Moretti, M. (2023). Disability-free life expectancy of Italian older adults: trends, inequalities, and applications

Fast Protocols for Secret-Key Private Information Retrieval

Private information retrieval (PIR) allows to privately read a chosen bit from an N -bit database x with o(N ) bits of communication. Lin, Mook, and Wichs (STOC 2023) showed that by preprocessing x into an encoded database bx, it suffices to access only polylog(N ) bits of bx per query. This requires |bx| ≥ N · polylog(N ), and even larger server circuit size. In Chapter 2, we consider an alternative preprocessing model (Boyle et al. and Canetti et al., TCC 2017), where the encoding bx depend...

Path-Dependence and Persuasion: A Theory-Based View

This dissertation extends the theory-based view of strategy by looking into two fundamental challenges: how decision-makers' theories and internal beliefs influence path dependent trajectories, and how these theories are implemented when multiple organizational actors must align. The first extension examines how process memory shapes strategic outcomes. Paper 1 develops a theoretical framework showing that decision-makers' awareness of path dependence and their theories about future conting...

Opportunities and Threats for Brands in the Social Media Ecosystem

In today’s digital environment, social media has become a central channel for understanding consumers’ opinions, preferences, and behaviors. These platforms enable individuals to connect with others who share similar interests, which leads to repeated exposure to brand-related content within their personal networks. This can benefit brands by strengthening engagement and fostering customer loyalty. At the same time, the same mechanisms that support rapid information sharing can also facilitat...

Conjugate Gradient and Alternating Minimization for High-Dimensional Statistical Models

In many contemporary applications of statistics and machine learning — such as recommendation systems, network analysis, and genomics — data can be represented as large, sparse matrices in which only a small fraction of the entries are observed. We refer to these matrices as high-dimensional, since the number of variables (e.g., individuals, or genes) can be very large, often in the order of hundreds of thousands or even millions. In contrast, the number of observations, which correspond to n...

Residential Property Prices and Rents in a Spatial Context

The present thesis explores the relationship between residential property prices and rents in a spatial context. The first two chapters aims at estimating the spatial consequences of prices and rents when hit by a national mortgage interest rate shock. In order to identify the e!ect, I leverage a novel dataset of local prices and rents of residential properties in Italy and a novel shift share instrumental variable identification design which relies on the di!erent mortgage pick up rates by ...

Essays on Information, Politics, and Digital Media

Digital technologies are transforming how individuals access and engage with information, with consequences that can be beneficial or detrimental to society. While broader access to information offers clear advantages, substantial evidence also documents negative side effects, including the spread of misinformation, increased distraction, and the decline of traditional information media. These developments have wide-ranging implications for individuals' opinions and behavior, from voters sele...

Essays in Auditing and ESG Regulation

The first chapter of this PhD Thesis explores the effect of expanded audit report rules on the client-auditor relation. The fact that in the U.K. these rules were implemented in several stages allows applying difference-in-differences methodology to analyze the consequences of the new reporting regime. We test whether expanded reporting rules create additional tension between companies and their auditors which leads to an increase in auditor turnover rate. Companies might want to minimise the...

Knowledge Domains and the Theory-based Approach: three essays on Strategic Decision-Making

Strategic, high-stakes decisions often occur under situations of fundamental uncertainty, cases where decision-makers cannot predict future outcomes due to a lack of historical data (Rindova & Courtney, 2020; Camuffo et al., 2024b). An early-stage founder developing a venture’s innovation trajectory, an individual choosing her next professional role, or a manager selecting the most promising business activities to invest on at a large corporation will likely face a future ripe with occurrence...