Research

Publications

• “Murder in the Marketplace” with V. Biagi and A. Cardazzi, Public Choice , 2026

• “Identifying the General Equilibrium Effects of Narcotics Enforcement”, Journal of Urban Economics , 2026
              (Supplemental Appendix and Replication Material)

• “The Right to Counsel: Criminal Prosecution in 19th Century London” with B. McCannon, Economica, 2024
              (Working paper link)

• “Bride Kidnapping and Informal Governance Institutions”, Contemporary Economic Policy, 2024
              (Working paper link)

• “Gentrification, Gun Violence, and Drug Markets”, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2023
              (Working paper link)

• “Synthetic Difference-In-Differences Estimation With Staggered Treatment Timing”, Economics Letters, 2022
              (Working paper link)

• “Assessing Ocean Temperature’s Role in Fishery Production”, Journal of Bioeconomics, 2021

Book Chapters

• “Three Golden Balls: Pawn Shops and Crime” with B. McCannon and Z. Rodriguez, forthcoming in The Economics of Crime and Justice: Empirical Perspectives on Institutions, Incentives, and Outcomes, 2026
• “Economics of Criminal Governance” with H. Thompson, in Handbook of Labor, Human Resources, and Population Economics, 2024

Working Papers

• “The Departed: Italian Migration and the American Mafia” (with M. Anelli and P. Pinotti; CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP20972; CESifo Working Paper No. 12364; BAFFI CAREFIN Centre Research Paper No. 259; Rockwool Foundation Berlin Discussion Paper No. 165/25; Revisions Requested at Review of Economic Studies )
• “The Post-Fentanyl Urbanization of the Opioid Epidemic” (with A. Kucera and A. Scavette; IZA Discussion Paper No. 18562)

Other Writing

• “Cosa c’entrano i talebani con il fentanyl”(Eco Rivista, 2026)
• “Se il Fentanyl arriva in Europa”(Eco Rivista, 2024)
• “Precision policing: The Kensington Initiative’s targeted approach to combating the opioid epidemic”(Commentary for the Niskanen Center, 2024)
• “Policy Brief - Inelastic Demand, Rational Consumers, and Drug Policy” (IEP@BU Policy Brief, 2024)

Works in Progress

• “PAIDUP: Planning Analyses of Interventions on Drug Markets in Urban Philadelphia” (Arnold Ventures funded project evaluating recent efforts to disrupt Philadelphia narcotics markets)
• “Who Are Those Peers Really?: Improving our Understanding of Peer Effects in Prison” (with B. Van Tiem, in coordination with Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, proposal approved, analysis in progress)
• “The Impact of Retaliatory Violence on Homicide Clearence Rates” (with A. Golestani, in coordination with Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office DataLab, analysis in progress)
• “An RCT to improve take up of the Federal Bonding Program among recently released former inmates” (with D. Britto and E. Rackstraw, in coordination with Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, funded by Arnold Ventures planning grant)
• “Life under the Theives Guild: Evidence from Rooftops” (with Y. Barreto; funded by Cosmos x IHS AI-Accelerated Scholarship Grant No. IHS019906)

Resting Papers

• “A Note on Uncertainty Quantification for Maximum Likelihood Parameters Estimated with Heuristic Based Optimization Algorithms”
• “Letter Grading Government Corruption” (with B. McCannon and A. Tsiukes, potentially just napping)