Dr. Nicola Fontana

Assistant Professor, Economics

Nicola.Fontana@tcd.ie 3531896 1043 https://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, Who is my neighbour? Short-term renting and civic engagement in London, CEP Discussion Paper, 2025Journal 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
Nicola Fontana; Marco Manacorda; Gianluca Russo; Marco Tabellini, Emigration and Long-Run Economic Development: Evidence from the Italian Mass Migration, Harvard Business School Working Paper, 26, (18), 2025Journal Article, DOI , TARA - Full Text

My research sits at the intersection of political economy and economic history. I study how institutions, conflict, migration, and local economic environments shape long-run development and contemporary political and civic outcomes. Across my work, I combine applied microeconomic methods with intensive data construction, archival work, and spatially disaggregated datasets to examine how political preferences, social interactions, and economic behaviour are formed over time.

A first strand of my research focuses on the role of historical shocks and critical junctures. In this work, I study how wars, dictatorships, migration, and institutional interventions shape political beliefs, state"society relations, and long-run development. My published work on the legacy of Nazi occupation in Italy and my ongoing projects on Fascist repression, post-war aid, and the Italian mass migration all belong to this broader agenda. A second strand examines the political economy of cities and local communities, with particular attention to housing markets, neighbourhood change, and the effects of new platforms and technologies on civic engagement, social capital, and local labour markets. My solo work on short-term renting in London is part of this line of research.

More broadly, I aim to build a coherent research profile under the umbrella of political economy by bringing together questions that connect institutions, historical persistence, and contemporary economic and social change. My work is characterized by the construction of original datasets and by a strong interest in combining insights from economics, political science, and economic history. This allows me to address questions that are empirically rigorous while also speaking to wider debates on democracy, conflict, urban change, and long-run development.

At present, I have a strong pipeline of projects at different stages of completion, with four papers forming the core of my expected tenure package and a broader set of projects that further strengthen the medium-term sustainability of my research agenda.

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
EUI Research Council Fund ((joint with Andrea Ichino and Tommaso Nannicini) 2024-2026
EIEF Grant (joint with Francesco Barilari) 2025-2026
Full Graduate Merit Award Scholarship, Bocconi University 2011-2012
Arts and Social Visiting Professor Fund, Trinity College Dublin 2026
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
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
Arts and Social Visiting Professor Fund, Trinity College Dublin 2026
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
Referee for European Meetings of Econometrics Society