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I am the Seth Merrin Professor of Economics at Tufts University and a Research Associate with the NBER. Welcome to my webpage. I do research in political economy, growth and development, and international economics. My email is enrico.spolaore [at] tufts.edu.
NEW: Geopolitical Distance Data
RECENT RESEARCH:
Cultural Remittances and Modern Fertility, with Mickael Melki, Hillel Rapoport, and Romain Wacziarg
Barriers to Global Capital Allocation with Bruno Pellegrino and Romain Wacziarg, conditionally accepted, Quarterly Journal of Economics. Geopolitical Distance Data
The Economic Approach to Political Borders, chapter in Border Studies: A Multidisciplinary Approach, edited by Thomas M. Wilson, Edward Elgar Publishing. Dedicated to the memory of Alberto Alesina. VoxEU column: Understanding Borders and Conflict from an Economic Perspective
Fertility and Modernity with Romain Wacziarg, The Economic Journal. Media coverage: The Atlantic, The Economist (2021); The Economist (2019); Economic Principals; LiveMint
Article on European Integration (in French, Italian and Spanish), Le Grand Continent (Groupe d’études géopolitiques at the École normale supérieure).
Commanding Nature by Obeying Her, Journal of Economic Literature. Media coverage: The Economist; Economic Principals
The Political Economy of Heterogeneity and Conflict with Romain Wacziarg, in Tibor Besedeš and Volker Nitsch (eds.), Disrupted Economic Relationships, MIT Press.
Ancestry and Development: New Evidence with Romain Wacziarg, Journal of Applied Econometrics. New Data.
War and Relatedness with Romain Wacziarg, Review of Economics and Statistics. VoxEU column: Kinship and Conflict. Media Coverage: Newsweek Russia (in Russian), Vanity Fair Italy (in Italian), and Les Echos (in French).
Ancestry, Language and Culture with Romain Wacziarg – in The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language, Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber (eds.), Palgrave Macmillan. Cultural Distance Data
The Political Economy of European Integration, in Handbook of the Economics of European Integration, H. Badinger and V. Nitsch (eds.), Routledge. VoxEU column: Monnet’s chain reaction and the future of Europe.
Culture and Economic Growth, The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, Edward Elgar.
What is European Integration Really About? A Political Guide for Economists, Journal of Economic Perspectives
How Deep Are the Roots of Economic Development? with Romain Wacziarg, Journal of Economic Literature
Long-Term Barriers to Economic Development with Romain Wacziarg, prepared for the Handbook of Economic Growth, vol. 3 (P. Aghion and S. Durlauf eds., North Holland-Elsevier), VoxEU column: Long-Term Barriers to Growth. Media Coverage: Marginal Revolution and Mother Jones
IN RICORDO DI ALBERTO ALESINA:
In Memory of Alberto Alesina (1953-2020)
On the Number and Size of Nations
What’s happening with the number and size of nations?
Economic Integration and Political Disintegration
Trade, Growth and the Size of Countries
War, Peace, and the Size of Countries
Conflict, Defense Spending, and the Number of Nations
Catalonia and the Perils of Fiscal Redistribution, The Economist
Des Catalogne comme s’il en pleuvait (in French), Les Echos
Nelle crisi territoriali servono istituzioni flessibili (in Italian), Corriere della Sera
The Consensus Crumbles. The Economists Who Foresaw the Backlash Against Globalization, The Economist
Goldilocks Nationalism, The Economist