Assist. Prof. Monica Morlacco, Ph.D.

Production Networks and Bargaining

Monica Morlacco’s current work examines how market distortions and firm-to-firm relationships shape prices, resource allocation, and production across firms and countries. A core feature of her approach is the use of matched transaction-level data linking buyers and suppliers, which she combines with structural models of production networks and bargaining. This framework allows her to investigate questions traditionally addressed in aggregate models using rich microdata.

In a related line of research, Ms. Morlacco studies how self-employment and informality respond to monopsony power and entry barriers, and how these dynamics influence the effectiveness of industrial policy in low-income countries. This work draws on administrative labor force data and general equilibrium modeling.

Monica Morlacco’s primary research field is international trade, with broader interests in macroeconomics and industrial organization. While at CES, Ms. Morlacco will continue her research on the interaction between market structure and factor misallocation, with a particular focus on the macroeconomic implications of buyer power.
Monica Morlacco is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California. She received her PhD in Economics from Yale University in 2018.