Research

I am currently interested in the role of technological progress in the processes of economic growth and development, and in how policy might affect growth and development through its impact on technological progress or technological adoption decisions.

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Publications

Structural Change and Financing Constraints. (with Anna Ilyina, International Monetary Fund.) Forthcoming, Journal of Monetary Economics.
An earlier version is available as IMF Working Paper 09/119.
Technology and Financial Development (with Anna Ilyina, International Monetary Fund).
Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 43(5), August 2011, 899-921.
An earlier version is available as IMF Working Paper 08/182.
Accounting for Research and Productivity Growth Across Industries (with Rachel Ngai, London School of Economics).
Review of Economic Dynamics 14(3), July 2011, 475-495.
Earlier versions were issued as CEP Discussion Paper 0914, CEPR Discussion Paper DP 6408 and CEP Discussion Paper 0762.
Entry, Exit and Investment-Specific Technical Change
American Economic Review 100(1), March 2010, 164-192.
Earlier versions were issued as PIER Working Paper 09-020 and PIER Working Paper 08-013
Mapping Prices into Productivities in Multi-sector Growth Models (with Rachel Ngai, London School of Economics).
Journal of Economic Growth 14(3), September 2009, 183-205.
Earlier versions were issued as CEPR Discussion Paper 7318 and CEP Discussion paper DP 869.
Entry, Exit and Business Cycles in a General Equilibrium Model.
Review of Economic Dynamics 11(3), July 2008, 529-541.
Can Technical Change Exacerbate the Effects of Labor Market Sclerosis?
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 32(2), February 2008, 497-528.
R&D and Growth: The Missing Link?
Macroeconomic Dynamics 11(5), November 2007, 691-714.
Organizational Capital, Technology Adoption and the Productivity Slowdown.
Journal of Monetary Economics 53(7), October 2006, 1555-1569.
Industrial Subsidies and Technology Adoption in General Equilibrium.
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 30(9-10), September-October 2006, 1589-1614.
Do Firing Costs affect the Incidence of Firm Bankruptcy?
Macroeconomic Dynamics 10(4), September 2006, 467-501.
Employment Protection and High-Tech Aversion.
Review of Economic Dynamics 9(2), April 2006, 224-241.

Working Papers

Joint Determination of Product and Labor Market Policies in a Model of Rent Creation, Rent Division and Self-employment. Joint with Alain Delacroix, Université du Québec à Montréal. In progress, new version soon.
A general equilibrium model of occupational choice is used to study who benefits and loses from a variety of policies that in practice are often clustered together.
Financing Creative Destruction.
A country-industry panel of entry, exit and R&D spending supports the hypothesis that financial development leads to growth by directing funds towards innovative entrants and away from incumbents - and indicates it is due to intellectual property rights' protection.
Between Alpha and Beta: Modeling the impact of Regulatory Constraints on the Hedge Fund Industry. Joint with Anna Ilyina, International Monetary Fund.
A large panel of hedge fund returns provides strong evidence of an impact of both size and talent on hedge fund returns, consistent with the controversial model of Berk and Green (2004). We study the implications of these features for the industry response to proposed changes in regulation. Leverage caps can have a large impact on the industry, whereas changes in due diligence costs have little effect on the industry as they mainly impact the smallest funds.
Demand for Contract Enforcement in a Barter Economy. Joint with Anna Rubinchik, University of Haifa.
An earlier version was issued as UC- Boulder Working Paper 06-04.
The link between property rights enforcement and productivity is non-linear and depends on whether punishments are themselves linear in productivity.

roberto "at" gwu.edu