The Grants Collectors

With about 20 ERC Grants (Starting, Consolidator or Advanced) received, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research) has made a decisive contribution over the years toward establishing Bocconi as one of the top European institutions by number of scholars who have obtained ERC grants in the SH1 panel (Economics, Finance, and Management). "Our research center", says Nicola Gennaioli, full professor at the Finance Department of Bocconi University and director of IGIER, "aims to facilitate the interaction between the economists who work in the different departments here at Bocconi, and in particular Economics, Finance, Social and Political Sciences, and Decision Sciences. "This interaction is designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and scientific production, both theoretical and empirical, in all fields of the economy. But not only. Because IGIER also has an eye for young talents who attend the Master of Science programs in economics and finance, as Gennaioli explains: "My predecessor Maristella Botticini created a program, in collaboration with another research center of the University, BIDSA, which is called "IGIER - BIDSA Visiting Students initiative." It is proposed to select a number of deserving students who are then supported by a teacher-mentor and involved in research activities. There are many applicants, and we ask candidates to write a real essay in which they explain their interests. This is an initiative that enriches both the students and the teachers involved ".

IGIER's research can be divided into four main strands: Applied Microeconomics, Economic Theory, Finance, Macroeconomics. The research activity is disseminated through various channels: that of publication in quality journals, for example. But also, by the organization of events in novel ways. "We organize interdisciplinary seminars on topics, for example, of economic policy, finance, and labor economics. These events create common ground for us to discuss. Then there are the IGIER Policy Seminars, mini-conferences in which we talk about important socio-economic issues and the policy options to better address them, from demographic dynamics, to the growing inequality in income distribution, to school reform, up to architecture of European integration. These events," continues Gennaioli," always have a scientific slant but with an application focus, often with the involvement of policy makers. There is also a further dissemination and comparison tool, namely the organization of real conferences extended over a couple of days, but the difficulty in creating a profitable online interaction has unfortunately reduced this type of activity in the last year and a half."

IGIER, which was created in 1990, currently has about 70 affiliates.