Gian Maria Mallarino

I am a scholar of sustainability and policies to address grand challenges. My dissertation sheds light on the different forms of organizations and collaboration between private and public insitutions to develop innovative solutions to tackle global challenges in the areas of climate change and global health. I study these issues using a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches, including differences in differences estimation, ethnography, qualitative interviews and archival analysis.
 

I am currently on the job market.

JOB MARKET PAPER

From Agreement to Fragmentation (and back?): The role of global settlements in shaping issue fields for grand challenges

Issue fields emerge as arenas for addressing complex societal challenges, often complementing or filling gaps left by formal regulation while striving for legitimacy. However, this evolution process is fraught with tensions, as legitimacy often hinges on collaboration with the same public institutions that initially failed to provide adequate solutions. Our longitudinal analysis of the carbon offset issue field between 1997 and 2024 addresses the research question: How do global settlements influence the evolution of issue fields? Through this lens, we reveal how global settlements, such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), catalyzed the emergence of this field and influenced its trajectory. We identify three distinct phases in the field’s evolution: emergence, crisis, and re-legitimation. While global settlements provided foundational structures and legitimacy, their global nature also fostered fragmentation and governance gaps, leading to competing settlements and eroding trust. Through the lens of the voluntary carbon market, we demonstrate how governance mechanisms evolved in response to these challenges, ultimately driving settlement convergence and field stabilization. Our findings contribute to the literature on issue fields by uncovering the dual role of global settlements as both enablers and disruptors. We extend theories of field evolution by revealing how settlement multiplicity and governance fragmentation shape legitimacy- building processes, offering insights into how issue fields address grand challenges in fragmented regulatory landscapes.

WORKING PAPERS

• Hernandez Carballo, I., Mallarino, G., Percoco, M. "The Impact of Green Policies on Local Economic Performance: Evidence from the EU ETS"
• Mele, V., Mallarino, G., Radic, M. "From Geneva to Dakar: Open System Orchestration for Grand Challenges"
• Cappellaro, G., Mallarino, G. "Methods and approaches in PA Research in Italy"