapienza University of Rome and Luiss;
- Ventotene Workshop in Macroeconomics, Sapienza Univeristy of Rome;
- Behavioral Environmental Economics Workshop, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Subsequently, Gianmarco De Santis worked on the definition of the research question at the basis of the second chapter of his thesis that focuses on the relationship between climate change and the risk of corporate default in the Eurozone. The research activities in the second part of 2022 were mainly carried out during the visiting period at the University of Chicago.
3. HERNAN DANIEL MUNOZ
The Ph.D. student passed all the exams encompassed in the study plan relative to the first year of the Ph.D. program with high marks. He has attended the following seminars and graduate courses:
- The IAOS Conference, IAOW at Krakow;
- Conference on European Statistics Stakeholders 2022, Sapienza University of Rome.
During 2022, the research activities carried out by Hernan Daniel Munoz were aimed at expanding the literature review and collecting and processing the data needed to develop the first chapter of the thesis, which aims to produce empirical evidence about the impact of reliable official economic indicators on efficient resource allocation and macroeconomic stability in Argentina. The results of this work are collected in a paper to be published in the next Issue of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS. Subsequently, Hernan Daniel Munoz initiated the literature review at the basis of the second chapter of this thesis, which will be aimed at studying wage distortions in the absence of a reliable Consumer Price Index in Argentina. Preliminary results of this study were presented at the following conference:
- Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Vilnius.
4. MICHELA PICCARI
Michela Piccari successfully passed all the exams in the study plan of the first year of her doctoral program. She regularly attended research seminars organized by the doctoral program and those organized by the Department of Economics and Law. During the first year of her doctoral program, the doctoral student also attended the following additional seminars:
- Inequality Below the Poverty Line Since 1967: The Role of U.S. Welfare Policy (Speaker: Zach Parolin), Sapienza University of Rome;
- Global wealth, gender and carbon injustice (Speaker: Lucas Chancel), online;
- On Top of the Top: A Generalized Approach to the Estimation of Wealth Distributions (Speaker: Franziska Disslbacher), Roma Tre University;
- Even or Odd Arms? Gender Gap, Determinants and Policy (Speaker: Elena Ragazzi), Sapienza University of Rome.
Finally, during the first year of her doctoral program, the doctoral student successfully attended the following graduate courses and workshops:
- Summer School in Development - inequality, social interactions and institutional dynamics, Paris School of Economics;
- Workshop in Innovation, growth and international production - Models and Data Analysis, Sapienza University of Rome;
- Summer School in Macroeconomic policies and evidences, Sapienza University of Rome;
- Workshop in Wealth Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility, Vienna Business University.
Concerning the research activities, Michela Piccari focued on the study of the background literature for underlying her research project, which falls within the field of environmental economics and gender inequality. Moreover, she started collecting and harmonizing the data necessary to empirically develop the research question explored in the first chapter of the thesis, in which the doctoral student intends to explore the formation of preferences in the environmental sphere, particularly for ecosystem preservation, following a macroeconomic shock, by employing the theory, developed in the field of psychology, of "impressionable years." The research activity carried out by Michela Piccari throughout the PhD program is funded by a PON grant.
5. ALESSANDRA QUINTIGLIANO
The doctoral student has passed all the examinations included in the training plan relative to the first year of the doctoral program with hihgest marks. She attended the following seminars and graduate courses:
- African History through the lens of Economics," online (Wheeler Institute for Business and Development);
- Seminars in Economic History organized by the Memotef department of Sapienza University of Rome.
In addition, Alessandra Quintigliano has been tutoring - remedial lectures and tutorials - in Political Economy (Bachelor's Degree).
In terms of research activity, the doctoral student has started data analysis for the writing of the first chapter of the thesis, the preliminary results of which were presented at the following conferences:
- Annual conference of the Economic History Society, Robinson College, Cambridge;
- Annual conference of the Institute for the study of religion, economics and society (ASREC). Chapman University, Orange;
- Annual conference of the African Economic History Network (AEHN), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain).
Finally, Alessandra Quintigliano was the winner of the competition for membership in Sapienza's School of Advanced Studies and worked part-time as an intern at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in the Economic and Social Statistics section of the Department of Statistics.
