PERSONAL DETAILS
Department of Law, Economics, and Communication
LUMSA University
Via Filippo Parlatore, 65 - 90145 Palermo - Italy
Email: m.lisciandra@lumsa.it
Personal Website: https://sites.google.com/site/mlisciandra/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maurizio-lisciandra-432381292/
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9020-7106
CURRENT POSITION
Associate Professor in Economics, LUMSA University, Rome-Palermo, Italy.
Italian National Scientific Qualification (ASN), Full Professor in Economics, Economic Policy, and Public Economics.
MAIN RESEARCH INTERESTS
Environmental Economics Intersection of environmental sustainability, climate policy implementation, and economic development through big data analytics, spatial econometric modeling, and GIS-based analysis.
Institutional Economics Evolution of formal and informal institutions across time and space, focusing on property rights and path dependencies in institutional change affecting resource management and social equity.
Economics of Corruption Theoretical and empirical frameworks to measure corruption’s impact on economic growth, public procurement efficiency, and environmental governance across different institutional contexts.
Law & Economics Economic analysis of legal institutions and regulatory frameworks, examining contract structures, liability regimes, and their effects on economic behavior and market outcomes.
Commons Governance of common-pool resources through historical analysis, field experiments, and computational modeling to understand sustainable management and conditions for successful collective action.
PUBLICATIONS & WORKING PAPERS
Recent Publications
2025 - “From Open to Closed Societies: Inequality, Migration, and Women’s Rights” (with M. Casari, A.S. Saral), Journal of Development Economics , 178, 103607. ISSN: 0304-3878 (Print), 1872-6089 (Online). DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103607 .
2024 - “Corruption Dynamics and Political Instability” (with A. Miralles Asensio, F. Monteforte), Journal of Public Economic Theory , 26(4), e12712. ISSN: 1097-3923 (Print), 1467-9779 (Online). DOI: 10.1111/jpet.12712 .
2024 - “Search and Matching in Political Corruption” (with A. Miralles Asensio, F. Monteforte), The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy , 24(1): 69-96. ISSN: 1935-1682 (Online). DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2023-0022 .
2024 - “Manipulating municipal budgets: unveiling opportunistic behavior of Italian mayors” (with E. Bracco, M.A. De Benedetto), Public Choice , 198(3): 317-342. ISSN: 0048-5829 (Print), 1573-7101 (Online). DOI: 10.1007/s11127-023-01131-3 .
2023 - “Digging into Waste: An Analysis of Waste Crime in the Italian Provinces” (with D. Andreatta, S. Favarin, E. Millemaci), Regional Studies , 57(7): 1367-1379. ISSN: 0034-3404 (Print), 1360-0591 (Online). DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2022.2135697 .
2022 - “A corruption risk indicator for public procurement” (with R. Milani and E. Millemaci), European Journal of Political Economy , 73: 102141, ISSN: 0176-2680 (Print). DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102141 .
2019 - “Political Corruption and Capture of the Minority” (with P. Giannoccolo), Economics & Politics , 31(3): 485-510. ISSN: 0954-1985 (Print), 1468-0343 (Online). DOI: 10.1111/ecpo.12137 .
2019 - “Property Rights, Marriage, and Fertility in the Italian Alps, 1790-1820” (with M. Casari and C. Tagliapietra), Explorations in Economic History , 71: 72-92. ISSN: 0014-4983 (Print), 1090-2457 (Online). DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2018.09.001 .
2018 - “Binding and non-Binding Contracts: A Theoretical Appraisal” (with E. D’Agostino), Review of Law & Economics , 14(2): 20160006. ISSN: 1555-5879. DOI: 10.1515/rle-2016-0006 .
2017 - “Corruption”, in Encyclopedia of Law and Economics , Marciano A. and Ramello G.B. (eds.), New York: Springer. ISBN: 978-1-4614-7883-6 (Print) 978-1-4614-7883-6 (Online). DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_702-1 .
2017 - “An Empirical Study of the Impact of Corruption on Environmental Performance: Evidence from Panel Data” (with C. Migliardo), Environmental and Resource Economics , 68(2): 297-318. ISSN: 0924-6460, eISSN: 1573-1502. DOI: 10.1007/s10640-016-0019-1 .
2017 - “The Economic Effect of Corruption in Italy: A Regional Panel Analysis” (with E. Millemaci), Regional Studies , 51(9): 1387-1398. ISSN: 0034-3404, eISSN: 1360-0591. DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2016.1184244 .
2016 - “Gender Discrimination in Property Rights: Six Centuries of Commons Governance in the Alps” (with M. Casari), The Journal of Economic History , 76(2): 559-594. ISSN: 0022-0507, eISSN: 1471-6372. DOI: 10.1017/S0022050716000565 .
Working Papers
2025 - “Carbon Pricing, Regional Innovation, and Spatial Equity: An EU-ETS Assessment at the NUTS-2 Level”, Working Paper with N. Fagni.
EDUCATION
2005 Ph.D. in Economics, Trinity College, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
2004 Marie Curie Host Fellowship, International Doctorate in Economic Analysis (IDEA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
2002 European Doctoral Group in Economics (EDGE), Laboratoire d’Economie et de Sociologie du Travail (LEST-CNRS), Université de la Méditerranée, Aix-en-Provence, France.
