Eliana La Ferrara

Eliana La Ferrara is the Invernizzi Chair in Development Economics at Bocconi University, Milan, where she also directs the Laboratory for Effective Anti-poverty Policies (LEAP). Eliana received a PhD in Economics from Harvard University in 1999. She 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. She is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of CEPR, EUDN and IGIER, a J-PAL Affiliate and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Her research focuses on Development Economics and Political Economics, particularly on the role of social factors in economic development. She has studied ethnic diversity, kin structure and social norms, and the effects of television on social outcomes. She has also investigated political constraints to development, with particular focus on violent conflict in Africa. Her work has been published in the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Development Economics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics and the Journal of the European Economic Association.

Selected Publications

• Alberto Alesina; Benedetta Brioschi; Eliana La Ferrara Violence against women: a cross-cultural analysis for Africa ECONOMICA, 2021
• Fernanda Brollo; Katja Kaufmann; Eliana La Ferrara Learning spillovers in conditional welfare programs: evidence from Brazil ECONOMIC JOURNAL, 2020
• Brollo, Fernanda; Kaufmann, Katja; La Ferrara, Eliana The political economy of program enforcement: evidence from Brazil JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, 2020
• Eliana La Ferrara The media as a tool for institutional change in development The handbook of economic development and institutions, 2020
• Abhijit Banerjee; Eliana La Ferrara; Victor Orozco Entertainment, education and attitudes towards domestic violence AEA PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS, 2019
• La Ferrara, Eliana Presidential address: aspirations, social norms, and development JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, 2019
• Harari, Mariaflavia; Ferrara, Eliana La Conflict, climate, and cells: a disaggregated analysis THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS, 2018