research

selected work in progress

Price Regulation of Agricultural Technology (with Felipe Berrutti)

Recipient of the Susan Schmidt Bies Prize for Doctoral Student Research on Economics and Public Policy.
Funded by the Global Poverty Research Lab, an Exploratory Travel and Piloting Grant from the Weiss Fund for Research in Development Economics at the University of Chicago, a Conference Travel Grant from the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, and a Graduate Research Grant from the Graduate School at Northwestern University.
[Abstract]
Regulating the price of productivity-enhancing inputs can allow governments to facilitate the diffusion of existing technologies but deter private firms from investing in innovation and introducing superior technologies. This project studies the demand and supply-side consequences of price controls on genetically engineered (GE) cotton seeds in India. Leveraging the differential timing and intensity of this policy across states, we show that the government-mandated price reduction increased farmers' adoption of GE seeds by 23 percentage points and decreased the costs of cultivating cotton by 24%. Although seed firms did not incur significant losses in the short term, the number of new hybrid varieties fell abruptly in the aftermath of the policy. Using newly assembled data from experimental field trials across India, we show that agronomic yields of new varieties worsen by 28% in price-controlled states. To quantify the overall welfare implications of price and quality responses, we develop and estimate a structural model of demand and supply for seeds. Preliminary results indicate that price controls increased aggregate farmer surplus. However, ignoring endogenous quality adjustments substantially overstates welfare gains for farmers.

The Origins of the Nitrogen Revolution (with Christopher Sims)

Funded by the Center for Economic History at Northwestern University, an International Research Travel Grant from the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, and a Graduate Research Grant from the Graduate School at Northwestern University.
Local Manufacturing of Productive Inputs and Technology Adoption: Evidence from Nigeria Through the Mill:Inherent Trade-offs of Taxation in Post-Unitary Italy


working papers

Brigandage and the Political Legacy of Monarchical Legitimacy in Southern Italy (with Cristoforo Pizzimenti)

[Abstract]   [PDF]   [SSRN]
Political legitimacy plays a pivotal role in securing the effectiveness of a governing system yet, amidst power struggles, rulers face the peril of losing it. This paper studies whether a historical shock in the legitimacy of monarchic rule can have long-term, intergenerational consequences on political attitudes. The unification of Italy ignited a violent reaction against the new ruler in its southern provinces known as the "Great Brigandage". We use fixed-effects regressions with a wide set of controls and an instrumental variable approach based on military suitability of the terrain in order to show that, ceteris paribus, municipalities exposed to brigandage in the 1861-1870 period had lower turnout in the 1946 Institutional Referendum and were significantly less likely to vote for the survival of the monarchy. We interpret our findings as evidence that latent preferences toward political systems are endogenously shaped by historical events and can be brought to the surface by changes in the institutional environment.



publications

2024

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    Teacher-Led Innovations to Improve Education Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Brazil
    Caio PizaAstrid ZwagerMatteo Ruzzante, Rafael Dantas , and Andre Loureiro
    Journal of Public Economics, 2024

2022

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    Do Private Consultants Promote Savings and Investments in Rural Mozambique?
    Paul Christian, Steven Glover , Florence KondylisValerie MuellerMatteo Ruzzante, and Astrid Zwager
    Agricultural Economics, 2022

2020

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    Psychological Factors Influencing Pro-environmental Behavior in Developing Countries: Evidence from Colombian and Nicaraguan Students
    Manuel Francisco Díaz , Andrés Charry , Stefania Sellitti , Matteo Ruzzante, Karen Enciso , and Stefan Burkart
    Frontiers in Psychology, 2020



policy briefs and reports

**São Paulo Development and Access to Markets Project** (with [Isabela Furtado](https://blogs.worldbank.org/team/isabela-furtado), [Caio Piza](https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/people/c/caio-piza), and [Astrid Zwager](https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/people/a/astrid-zwager))
Impact Evaluation Report
Blogpost on Let's Talk Development
**Perceptions on Climate Change in Colombia and Nicaragua: Evidence from Higher Education Students** (with Stefan Burkart, Manuel F. Díaz, Karen Enciso, and Stefania Sellitti)
CIAT Policy Briefs in English [No. 44], [No. 45] and Spanish [No. 44], [No. 45]
Poster in Spanish