work in progress

This page collects ongoing research projects. I will update entries as new drafts, data, and replication files become available.
Crediting the Poor: The Effect of Italian Monti di Pietà on Social Capital
With Costanza Marconi · Working paper
Religious persuasion through Franciscan preaching causally drove the emergence of Monti di Pietà in 15th-century Italy by legitimizing lending, particularly in contexts shaped by natural disasters.
The Cross and the Sword. Religious Identity, Land Ownership and Conflict: Evidence from Six Centuries of English History
With Federico Trombetta · Work in progress
This project studies how religious identity and patterns of land ownership interacted to shape local conflict dynamics in early modern England.
The Feudal Origins of Economic Development: Evidence from Medieval Sicily
With Leonardo Cherici, Guido Merzoni, Federico Trombetta · Work in progress
The paper shows that temporary Crown repossession of feudal territories in medieval Sicily reduced agency problems and rent extraction, leading to persistently better local economic outcomes.
Noise and Cooperation in an Indefinitely Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma
With Mario A. Maggioni, Chiara Nardi · Work in progress
This study shows that noise (modeled as action reversals) weakens mutual cooperation in an indefinitely repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma: ex-post communication reduces cooperation only under no or low noise.