On going project  

The focus of this ongoing project si to look at migrant networks and the possible role that might have in the spreading of the virus covid-19 in Italy. I propose a spatial econometric model with a distance matrix that proxies the ``social" proximity of Italian provinces, to look at the ``spillover effects" that the government policies have caused in terms spreading of the virus. The purpose of the paper is two-fold: on the one hand it aims at showing the possible endogeneity of the policy instruments used highlighting the counter-productive effects obtained by neglecting the response of individuals; on the other hand it aims at measuring those effects by considering a novel and so far unused measure of network that is not observed producing relevant effects in ``normal" times, but it does in special circumstances. Networks are used widely to implement simulations of virus spreading, but they are mostly approximated by data on human movements in ``normal” times, such as number of flights by route, number of commuters taking the trains etc…, and are most often assumed to be exogenous to policy implementation. In this paper I show that other types of networks that generate less physical interactions in normal times, such as migrant networks, in special circumstances can find themselves ``activated" and produce important effects.

Work in Progress

The objective of this paper is to provide a theoretical explanation to some puzzling facts. While among American residents women, Mexicans tend to have higher fertility rates - a total fertility rate (TFR) of about 2.7 as opposed to a TFR  of US born women of 2.0 - the fertility rate of Mexicans resident in Mexico is closer to the fertility rate in the US (natives) - 2.1.

Journal of Population Economics, 27(4), 923-960, 2014. (with M. Plesca), PDF bibtex 

We combine the New Immigrant Survey (NIS), which contains information on US legal immigrants, with the American Community Survey (ACS), which contains information on legal and illegal immigrants to the USA.

International Economic Review, Vol. 52, No. 2, May 2011 PDF 

This article presents an intergenerational self-selection model of migration and education that is capable of explaining the evolution of earnings and education across three generations of immigrants.

Annales de Economie et de Statistique N. 97/98, January/June 2010  pdf 

This paper first provides evidence of a U-shaped relationship between education and migration among Mexicans.