De Marchi specializes in both teaching and research that pertains to the history of economic ideas and the history of markets, and also the functioning of markets with a specific focus on art markets. He recently received a generous grant from the Luce Foundation for an economics/art history collaboration that he shared with Goodwin, Van Miegroet, and Wharton. This research explores the political economy of spaces, creates arguments for the arts, and maps European markets for paintings from the years 1450-1750. 

De Marchi has been publishing his research and ideas in academic journals for almost four decades. His works have appeared in such journals as the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, the Journal of Econometrics, the European Journal for the History of Economic Thought, and Art Bulletin.

As a professor, de Marchi served as chair or co-chair for over ten doctoral dissertation committees since 1986. Although he has spent most of his career in academia, he has also held positions within the professional world of economics, including his service as director of research for the Economics Research Department of the ABN Bank, Amsterdam, from 1980-83. He currently serves as an associate editor for the journal History of Political Economy.