2000 M.Phil. in Economics with distinction in the dissertation, Trinity College, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
1998 Laurea summa cum laude (30/30 in all subjects) in Economics, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.
1997 Graduate Exchange Program, Brandeis University, Waltham (Boston), MA, USA.
WORK EXPERIENCE
2023 – 2025 Expert Evaluator and Project Monitor Expert Horizon Europe.
2009 – 2022 Assistant/Associate Professor in Economics at the Department of Economics, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
2008 – 2016 Expert researcher in economics of crime in several national and international research projects for Transcrime (Joint Research Centre on Transnational Crime), Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy.
2008 – 2009 Post-doctorate in Economics, Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy.
2005 Consultant, International Labor Organization (ILO), Geneva, Switzerland.
2003 Full-Time Professional Intern, International Labor Organization (ILO), Geneva, Switzerland.
ACADEMIC REWARDS AND GRANTS
2025 - CARI LUMSA. Internal competitive research grant. “The Transformation from Unlimited to Limited Liability in Italian Cooperative Credit Banks”, principal investigator, € 6.3K.
2025 - CARI LUMSA. Internal competitive mobility research grant. “Institutional Governance and Sustainability Across Contexts” at the University of Italian Switzerland, Switzerland, and Dalarna University, Sweden, € 3K.
2024 - CARI LUMSA. Internal competitive research grant. “Balancing Acts: Navigating the Transition to a Circular Economy in the EU Through Policy Innovation and Inclusion”, principal investigator, € 7K.
2023 - Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI). Principal Investigator: Call for projects on Open Science and Open Research Data. “Governing the Commons: Building a Digital Archive of Community Charters from the 13th to the 19th Century in Ticino”, co-principal investigator, CHF 50K.
2022 - Swiss National Science Foundation. Competitive research grant for scientific exchanges. “A comparison of the institutional trajectories of common resources governance in two Alpine areas: Ticino and Trentino”.
2018, 2020 - “Fondo di finanziamento per le attività base di ricerca”. Competitive research grant from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (2018), University of Messina (2020).
VISITING
University of Italian Switzerland, Lugano, Switzerland, May & September 2025.
Dalarna University, Borlänge, Sweden, September 2024 and September 2025.
University of Italian Switzerland, Lugano, Switzerland, July 2022.
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, October 2021.
Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy, 2021.
EDITORIAL BOARDS
Member of the Editorial Board “Crime, Law and Social Change”, Springer Nature.
ACADEMIC ROLES
Member of the Academic Board of the Ph.D. Programme in Mediterranean Studies: History, Law & Economics, LUMSA University, Palermo, Italy. (https://lumsa.it/en/doctoral-school--mediterranean-studies-history-law-economics ).
Treasurer, SIDE-ISLE (Italian Association of Law & Economics)
TEACHING
Currently:
- Macroeconomics in Italian at the B.A. in Economics and Business, LUMSA University.
- Economics for Lawyers in English at the 5-Y M.A. in Law, LUMSA University.
- Development Economics and Institutional Change in Italian/English at the M.A. in Economics and Management, LUMSA University.
- Environmental Law & Economics at the PhD Programme in Mediterranean Studies: History, Law & Economics, LUMSA University.
Previously:
- A range of economics courses, including core theories (Decision Theory, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics), applied economics (Political Economy, Industrial Organization, Economics of Crime and Corruption), and quantitative methods (Mathematics for Social Sciences). Institutions include the University of Messina, University of Palermo, Bocconi University, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, and University of Pisa.
CONFERENCES/SEMINARS (recent)
2025 Brown Bag Seminar, University of Palermo, Palermo.
2024 XX Annual Conference, Italian Society of law & Economics (SIDE), Rome.
2024 XXXVI Annual Conference, Italian Society of Public Economics (SIEP), Cagliari.
2024 Dalarna University, Seminar, Borlänge, Sweden.
2023 XIX Annual Conference, Italian Society of Law & Economics (SIDE), Brescia.
2023 LXIV Annual Conference, Italian Economic Association (SIE), L’Aquila.
2023 Scuola Superione Sant’Anna, Workshop on ‘Combating Corruption’, Pisa.
2023 VIII Annual Conference, World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research (WINIR), Catania.
2023 LUMSA, Law & Economics Workshop – Canada, Israel, Italy, Palermo (Local Organizer).
2022 XVIII Annual Conference, Italian Society of Law & Economics (SIDE), Palermo (Local Organizer).
2022 VII Annual Conference, World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research (WINIR), online.
2021 XVII Annual Conference, Italian Society of Law & Economics (SIDE), Trento.
2021 Collegio Carlo Alberto, Seminar, Turin.
2021 Bank of Italy, Webinar
2021 MEF/RGS, Italian Ministry of Treasury, Webinar
2019 XV Annual Conference, Italian Society of Law & Economics (SIDE), Milan.
JOURNAL REFEREE
Ecological Economics, Regional Studies, Public Choice, Papers in Regional Science, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, China Economic Review, Environmental and Resource Economics, Economics & Politics, Economic Analysis and Policy, Economic Modelling, Economic Systems, Bulletin of Economic Research, European Journal of Law and Economics, Metroeconomica, Journal of Economics, International Review of Economics, Journal of Applied Economics, Governance, Public Management Review, European Journal of Comparative Economics, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, South European Society and Politics, Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Rivista di Politica Economica, Rivista Italiana degli Economisti, Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche, Sage Open.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
ITALIAN: mother tongue
ENGLISH: C2
FRENCH: B2
SPANISH: B1
COMPUTER SKILLS
Stata, R, Python, Mathematica, and QGIS.