He got his Laurea degree in Economic and Social Disciplines at the "L. Bocconi" University, Milan, in march 1991. He got the PhD in Economics at the Univ. of Siena in november 1995. In november 1997 he became Assistant Professor (ricercatore) at the University of Siena, faculty of Economics; from october 2001 he is Associate Professor of Public Economics in the same faculty. He has been visiting professor at the University of Nancy (2005 and 2006) and at the Law School of the University of Toronto (2006). He has worked as consultant for the World Bank. He is member of the Council of CRISS (Interuniversity Center of Research on the Welfare State). He is responsible for the Siena unit of a FIRB project. He is the director of the Law & Economics PhD program.

• (con Ugo Pagano) "Cultural diversity and economic solidarity". In: Institutions for Social Well-Being. Alternatives for Europe, a cura di Lilia Costabile, Palgrave-MacMillan, Basingstoke, 2008.
• (con Roberto Galbiati) "A signalling theory of nonmonetary sanctions", International Review of Law and Economics, 27(2), 2007, 204-18.
• (con Giampaolo Arachi) "Redistribution as social insurance and capital market integration", International Tax and Public Finance, 11(4), 2004, 531-547.
• (con Ugo Pagano) "National cultures and social protection as alternative insurance devices", Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 13(4), 2002, 367-386.
• (con Guido Cervigni) Monopolio naturale, concorrenza, regolamentazione Carocci, Roma, 2001.
• "Piecewise linear tax functions, progressivity, and equal sacrifice", Economics Letters, 65(2), 1999, 191-197.