Nicola Limodio

PhD Candidate in Economics

I started the MRes/PhD in Economics at LSE in September 2011, with a focus on Development Economics, combined with Finance, Monetary Economics and Organisational Economics. My dissertation committee is composed by Tim Besley (chair), Oriana Bandiera, Daniel Paravisini and Ricardo Reis.

Before this, I worked for nine months as a Junior Professional Associate at the World Bank (Development Economics Vice-Presidency) in Washington DC.

I lived for five wonderful years in Pisa, where I graduated from the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna and University of Pisa, and prior to this in Trieste, where I completed the United World College of the Adriatic.

In this page you can find my publications, for an up-to-date list refer to my profile on ideas (here) and google scholar (here):

Completed Papers

* Job Market Paper - “Deposit Volatility, Liquidity and Long-Term Investment: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Pakistan”  (with M. A. Choudhary, State Bank of Pakistan), Available Here and Appendix Here.

* “The Development Impact of Financial Regulation: Evidence from Ethiopia and Antebellum USA” (with F. Strobbe, World Bank). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7734 (2016).

* “Manager Assignment and Project Returns: Evidence from the World Bank”, STICERD - EOPP Discussion Papers Series 61 (2016).

* “Media, Demonstrations, and Public Good Delivery: Evidence from World Bank Projects during Natural Disasters”, STICERD - EOPP Discussion Papers Series 62 (2016).

* “Financial Regulation and Government Revenue: The Effects of a Policy Change in Ethiopia”  (with F. Strobbe, World Bank), World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7733 (2016).

Research in Progress

"Institutions, Competition and Growth" (with T. Besley, LSE)

"The Intensive and Extensive Margins of Financial Development: Survey Evidence from the Universe of Ethiopian Branches" (with F. Strobbe, World Bank), preliminary and incomplete draft available upon request.

Pre PhD & Non-technical Work

Blog

“Did Energy Efficiency Break the Electric Utilities' Business Model?”, (with S. Afsah and K. Salcito), CO2scorecard, March 2015. (here)

Old Articles

Limodio, Nicola, 2012. "The puzzle of aid and growth: any role for investment?," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 1-26, January. (here)

Old Working papers

Limodio, Nicola, 2011. "The success of infrastructure projects in low-income countries and the role of selectivity," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5694, The World Bank. (freely downloadable via ideas here)

Limodio, Nicola, 2011. "The highway concession system in Italy : history, regulation and politics," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5567, The World Bank. (freely downloadable via ideas here)

Limodio, Nicola, 2011. "The impact of pro-vulnerable income transfers : Leisure, dependency and a distribution hypothesis," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5881, The World Bank. (freely downloadable via ideas here)

On this page you can find a link to the courses I have been teaching. Each page contains additional resources and explanations, meant to complement official scores and material.

Microeconomics Courses

• Microeconomic Principles - EC202 (2013/2014)
• Microeconomic Principles - EC202 (2014/2015)
• Microeconomic Principles - EC202 (2015/2016)

Econometrics Courses

• Introduction to Econometrics - EC220
• Advanced Econometrics - EC312
• Introduction to Quantitative Methods - EC408

Summary of My Teaching Output:

In the Academic Year 2013/2014 I was Highly Commented for Innovative Teaching from the LSE Student-Led Teaching Excellence Awards, find a description at here.

In the Academic Year 2014/2015, while I was teaching the course "Microeconomic Principles II - EC202", 48% of my students (14 out of 29) qualified for a Distinction (A or A+), scoring 70% or above in the final exam (the 3-year mean of students achieving a Distinction in this course is 22%). While none of my 29 students, failed the exam (F) scoring 39% or less (the 3-year mean of students achieving a Fail in this course is 10%).

In the Academic Year 2013/2014, while I was teaching the course "Microeconomic Principles II - EC202", 55% of my students (29 out of 53) qualified for a Distinction (A or A+), scoring 70% or above in the final exam (the 3-year mean of students achieving a Distinction in this course is 22%). While only 4%, 2 out of 53, failed the exam (F) scoring 39% or less (the 3-year mean of students achieving a Fail in this course is 10%).

In the Academic Year 2012/2013, while I was teaching the course "Introduction to Econometrics - EC220", 43% of my students (15 out of 35) qualified for a Distinction (A or A+), scoring 70% or above in the final exam (the 3-year mean of students achieving a Distinction in this course is 28%). While only 6%, 2 out of 35, failed the exam (F) scoring 39% or less (the 3-year mean of students achieving a Fail in this course is 16%).

In my spare time, beyond reading interesting papers and trying to write some of my own, I enjoy:

• to paint, though I do not always have sufficient time and right instruments, but when I am inspired, it's fun.
• to sing, from jazz classics, to Italian pop, to Pop Rock, to Neapolitan songs.

Between 2013 and 2015, I have sung in a great band with other friends of the PhD, "The Binding Constraints". You can find here a video of our first concert, here links to other better quality songs and also a couple of nice pics below.

This link shows videos from a concert with my old band (the i-talians): we performed some very good music, mostly Italian, but with an international vibe.

Here there are two videos, one from the current and one from the old band.

Here there are some documents, links or pictures I would like to share:

1) my "10 rules for an Econ PhD applicant" (here): some advice for those considering an application to a PhD in Economics.

2) Una lettera sulla tassazione delle borse di studio per dottorato all'estero (disponibile qui): per chi fosse interessato a sostenere questa iniziativa, attraverso la sezione contatti o via mail può partecipare inviando: nome e cognome, qualifica/lavoro/posizione, istituzione/università.

A beautiful quote I like:

"Che tu abbia la forza di cambiare le cose che si possono cambiare, che tu abbia la pazienza di sopportare quelle non modificabili.. e soprattutto l'intelligenza per saperle distinguere"

"Have the strength to change things that can change, the patience to stand those that cannot... and most of all, the intelligence to distinguish between them"

(S. Tommaso)