People

“Don’t be afraid of not being sure of your future field. Finding your fit is important, but you will have much more information to decide on after you actually start the program.”

I grew up in Rome and moved to England after completing high school. I attended Oxford University where I obtained a bachelor degree in Mathematics and then moved to London to attend the LSE where I earned an MSc in Finance and Economics. During my master studies, I had the opportunity to learn some finance theory and developed an interest in applying economic and mathematical reasoning to better understand the role and functioning of financial markets.

Research Interests

I am still at an early stage of the program and hence my interests are not yet fully determined. Lately, I have been mainly interested in asset pricing and some areas of economic theory. In particular, I would like to improve my understanding of the empirical and theoretical relevance of the standard assumptions on individual preferences used in asset pricing. I am also interested in models of information diffusion in networks and in how to measure their performance in the data.

Business Economics Program

I am in the middle of my first year in the Business Economics program. Although most of my time has so far been devoted to classes, I have been impressed by the other students in my cohort. We often discuss research related topics and I feel that this environment will be very conducive to research in later years. Faculty members at both HBS and Harvard are very open to meeting with graduate students to give advice.

The HBS Experience

Being part of the Economics community at Harvard is an incredible experience. You are surrounded by some of the most influential economists of our time and are able to get advice from the leading scholars in your field. For instance, I have been attending the finance seminars and for almost every subfield there is a leading expert sitting in the audience. Another important element is that the HBS doctoral program allows you to get to know students and faculty in other fields.

Advice for prospective HBS doctoral students

Don’t be afraid of not being sure of your future field. Economics is a broad discipline; each area offers plenty of interesting questions. Finding your fit is important, but you will have much more information to decide on after you actually start the program. Also, try to make the most of the research resources HBS has to offer.