Eliana La Ferrara
I am the Invernizzi Chair in Development Economics at Bocconi University, Milan, where I also direct the Laboratory for Effective Anti-poverty Policies (LEAP). I received a PhD in Economics from Harvard University in 1999. I was president of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) in 2016-2019 and president of the European Economic Association in 2018. I am Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I am also a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of CEPR, EUDN and IGIER, and a J-PAL Affiliate.
My research covers topics related to development and political economics, and has been published in leading academic journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review, the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics and the Journal of the European Economic Association. I am the recipient of various research grants from the European Research Council (ERC) and the European Commission.
My research focuses on Development Economics and Political Economics, particularly on the role of social factors in economic development. I have studied ethnic diversity, kin structure and social norms, aspirations, and the effects of television on social outcomes. I have also investigated political constraints to development, with particular focus on violent conflict in Africa.
The political economy of program enforcement: evidence from Brazil
JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, 2020The media as a tool for institutional change in development
The handbook of economic development and institutions, 2020Presidential address: aspirations, social norms, and development
JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, 201920287 Development Economics
The course’s emphasis is placed on program evaluation, on the empirical analysis of education, health and microcredit policies, and on institutional constraints to development.