Dr. Nicola Fontana

Assistant Professor, Economics

Nicola.Fontana@tcd.ie www.nicola-fontana.com

Biography

Nicola Fontana is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at Trinity College Dublin. He is an associate of the Centre for Economics, Policy and History, of the Trinity Impact Evaluation Unit and of Trinity Research in Social Sciences. He is also an associate at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. His research interests centre on Political Economy, Economic History, Labour Economics and Urban Economics. Nicola obtained his PhD in Economics in 2021 from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He holds a Master of Science in Economics and Social Science (ESS) from Bocconi University and Master in Economics: Research Focus from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Joint Degree Program). He has published in the American Economic Review: Insights and Journal of Comparative Economics and has attended many international conferences.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

Peer-Reviewed Publications
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications

Tim Besley, Nicola Fontana, Nicola Limodio, Antitrust Policies and Profitability in Non-Tradable Sectors, American Economic Review: Insights, 3, (2), 2021, p251 - 265Journal Article, 2021, DOI , URL
Nicola Fontana, Tommaso Nannicini, Guido Tabellini, Historical Roots of Political Extremism: The Effects of Nazi Occupation of Italy, Journal of Comparative Economics, 51, (3), 2023, p723 - 743Journal Article, 2023, DOI , URL
Tim Besley, Nicola Fontana, Nicola Limodio, Data for: Antitrust Policies and Profitability in Non-Tradable Sectors, American Economic Association, 2021Dataset, 2021, DOI , URL
Nicola Fontana, Tommaso Nannicini, Guido Tabellini, Data for: Historical Roots of Political Extremism: The Effects of Nazi Occupation of Italy, Journal of Comparative Economics, 2023Dataset, 2023, URL

Nicola Fontana, Backlash against Airbnb: Evidence from London, 2021Journal Article, URL
Nicola Fontana, Italian historical dataset at municipality level, Personal dataset, 2023Dataset, URL
Nicola Fontana, Airbnb hosts, Personal dataset, 2023Dataset, URL
Nicola Fontana, Airbnb listings, Personal dataset, 2023Dataset, URL
Nicola Fontana, London ward characteristics, Personal dataset, 2023Dataset, URL

My main research interest is political economy. Four years after obtaining my Ph.D. I have published two articles in this topic that centre on understanding how political views, cultural values and institutions interact and are formed over time. Understanding how one influences others is a challenging and fascinating area of research. In one project published in the American Economic Review: Insights, we show how antitrust institutions impact competition and innovation providing, for the first time, comprehensive measures of competition and antitrust by sector with a global coverage. Moreover, I develop various research projects, combining the political economy literature with: - The economic history literature. I am focusing on critical junctures as dictatorships, massive migrations or wars and their impact on short-, medium- and long-term transformations. My latest publication in the Journal of Comparative Economics (2023), a prominent international peer-reviewed journal, speaks to this literature by looking at the role of the Italian Civil War and on the formation of political views. - The urban literature: the role of cities is in continuous evolution, and it is crucial to understand how cities and citizens will adapt to the various forces over the next years. I am aiming to contribute to the debate by looking at the political economy aspect behind the housing market crisis we are observing around the world in many cities as well as the interaction between new platforms and technologies (e.g., house sharing, etc) on urban planning, social interactions, and local labour markets. Currently, four of my papers are in preparation for submission and various other projects are at different stages of completion with four entering in the final stage of writing. This research pipeline will allow me to significantly extend my track record of publications over the coming years.

Economics and Business Administration,

Recognition

LSE Research Training Support Grant 2015-2019
Research Boost Program, Trinity College Dublin 2021
Arts and Social Visiting Professor Fund, Trinity College Dublin 2023
Full Graduate Merit Award Scholarship, Bocconi University 2011-2012
Arts and Social Sciences Benefactions Fund, Trinity College Dublin 2024
Arts and Social Visiting Professor Fund, Trinity College Dublin 2024
Start Up Fund, Trinity College Dublin 2021
Arts and Social Sciences Benefactions Fund, Trinity College Dublin 2023
EUI Research Council Fund ((joint with Andrea Ichino and Tommaso Nannicini) 2024-2025
Supervisor for a John O'Hagan Grattan Scholarship 2023-2027
Montias Prize 2022-2023 2024
Arts and Social Visiting Professor Fund, Trinity College Dublin 2022
IEA Travel Grant 2023
Arts and Social Sciences Benefactions Fund, Trinity College Dublin 2022
LSE Academic Staff Contribution Pay award 2020-2021
ESRC Doctoral Training Centre Studentship 2015-2019

Centre for Economics, Policy and History (CEPH) - Associate
Trinity Research in Social Sciences (TRiSS) - Associate
Trinity Impact Evaluation Unit (TIME) - Member
Centre for Academic Performance - Associate
CEPR Media Plurality Research Policy Network - Member
Royal Economic Society - Member

Referee for: American Political Science Review, Economica, Economics Letters, Explorations in Economic History, Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Labor Research, Journal of Public Economics, Review of Economic Studies, Social Science History, The Quarterly Journal of Economics 2018