Michela Giorcelli

Professor of Economics, UCLA

Research

Book

Professionals and Productivity: The Diffusion of Soft Technologies during and after WWII
under contract with Princeton University Press
Book Project · Prospectus

Published and Forthcoming Papers

Technology Transfer and Early Industrial Development: Evidence from the Sino-Soviet Alliance (with Bo Li)
Review of Economic Studies, forthcoming 2026
Online Appendix · Slides · Replication Files
Coverage: VoxEu; Penn’s Exchange Podcast; Berkeley Haas Sketch; MIWI Institute; UCLA Research Spotlight
Awarded: Masahiko Aoki Award for Economics Paper
Closing the Productivity Gap with the US: Causes and Consequences of the Productivity Program in Western Europe
The Manchester School, 1–17, 2024 [Lead Article]
Creating the “American Way” of Business: Evidence from WWII in the U.S.
American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 114: 582–85, 2024
The Effects of Fiscal Decentralization on Publicly Provided Services and Labor Markets (with Nicola Bianchi and Enrica Martino)
Economic Journal, 133(653): 1738–72, 2023
Online Appendix · Slides · Replication Files
Coverage: Gender Budget Report (MEF-RGS) presented at the Italian Parliament; VoxEu; Faculti.net
Reconstruction Aid, Public Infrastructure, and Economic Development (with Nicola Bianchi)
Journal of Economic History, 83(2): 501–537, 2023
Online Appendix · Replication Files
Coverage: WeTheItalians.com; UCLA Research Spotlight
Does Scientific Progress Affect Cultural Changes? A Digital Text Analysis (with Nicola Lacetera and Astrid Marinoni)
Journal of Economic Growth, 27(3): 415–452, 2022
Online Appendix
Coverage: Monash SoDa Labs Video; Livemint.com
The Dynamics and Spillovers of Management Interventions: Evidence from the TWI Program (with Nicola Bianchi)
Journal of Political Economy, 130(6): 1630–75, 2022
Online Appendix · Replication Files
Coverage: Visible Hand Podcast; Kellogg Podcast; Kellogg Insights; Weconpol Newsletter; Wexin (in Chinese); StyleLearn Blog
The Origin and Development of Firm Management
Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 37(2): 259–75, 2021
Evolution of the Indian LPG Industry: Exploring Conditions for Public-Sector Business Model Innovation (with Renu Agarwal, Neeraj Mittal, and Eric Patterson)
Research Policy, 50(4), 2021
Copyright and Creativity: Evidence from Italian Opera in the Napoleonic Age (with Petra Moser)
Journal of Political Economy, 128(11): 4163–210, 2020
Online Appendix · Slides · Replication Files
Coverage: Summary in the NBER Digest, VoxEU, EconomistsTalkArt, and Weixin (in Chinese); Full Translation in Chinese on Weixin; Video by Econimate; Faculti.net; EconFilms: How Copyright Improved Italian Operas; NPR Blog; Interview on Freakonomics (min 17:40–28:00); IMF Podcast; The Start; Marginal Revolution; Slow Boring; JOTWELL; Intellectual Property Blog
Scientific Education and Innovation: From Technical Diplomas to University STEM Degrees (with Nicola Bianchi)
Journal of the European Economic Association, 18(5): 2608–46, 2020
Online Appendix · Slides · Replication Files
Coverage: The 2025 Economic Report of the President; Kellogg Insight; BYU Radio
The Long-Term Effects of Management and Technology Transfers
American Economic Review, 109(1): 121–55, 2019 [Lead Article]
Online Appendix · Slides · Replication Files
Coverage: AEA Chart of the Week; Pro-Market Blog; Microeconomic Insights Blog; VoxEu; The Atlantic; Innovation Growth Lab; UCLA Research Spotlight; RIA Blog; Gridium Blog; ThinkLab.com; Alarabiya News; Wexin (in Chinese)
Awarded: Landau Prize for the best SIEPR Discussion Paper, 2016; Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship, 2015
Economic Recovery and the Determinants of Productivity and Innovation: Evidence from Post-WWII Italy
Journal of Economic History, 78(2): 598–601, 2018 [Dissertation Summary]
Comments by Claude Diebolt, convener of the Alexander Gerschenkron Prize Panel
Awarded: Alexander Gerschenkron Prize for the best dissertation in economic history, 2017

Working Papers

The Effects of Business School Education on Manager Career Outcomes
Quarterly Journal of Economics, revise and resubmit
Awarded: National Science Foundation Grant; Russell Sage Foundation Grant
The Evolution of the Modern Firm
Journal of Economic Literature, revise and resubmit
The Dynamics of US and European Differences (with Antonin Bergeaud)
in preparation for the Handbook of Economic Growth (edited by Philippe Aghion, Ufuk Akcigit, Steven Durlauf and Nancy Qian)
The Economics of Civilian Victimization: Evidence from World War II Italy (with Mattia Bertazzini)
Productivity and Knowledge Transfer: Evidence from Prisoner Employment (with Jacopo Ballabio and Claudio Labanca)
The Return(s) of Superstars (with Yujing Huang and Bo Li)
Awarded: UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy Grant
Faith, Interrupted: Identity and Behaviour after Forced Atheism (with Enkelejda Havari and Sofiana Sinani)
The Origins of Lean Production: U.S. Training for Japanese Firms after WWII (with Yuki Higuchi, Yutaro Takayasu and Mari Tanaka)
Coverage: VoxEu

Book Chapter

The Effects of Copyrights on Poets’ and Novelists’ Economic Return
in Subjects of Literary and Artistic Copyright, Cristiana Sappa and Enrico Bonadio, eds., Edward Elgar, 2022

Book Reviews

The Corporation and the Twentieth Century: The History of American Business Enterprise by Richard Langlois
Journal of Economic History, 2025
Produttività con l’E.R.P. nelle P.M.I. Vicentine: Lavoro, Compartecipazione, Conflitto, Politica dal 1952 by Livio Bortoloso (in Italian)
Itinera Progetti, 2017