6. FEDERICA MARIA RAITI
Federica Maria Raiti successfully passed all the exams in the study plan. During the first year of her doctoral program, she also attended the following seminars and graduate courses:
- Seminar on Social behavior and public policy (supervisor: Eliana La Ferrara), KU Leuven;
- Workshop in Experimental Economics, Sapienza University of Rome;
- Conference in "Climate Crisis and Positive Transformation" University of Exeter.
During 2022, Federica Maria Raiti initiated the research activity by refining the research question proposed in the initial project. The doctoral student devoted time to reviewing the relevant literature for the development of the first chapter of the dissertation focusing on the relationship between climate change and cooperation among individuals. Finally, Federica Maria Raiti was responsible for initiating the collection and processing of data needed for the empirical analysis that will be the contribution of the first chapter. From October 2022 to March 2023, the doctoral student took advantage of her doctoral suspension in order to participate in an internship at the European Commission (Brussels, Belgium). The research activity carried out by Federica Maria Raiti throughout her PhD is funded by a PON grant
7. MATTEO SABATINI
Matteo Sabatini has successfully passed all the exams included in the study plan of the first year of the doctoral program. He regularly attended research seminars organized by the doctoral program and those organized by the Department of Economics and Law. During the first year of the doctoral program, he also attended the following seminars:
- Inequality Below the Poverty Line Since 1967: The Role of U.S. Welfare Policy (Speaker: Zach Parolin), Sapienza University of Rome;
Finally, during the first year of the doctoral program, the doctoral student successfully attended the following graduate courses and workshops:
- Summer School in Microeconometrics: quantitative methods for public policy evaluation, Barcelona School of Economics;
- Workshop in Innovation, growth and international production - Models and Data Analysis, Sapienza University of Rome;
- Summer School in Macroeconomic policies and evidences, Sapienza University of Rome.
Matteo Sabatini has been tutoring - remedial lectures and tutorials - in Economic Policy (Bachelor's Degree).
Matteo Sabatini's research activities during 2022 involved refining the research question, reviewing the literature, and exploring existing datasets for the development of his research project, which aims to study the relationship between institutional and interpersonal trust and the diffusion of new information technologies. Making use of ISTAT data from the multi-purpose lifestyle survey, the doctoral student worked to identify the most appropriate estimation strategy in order to identify the relationship under analysis in the Italian context. In the second part of the year, Matteo Sabatini devoted time to the description and discussion of the results obtained and to the writing of the first chapter in which these results will be collected.
8. FRANCESCO TUCCI
Francesco Tucci successfully passed all the exams in the study plan of the first year of his doctoral program. He regularly took part to research seminars organized by the doctoral program and those organized by the Department of Economics and Law. During the first year of the doctoral program, the doctoral student also attended the following graduate courses:
- Summer school in Data Science, Barcelona School of Economics.
During 2022, Francesco Tucci started his own research activity by reviewing the relevant literature for the development of the first chapter of the thesis. He, then, started to collect and process the data for the empirical analysis that will be included in the first chapter of his thesis, aimed at studying the interaction between assembly voting behavior of parliamentarians and the lobbying and election financing activities in which they are involved. Specifically, Francesco Tucci analyzed the interaction between these phenomena with reference to the U.S. context. As for the other two chapters of the dissertation, in 2022 Francesco Tucci conducted an in-depth review of the main strands of literature in Applied Political Economy, with particular reference to election laws and the determinants of voting participation, in order to identify research proposals to be pursued during the remaining two years of the doctoral program.
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XXXVI CYCLE
Doctoral students enrolled in the second year
During 2022, the activities of doctoral students enrolled in the second year also took place regularly. The study and training activities in which these students were involved concerned seminars/webinars organized by the Department of Economics and Law and other externally organized scientific events. Mainly, the students enrolled in the second year during 2022 focused on the development of their own research projects and the completion of the first chapter of their doctoral thesis. All doctoral students enrolled in the second year decided to carry out their research activities in foreign institutions as visiting researchers.
Overall, the activity exceeded the expectations and goals set by the doctoral faculty. All doctoral students acquired specific knowledge pertaining to their chosen research topic. Some of them have already started to disseminate the preliminary results of their research through participation in conferences and workshops.
The following details will be given below:
a) List of PhD students enrolled to the second year during 2022.
b) Information about training and research activities of each PhD student.
