Contact information
Education
Ph.D., Economics, Northwestern University, 2026 (expected)
MA, Economics, Northwestern University, 2021
M. Sc. Economics, Enaudi Institute for Economics and Finance & Luiss, 2020
B.A. Economics, Università degli Studi di Firenze, 2018
Primary Fields of Specialization
Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics
Curriculum Vitae
Job Market Paper
“Why the Federal Reserve Cuts Rates when Public Debt Rises”
(with Luca Zanotti)
[dowloand paper]
We document a new fact: conditional on inflation and output, the Federal Reserve lowers its policy rate when the U.S. public debt-to-GDP ratio rises. To explain this pattern, we develop and estimate a New Keynesian model with shocks to households’ demand for public debt. These shocks generate a negative comovement between public debt and the natural rate of interest, defined as the real rate that would prevail in the flexible-price economy. Assuming that the Federal Reserve adjusts its policy rate in line with the natural rate, this mechanism rationalizes the negative relationship between debt and the policy rate. We show that these shocks are a key driver of business-cycle fluctuations and that policy rules responding to the natural rate reduce the volatility of inflation and output relative to standard rules. We further construct a debt-informed measure of the natural rate using a time-varying parameter vector autoregression model. Once this measure is included in the policy rule, an increase in the debt-to-GDP ratio no longer reduces the federal funds rate, consistent with the mechanism highlighted by the model.
Working Papers
“Cautious Monetary Policy”
[download paper]
I show that when uncertainty about economic conditions is higher, the Federal Reserve adjusts interest rates less aggressively to changes in inflation and economic activity. Moreover, under higher uncertainty, interest rates are less sensitive to demand shocks, which generate larger fluctuations in inflation and unemployment. To account for these findings, I develop a simple New Keynesian model where the monetary authority receives a noisy signal of the demand shock. Consequently, it adjusts interest rates less aggressively than if it observed the actual shock. Since the shock remains unchanged while the policy response weakens, inflation and economic activity experience larger fluctuations.
“Intra-Household Decisions and Labor Market Outcomes – Evidence from Shared Parental Leave”
with M. Hampole, and J. Monterio
[download paper]
This paper examines the impact of intra-household decisions over the split of childcare duties on labor market outcomes. We study the introduction of shared parental leave in Portugal, which allows parents to decide on the allocation of leave days. Using a model of the household, we show that introducing shared parental leave leads to an increase in women’s wages, as they are allocated lower childcare duties when compared with the allocation before shared parental leave is introduced. Moreover, this wage increase should be more pronounced for high-productivity women. Using a novel data set which combines household data with matched employer em- ployee data, we find that the monthly wages of women increase by 1 percent relative to the wages of men. We also find that most of this increase is driven by women which are the primary earners in their household. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of childcare policies in mitigating gender inequality in the labor market may be deter- mined by intra-household decisions.
Work in Progress
“A State Space Approach to Instrument Selection”
with Michael Cai
Publications
“Empirical Investigation of a Sufficient Statistic for Monetary Shocks”
with F. Alvarez, E. Gautier, H. Le Bihan, and F. Lippi
Review of Economic Studies, Volume 92, Issue 4, July 2025
[download paper][link]
Teaching – Northwestern University
Graduate Macroeconomics I, Prof. Lawrence Christiano (2021, 2022)
Graduate Macroeconomics II, Prof. Martin Eichenbaum and Prof. Guido Lorenzoni (2022), Prof. Martin Eichenbaum (2023)
Graduate Macroeconomics III, Prof. Matthias Doepke (2022), Prof. Matthew Rognlie (2023)
Intermediate Microeconomics I, Prof. Maxim Sinitsyn (2024), Prof. Eric Schulz (2024)
Intermediate Microeconomics II, Prof. Maxim Sinitsyn (2024)
Introduction to Macroeconomics, Prof. Mark Witte (2025)
References
Prof. George-Marios Angeletos (Committee Co-Chair)
Prof. Martin Eichenbaum (Committee Co-Chair)
Prof. Giorgio Primiceri
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.