I am a social scientist interested in political economy, international affairs, and global health and development. Currently, I am professor of political economy and sociology at Bocconi University, where I also serve as director of the PhD program in Social and Political Sciences and coordinator of the ‘Politics and the Welfare State’ research unit. Before moving to Milan, I held research posts at Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard.

My research focuses on globalisation: how international cooperation is sustained, and how internationally devised policies shape social protection, health systems, and inequality. I have co-authored four books and over 50 articles in leading academic journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, The Lancet, and World Development. I am a recipient of the Henrik Enderlein Prize for Research Excellence in the Social Sciences (2024), alongside multiple awards from professional associations. 

Over the course of my career, I have secured over €1 million in research funding. My findings have attracted international media coverage (including in the New York Times, Le Monde, El País, Reuters, and the BBC) and have informed parliamentary debates in the UK, Greece, and the European Parliament. I also serve on the 2026 Lancet Commission on Global Governance for Health. Beyond academia, I have advised governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organisations, including Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Health Organization, and Oxfam International, and I served as Vice-President of Greece’s National Centre for Social Solidarity.

For the most up-to-date list of published work, please click here for my Google Scholar profile.

Books

Making Global Norms shows how the rules of economic and political globalisation are made—and remade—inside international organisations. Rather than treating ‘global norms’ as abstract principles that simply diffuse, the book foregrounds the practical work of turning contested ideas into actionable ‘policy scripts’—the templates that define problems, specify solutions, and travel across countries.

Drawing on a new theoretical framework and methodological toolkit, Making Global Norms argues that normmaking is shaped by the ongoing tension between politics and expertise. Key decisions hinge on ‘dual loyalists’—officials who are simultaneously state representatives and professionally socialised experts—and on shifts in the composition of expertise within organisations. Focusing on the IMF, the book traces how policy scripts on sovereign debt management, capital controls, and taxation were negotiated, codified, and transformed.

The book is available open access through Oxford University Press (click here for PDF). You can also order it directly from Oxford University Press and receive a 30% discount using the promotion code: AUFLY30.

The International Monetary Fund has emerged as a key player in climate policy, and this closer engagement with the economic dimensions of climate change holds the promise of helping countries preempt large-scale economic dislocations from climate risks. But how much progress has the IMF made in supporting the green transition and what is the policy track record of its climate loans and policy advice? 

Based on extensive new evidence, Greening the International Monetary Fund points to the multifaceted, and at times contradictory, ways green transition objectives have become embedded within IMF activities.

The book is available open access through Cambridge University Press (click here for PDF). You can also order a hard copy from the publisher or independent bookstores.

A Thousand Cuts: Social Protection in the Age of Austerity provides a comprehensive analysis of IMF policies around the world. Based on novel data from the IMF archives, the volume offers a replicable database of all IMF-mandated reforms from 1980-2019, and examines their effects on social policies and outcomes.

A Thousand Cuts reveals that although the precise content of IMF-mandated austerity has changed, the organisation continues to place a high burden of reform on countries in crisis. These reforms then decrease the availability of important social services and contribute to rises in income inequality and declines in population health.

You can order A Thousand Cuts directly from Oxford University Press and receive a 30% discount using the promotion code: AUFLY30.

The dataset and the supplementary statistical code are available through IMF Monitor and the IMF Monitor Dataverse.