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Timothy DeStefano is an Associate Research 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 both observational data techniques and field experiments. 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. He has extensive experience assessing policy interventions across Europe and Asia on a range of economic outcomes at the region, firm, and individual levels.
In 2023, Tim and Jon Timmis co-founded the AI in Action Initiative, a forum designed to bring together global AI stakeholders from academia, industry, and policy to discuss current issues on AI and its economic implications. The initiative regularly attracts world leading economists along with businesses at the frontier of AI development and policy makers at the helm of decision making.
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
Recent media and practitioner mentions
Morning Brew- How the rise of SaaS transformed the tech industry
IBM Newsletter- OpenAI’s deep research aims to outthink analysts
Computerworld- Workday to cut 1,750 jobs, shift focus to AI and global expansion
NBC News- Coca-Cola causes controversy with AI-made ad
VoxEU- Traditional capital incentives slow the diffusion of next-generation technologies
Harvard Business Review- People May Be More Trusting of AI When They Can’t See How It Works
World Economic Forum- Can robots improve export quality in developing countries?
Accepted Publications or R&R
World Bank Blogs- 31st August 2021- "Can robots improve export quality in developing countries?"
VOXEU- 30th October 2021- "Robots and export quality"
VOXEU- 6th May 2020- "Cloud computing and firm growth."
Wall Street Journal- 5th November 2022- Five Mistakes Managers Make When Introducing AI: and How to Fix Them.
Forbes- November 7th 2022- The Data Science Struggle: Why Organizations Routinely Fail To Realize The Full Potential From Their Data Science Efforts.
MIT Ideas Made to Matter- 12th January 2023- Why Employees are More Likely to Second Guess Interpretable Algorithms.
Harvard Business School Working Knowledge- 19th January 2023- What Makes Employees Trust (vs Second-Guess) AI?
Harvard Business Review- September-October 2023- People May Be More Trusting of AI When They Can't See How It Works
Working papers
VOXEU-November 1st 2024- "Traditional capital incentives slow the diffusion of next-generation technologies"
DeStefano, T., and J. Timmis. (2023). Demand Shocks and Data Analytics Diffusion, under review,
Presented at NBER Summer Institute on IT and Digitization, 2021
Presented at the NBER Economics and AI Conference, 2021
Presented at NBER Summer Institute on IT and Digitization, 2020
Work in Progress
DeStefano, T., Macher, J., J. Mayo. (2025). Take-rates in means-tested social programs: beyond participation costs.
DeStefano, T. Survey on AI use, data practices, skills and management quality at the firm-country level
Cross-country enterprise-level survey on AI adoption and business organization. Currently being piloted by the South Korean government and the Harvard Business School.
Policy Research
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.
Seminar, Conferences and Workshops
2022
AI & Strategy Seminar Group
Harvard University Digital, Data, and Design Institute
Harvard Business School Digital Initiative
Academy of Management
ZEW Conference on the Economics of Information Communication Technology
LISH Research Workshop
CSSL Lab Northeastern University
Conference on Robotics and Automation
Zhejiang University School of Management Seminar
2021
NBER Economics of AI Conference
NBER Summer Institute: Economics of IT and Digitization Workshop
Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences
World Bank Asia Pacific Economic Update
OECD Working Party on Rural Policy
ZEW research seminar
CSSL Lab Northeastern University
LISH research workshop
2020
NBER Summer Institute: Economics of IT and Digitization Workshop
Harvard Business Analytics Program
OECD Working party on Rural Policy
Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard Research Seminar
CSSL Lab Northeastern University
NBER Summer Institute: Economics of IT and Digitization Workshop
Chuo University
2019
Harvard Business School-OECD Joint Workshop: Business and Policy Perspectives on Digital
Sogang University
Korea University
Korean Institute for Industry Economics and Trade
NBER Summer Institute: Economics of IT and Digitization Workshop
ZEW Conference on the Economics of Information and Communication Technologies
NBER Economics of Digitization Stanford University Meeting
NBER Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Cambridge Meeting
MIT: Internet Policy and Research Initiative
American University
Vatican Pontifical Academies
2018
Italian Parliament
French Ministry of Finance
European Trade Study Group
National Institute of Science and Technology Policy Japan
Foundation France-Japan de l’EHESS
OECD Applied Economics Seminar
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Japan
2017
Toulouse School of Economics Workshop on Digitalization
International Federation of Robotics
Nihon University Globalization Workshop
OECD Applied Economics Seminar
Ministry of Economic Development Italy
2016
NBER Summer Institute: Economics of IT and Digitization Workshop
National Graduate University for Policy Studies
Paris TelecomTech
Gakushuin University
2015
Royal Economic Society Conference
ZEW Conference on the Economics of Information Communication Technology
OECD Applied Economics Seminar
2013-2014
Nottingham School of Economics GEP Conference
OECD Applied Economics Seminar
Globalization and Economic Policy Workshop
Ingenio PhD Digital Conference
XVII Applied Economics Meeting
University of Nottingham Ningbo Seminar
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