Timothy DeStefano

Associate Professor | Georgetown University | McDonough School of Business | Laboratory for Innovation Science Harvard



Timothy DeStefano is an Associate Professor at the Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business. He is an applied economist with expertise in the areas of digital technology, artificial intelligence (AI), industrial robotics, firm productivity and trade. His research at Georgetown examines the effects of digital technology on firm reorganization and performance using a mixture of field experiments and observational data techniques. Over the last year, Tim has partnered with various businesses to construct and execute field experiments which measure the causal effects of AI on firm performance. Tim has also carried out a number of research projects that examine how fiber broadband and cloud computing impact firm productivity, organization and employment. He has extensive experience assessing policy interventions for multiple European and Asia Pacific governments on a range of economic outcomes at the region, firm, and individual levels.

Before joining Georgetown University, Tim worked for 3 years at Harvard University in the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH) where he led a team to establish a new research area at the lab on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. Before moving to Harvard, Tim worked as an Economist/Policy Analyst for 5 years at the OECD and for 1 year for the G20. Tim’s work has been presented at a number of high-level academic events including the NBER meetings (on the Economics of Digitization and Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship), the Royal Economics Society, and the Toulouse School of Economics and to policy makers at the G20, the OECD, the World Bank, the Italian Parliament, the Ministry of Finance France, the Ministry of Economics Trade and Industry Japan and the Vatican. Tim holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Nottingham (UK).

In his free time, Tim enjoys hiking when it's warm and snowboarding when it's cold. 

 

Email address: timothy.destefano@georgetown.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Accepted Publications or R&R

DeStefano, T., Kneller, R., and J. Timmis. (2018), Broadband infrastructure, ICT use and firm performance: Evidence for UK firms, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol 155, pp. 110-139. 

Cho, J., DeStefano, T., Kim, H., Kim, I., & Paik, J. H. (2022). What's driving the diffusion of next-generation digital technologies?. Technovation, 102477.

DeStefano, T., Kneller, R., and J. Timmis. (2022), The (fuzzy) digital divide: the effect of universal broadband on firm performance, Journal of Economic Geography, lbac006.

DeStefano, T., Kneller, R., and J. Timmis. (2020), Cloud computing and firm growth, under 2nd R&R, Review of Economics and Statistics. 


DeStefano,T., and J. Timmis. (2021). Robots and Export Quality, under 2nd R&R, Journal of Development Economics. 


DeStefano, T., Kellogg, K., Menietti, M., L. Vendraminelli. (2022) "Why Providing Humans with Interpretable Algorithms May, Counterintuitively, Lead to Lower Decision-making Performance", MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 6797-22, under R&R,


Working papers  


DeStefano, T., and J. Timmis. (2023). Demand Shocks and Data Analytics Diffusion, under review, 


DeStefano, T., Cho, J., Teodorovicz, T., Kim, H., Kim, I., J. Paik. (2023). Firm-level determinants of AI adoption: evidence from a large-scale South Korean panel dataset, under review, 


DeStefano, T., Johnstone, N., Kneller, R., and J. Timmis. (2020). Capital incentives and the age of intangibles? GEP Discussion paper 2020/06.

DeStefano, T., Kneller, R., and J. Timmis. (2020). ICT and capital saving technical change, GEP Discussion paper, 2020/03. 

 


Work in Progress 


DeStefano, T., Menietti, M., L. Vendraminelli. Does AI improve driver safety and fuel efficiency.

 

DeStefano, T. Survey on AI use, data practices, skills and management quality at the firm-country level

 


 Policy Research 

De Backer K., DeStefano T. (2021) Robotics and the Global Organisation of Production. In: von Braun J., S. Archer M., Reichberg G.M., Sánchez Sorondo M. (eds) Robotics, AI, and Humanity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54173-6_6

Andres, R., DeStefano, T., Niebel, T.,  and S. Viete. (2020), Capital incentive policies in the age of cloud computing: An empirical case study, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, No. 2020/07, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/4bedeb36-en. 

DeStefano, T., Silva, F., Haneda, S., and H. Kwon. (2020), Structural adjustment and changes to employment use in Japan, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, No. 2020/08, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/f58e9301-en. 

De Backer, K., DeStefano, T., and C. Menon. (2018), Industrial robotics and the global organization of production, OECD STI Working Paper, No. 2018/03. 

DeStefano, T., Manaresi, F., Menon, C., Santoleri, P., and G. Soggia. (2018), "The evaluation of the Italian “Start-up Act”", OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 54, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/02ab0eb7-en. 

Calvino, F., DeStefano, T., and J. Timmis (2017), Digitalization, SMEs, start-ups and dynamism. In OECD (Eds.), Key issues for digital transformation in the G20, Report prepared for a joint G20 German Presidency (pp.115-124). Berlin, Germany. 

DeStefano, T., K. De Backer and L. Moussiegt. (2017), Determinants of digital technology use by companies, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 40, OECD Publishing, Paris 

Seminar, Conferences and Workshops

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2013-2014