ROCCO D’ESTE
Updated (September 2014)
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/phd_students/rdeste
r.d-este@warwick.ac.uk
roccodeste@gmail.com
WARWICK UNIVERSITY
Office Contact Information
Room S 2.80, Social Studies Building
Department of Economics Warwick
CV4 7AL, Coventry, United Kingdom
Mobile: 0044-(0)-7907866062
Home Contact Information
38 Paradise Street
B1 2AF, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Skype: rocco.deste
Personal Information: 20th of September 1983, Male, Italian citizenship
Pre-Doctoral Studies:
B.Sc., International Cooperation, University of Bologna, 2006
M.A., Development Economics, University of Florence, Summa cum Laude, 2009
M.Sc., Economics, Collegio Carlo Alberto, 2010
Doctoral Studies:
Warwick University, 2010 to present
Ph.D. Candidate in Economics
PhD Thesis Title: “The Effects of Illegal Markets on Crime”
Expected Completion Date: September 2015
References:
Robert Akerlof
Assistant Professor of Economics, Warwick
r.akerlof@warwick.ac.uk
Mirko Draca
Assistant Professor of Economics, Warwick
m.draca@warwick.ac.uk
Rocco Macchiavello
Associate Professor of Economics, Warwick
r.macchiavello@warwick.ac.uk
Chris Woodruff
Professor of Economics, Warwick
c.woodruff@warwick.ac.uk
Dan Bernhardt
IBE Distinguished Professor of Economics,
Illinois
danber@illinois.edu
Teaching and Research Fields:
Primary fields: Labor Economics, Empirical Microeconomics
Secondary fields: Development Economics
Teaching Experience:
2011 to present
2011 to present
Mathematical Techniques B, Undergraduate, Senior Tutor
Statistical Techniques B, Undergraduate, Senior Tutor
Research Experience and Other Employments:
2014
2013
2013
2010
2010
Project Support Assistant, Max Nathan, Spatial Economics Research Centre,
CEP, London School of Economics
R.A., Mirko Draca, Warwick
R.A., Kimberley Scharf, Warwick
R.A., Mathis Wagner, Collegio Carlo Alberto
R.A., Filippo Taddei, Collegio Carlo Alberto
Honors, Scholarships, and Fellowships
2014
2014
2014 – 2015
2014
2011 – 2014
2010
2009
2007
2004
3rd IZA@DC Young Scholar Program, Georgetown University, Washington DC
EEA Prize. Best paper authored by a researcher less than 35 years old, 2nd place
Royal Economic Society, RES Junior Fellowship
International association of Applied Econometrics, IAAE Membership
The Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC full scholarship
Collegio Carlo Alberto, Full Tuition Waiver and Scholarship
ENAM – INPDAP, annual scholarship
University of Florence, full scholarship
University of Bologna, full scholarship
Other Grants
Travel Grants
ISC Izmir, IAAE Queen Mary, PEUK Bristol, NESG Tilburg, IZA Washington
Seminar Presentations and Conferences (Attended & Scheduled)
2014






AMES, (Applied Microeconomics’ Seminar Series), Warwick.
ISC, (International Student Conference), Izmir.
PEUK, (Public Economics UK), Bristol.
EEA, (XVII Applied Economics Meeting), Gran Canarias.
IAAE, (International Association for Applied Econometrics), Queen Mary.
ESRC, (The Economic and Social Research Council), Birmingham.




NESG, (The Netherlands Econometric Study Group), Tilburg.
IZA, Georgetown University, Washington DC.
SAEe, (Symposium Spanish Economic Association), Palma de Mallorca.
CWIP, (CAGE working in progress), Warwick.
Research Papers:
“The Effect of Stolen Goods Markets on Crime: Evidence From a Quasi - Experiment”, The Warwick
Economics Research Paper Series, TWERPS, 1040, 2014, Department of Economics, Warwick.
I investigate the effects of stolen goods markets on crime by focusing on pawnshops, a legal business often
associated with illicit trade. In a fixed effects framework, the analysis of 2,176 US counties from 1997 to
2010 reveals an elasticity of pawnshops to theft crimes of 0.8 to 1.5. I then show that the predetermined
concentration of pawnshops in the county strengthens the expected benefits deriving from illegal activity,
amplifying the effect that the rise in gold prices has on the proliferation of burglaries. No effect is ever
detected on motor-vehicle thefts and on violent crimes.
“Drugs and Crime: Evidence from a Shock in the Local Production of Crystal Meth”, Preliminary
Draft available, Work in Progress (September 2014).
I investigate the effects of illicit drugs on crime, focusing on US state’s policies restricting the access to
methamphetamine’s precursors chemicals. A combination of diff-in-diff and IV designs reveal: 10% to 15%
reduction in property and violent crimes; 34% and 16% drop in the arrests for possession and sale of
synthetics; no spillover effects on other drugs; 43% decrease in clandestine meth-labs seizures; 0.2 to 0.3
elasticity of crime to meth-labs. I also show heterogeneous effects in states farther away from Mexico and a
more controversial increase in hate-crimes motivated by victims’ sexual preferences.
“From Hero to Zero: a Theory on Kin and Social Pressure in Developing Countries”, Mimeo.
November 2012.
What drives the sharing norm in a poverty context from being a “welfare enhancing” forms of insurance, to
become a “welfare depressing” tax on income for its members? This paper addresses this issue by
developing a theory of moral behavior and social pressure in a developing context, explicitly modeling the
hiding decision. This action captures the essence of the investment and consumption decisions that, by
scaling down the guilt deriving from not respecting the sharing norm, reduce as well the pressure to transfer
money to a family member who might legitimately require it. The model gives the following predictions: i)
people lying at the center of the income distribution in the kin will be more likely to bear the burden of the
sharing norm, ii) the increase in the riskiness of the environment “entraps” relatively more poorer people in
the “hiding” region, iii) for relatively richer people, the probability of hiding is non monotonic in the level of
legitimate requests, iv) a well being increase in the kin will decrease the pressure to share for poorer people
but, at the same time, will always create a “shadow region” where richer potential givers hide more.
Research Papers in Progress
“Pupils' Peer Effects: Evidence from the Chinese Astrology in NYC"
“Estimating Teachers’ Value Added: Evidence from a Randomization Procedure in UK Higher Education”
with Giulio Trigilia