(a) List of doctoral students enrolled in the second year in a.y. 2021-22:
1. Gabriella De Sario,
2. Yang Haoran,
3. Renan Serenini Bernardes
(b) Information about training and research activities of each PhD student.
1. GABRIELLA DE SARIO
During 2022, Gabriella De Sario attended the following courses:
- Course on Machine Learning Techniques, Sapienza University of Rome;
- Summer School in Macroeconomic policies and evidences, Sapienza University of Rome.
The research activities carried out by the doctoral student were aimed at developing and writing the first chapter of her thesis, in which support of citizens toward different environmental policies in European countries and the existence of heterogeneities due to different attitudes toward the environment and energy issues are analyzed. Preliminary results of the analysis were presented during the following conferences:
- 14th Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics, University of Pisa;
- 63rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Italian Society for Economics, University of Turin.
In the last part of the year, Gabriella De Sario started to collect and prepare the database for the second chapter of her thesis.
2. YANG HAORAN
During 2022, Yang Haoran attended the following courses and seminars:
- Course on Applied Welfare Economics, The Ohio State University;
- Seminar "On the Relation between Willingness to Accept, Willingness to Pay, and Loss Aversion" (speaker: Pietro Ortoleva), Princeton University;
- Seminar "Changing Harmful Norms. Evidence from two experiments on ending female genital cutting" (speaker: Eliana La Ferrara), online.
- "Persuasion with Multiple Actions" seminar (speaker: Andy Skrzypacz), Stanford University.
During 2022, Yang Haoran did most of his work at The Ohio State University as a visiting researcher. He completed the first chapter of his thesis, in which by extending the definition of food waste, the doctoral student built a model to identify two types of behavior: overeating to avoid food waste and food waste to avoid overeating. Preliminary results of this were presented during numerous conferences. Finally, Yang Haoran, started to formulated the research question that will be the subject of the second chapter of this thesis.
3. RENAN SERENINI BERNARDES
In 2022, Renan Serenini Bernardes attended the following courses:
- Casual Inference, University of Trento;
- Spatial health econometrics, University of Venice.
In addition, Renan Serenini Bernardes tutored for the course in Econometrics Lab (Master's Degree).
In terms of research activity, the doctoral student was involved, during the first part of 2022, in developing the first chapter of the doctoral thesis that contains a critical review of the literature on methods to empirically estimate causal relationships in the presence of spatial spillovers. During the second part of 2022, Renan Serenini Bernardes carried out his research at the University of Chicago as a visiting researcher, where he mainly focused on the second chapter of his thesis, which is methodological in nature and involves the development of a new estimator that accounts for spatial spillovers in causal relationships.
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XXXV Cycle
Doctoral students enrolled in the third year
During 2022, all doctoral students enrolled in the XXXV cycle have made huge progresses in their thesis. Specifically, doctoral students with fellowship completed their doctoral research and their respective theses have already been sent to the reviewers. The doctoral student without a fellowship, on the other hand, decided to take advantage of the additional one-year extension period.
The following details will be given below:
a) List of PhD students enrolled to the third year during 2022.
b) Information about training and research activities of each PhD student.
(a) List of PhD students enrolled to the third year during 2022:
1. Gianluca Carpigo,
2. Yasmin Doghri,
3. Carla Salvo,
4. Jacopo Temperini.
(b) Information about training and research activities of each PhD student.
1. GIANLUCA CARPIGO
During 2022, Gianluca Carpigo attended the following courses and workshops:
- ifo Junior Workshop on Big Data, Ifo-Institute Munich;
- Structural Reforms and Income Distribution: New Evidence for OECD countries, Ifo-Institute Munich.
In terms of research activity, the doctoral student completed the first chapter of his thesis in which the relationship between public debt and economic inequality is investigated. Compared to the existing literature, the chapter contributes by providing two relevant extensions: the first extension deals with inequality in the distribution of wealth, as well as in the distribution of income; the second extension deals with the nature of the relationship - moving from a unidirectional to a bidirectional relationship between public debt and inequality. During the second part of 2022, the doctoral student conducted his research at ifo-institute in Munich as a visiting researcher, where he presented the preliminary results of the first chapter of the thesis in a seminar. During the visiting experience, Carpigo focused on the second chapter of the thesis, in which an package is developed to be implemented in R software to estimate Vector Error Correction type models to test for Granger-causality. The completed package has been uploaded to GitHub and submitted to CRAN.
2. YASMIN DOGHRI
During 2022, doctoral student Yasmin Doghri attended the following conferences:
- 2022 European ESA Meeting, University of Bologna;
- CIMEO Workshop in Experimental Economics, Sapienza University of Rome;
- 1st International Behavioural Public Policy Conference, London School of Economics.
Regarding the research activity, during 2022 Yasmin Doghri carried out her first field experiment, the results of which were used to develop the second chapter of the thesis, in which the determinants of donation choice in ethnic minority groups and among different generations are analyzed. In the second part of 2022, the doctoral student carried out a second online experiment, the results of which are compiled in the third chapter of the thesis, focused on differences in prosocial and intertemporal preferences between first and second generations of migrants of Muslim faith in Italy. The two chapters extend the existing literature in behavioral economics as they are the first works to consider multiple generations of migrants belonging to a religious minority in Italy, allowing for a deeper understanding about the role of religious faith in determining pro-social behaviors. The research activities in the second part of 2022 were mainly carried out during the visiting period at the University of Göttingen.
3. CARLA SALVO
During 2022, Carla Salvo attended in the following events:
- Graduate course for doctoral students in Economic History, University of Warwick;
- Vienna EcoHis Brownbag seminar, Vienna WU;
- Meeting of Economic History Society-Annual conference, University of Cambridge;
- Weekly Seminars in Economic History, Lund University;
- European Historical Economics Society Conference, University of Groningen;
- XIX World Economic History Congress 2022, London.
During 2022, the doctoral student further pursued her research project examining the diffusion of innovation in nineteenth-century France. Specifically, Carla Salvo was responsible for collecting and processing historical patent data to develop the third chapter of the thesis, in which the relationship between the spread of international trade and the diffusion of innovation is studied. Much of the research activities related to the third chapter was carried out during two visiting experiences at Vienna University and Lund University. In addition, during 2022, the doctoral student presented the first two chapters of the thesis during several conferences in Economic History. Finally, the results of the second chapter were collected and published in the CEPR working paper DP17389 "The impact of mechanisation on wages and employment: evidence from the diffusion of steam power" (co-authored with Leonardo Ridolfi and Jacob Weisdorf (Sapienza).
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XXXIV CYCLE
Doctoral students enrolled in the fourth year.
During 2022, all doctoral students enrolled in the XXXIV cycle have also made huge progresses in their thesis.
The following details will be given below:
a) List of PhD students enrolled to the fourth year during 2022.
b) Information about training and research activities of each PhD student.
(a) List of PhD students enrolled to the fourth year during 2022:
1. Suada Sela,
2. Paolo Roberto Tummolo.
(b) Information about training and research activities of each PhD student.
1. SUADA SELA
Suada Sela, during 2022, attended several online courses and seminars useful for the refinement of her thesis.
The research activities were carried out during the first part of 2022 in which the doctoral student engaged in the literature review underlying the last chapter of the thesis exploring the socio-economic impact of inequality of opportunity. Subsequently, the doctoral student applied for and was granted a doctoral suspension in order to pursue a 5-month internship at the European Commission (March - July 2022). As of September 2022, Suada Sela requested and obtained an additional doctoral suspension as a result of the new work assignment at the European Commission.
2. PAOLO ROBERTO TUMMOLO
In 2022, Paolo Roberto Tummolo attended the following courses:
- Advanced course on Innovation, Growth and International Production. Models and Data Analysis, Sapienza University of Rome.
The doctoral student was mainly involved in completing the third, last, chapter of his thesis that studies the effects of innovations on inequality in Europe and Italy, at the regional and provincial levels, using panel data (2003-2015 at the regional level, 2000-2011 at the provincial level) and the Arellano-Bover/Blundell-Bond estimator. Also, during 2022, Paolo Roberto Tummolo presented the preliminary results contained in his thesis during the "II Edition Sapienza Economics Ph.D. Summer Meeting" Sapienza University of Rome. Finally, the Ph.D. was involved in the editing process of his thesis based on comments received from reviewers. Paolo Tummolo passed the final examination on January 27, 2023.