News
2025/26
Oriana Bandiera awarded the 2026 Birgit Grodal Award
The Department of Economics is delighted to congratulate Oriana Bandiera on being awarded the 2026 Birgit Grodal Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to economics.
The award committee recognised Oriana’s pioneering research across development, labour, and organisational economics. Her work combines conceptual depth, empirical innovation, and policy relevance, advancing understanding of how incentives, social interactions, and institutions shape economic behaviour.
The committee highlighted three key areas of Oriana’s research. First, her influential work using personnel data and field experiments has demonstrated how social ties affect effort, incentives, and productivity within firms. This research has shown that workplace behaviour is shaped not only by financial incentives but also by factors such as peer monitoring, social norms, and social connections.
Second, Oriana has made fundamental contributions to development economics, particularly through her research on poverty traps. Her work has helped inform debates on the design of effective interventions that can promote development and support sustained pathways out of extreme poverty.
Third, her research on public service delivery and state capacity has deepened understanding of prosocial motivation, recruitment into public service, and performance incentives in developing-country contexts. This work has generated important insights into how public-sector workers can be effectively recruited, motivated, and deployed to deliver essential public goods.
Across these areas, Oriana’s scholarship is distinguished by its integration of microeconomic theory with rigorous empirical analysis. Her research continues to shape policy discussions and institutional design, with lessons that extend far beyond the specific contexts in which her studies are conducted.
The Department warmly congratulates Oriana on this well-deserved recognition.
June 2026
LSE announces Stone Centre for the Study of Wealth Inequality
LSE is delighted to announce a new centre for the study of entrepreneurship and wealth inequality, funded by a transformational $5 million gift from the James M and Cathleen D Stone Foundation.
The Stone Centre for the Study of Wealth Inequality at LSE will bring together world-leading experts to provide new evidence on the relationship between entrepreneurship and wealth inequality and inform the development of better policy design.
Entrepreneurial activity plays a critical role in driving economic growth and is also closely connected to wealth concentration. Despite the importance of business ownership at the top of the wealth distribution, very little is known about the entrepreneurial content of these businesses and their contribution to dynamism, innovation and growth.
Advancing the study of entrepreneurship and wealth inequality
The Stone Centre at LSE will significantly advance the study of entrepreneurship and wealth inequality in three key dimensions:
Improving the quality of available data on income and asset ownership to allow proper measurement of the impact of entrepreneurship on wealth inequality.
Developing sophisticated models for estimating the short and long-term impacts of various policies regulating entrepreneurship and inequality.
Overcoming the practical, legal and political barriers to implementing effective policy.
The Centre will disseminate its findings through public events and by establishing international collaboration networks of researchers exploring similar topics. It will also help develop future generations of inequality researchers through PhD and post-doctoral fellowships, grants for early career researchers and the development of new undergraduate teaching modules.
Professor Camille Landais and Dr Kate Smith will serve as co-Directors of the Stone Centre, which will be hosted by STICERD (Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines) at LSE. The core team of investigators will be based in the Department of Economics, with additional collaboration across STICERD and other research centres at the School.
Collaborating with a network of centres
The Stone Centre at LSE will be the fourteenth member of a network of Stone Foundation-supported wealth inequality centres based in universities across North America, Europe and Asia. As the first with an explicit focus on entrepreneurship, it will fill an important gap while collaborating closely with researchers based in other Stone Centres around the world. The Centre will formally launch in Autumn 2026.
Welcoming the announcement, Professor Landais, Director of STICERD at LSE said,
“Now is the time to create a step change in this important, yet currently under-investigated, agenda.“With support from the Stone Foundation, LSE can deepen our understanding of the nexus between wealth inequality and entrepreneurship, shaping the knowledge frontier in this area. It is a privilege to join the constellation of Stone Centres that are already pushing knowledge boundaries on specific facets of wealth inequality to create a more equitable society.”
LSE President and Vice Chancellor, Professor Larry Kramer, added, “Across the world, wealth inequality is growing, while political and economic systems struggle to meet even the most basic needs of their citizens.
“Democracies can’t seem to cope, which is causing mistrust to grow – in politics, in our public institutions, even in our fellow citizens. Addressing issues like these are at the core of LSE’s mission, while the Stone Foundation has long been at the centre of advancing understanding and driving change around wealth inequality.
The Stone Centre at LSE will link the School’s world-leading social science research with the Foundation’s extraordinary global network, creating a new hub for inquiry, collaboration, and action to shape a more equitable future.”
Rigorous, independent scholarship
Jim Stone, Chairman of the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation, said, “My wife Cathy and I are proud to support the new Stone Centre at the London School of Economics.
“Wealth inequality is one of the defining issues of our time, and it deserves rigorous, independent scholarship — including potential trade-offs between limits to extreme wealth inequality and entrepreneurship. I have long believed we must take care that the remedies applied to excessive wealth concentration are never worse than the malady itself. Finding that balance requires the kind of serious, evidence-based inquiry the Stone Centre is built to provide, and LSE is an excellent home for it."
May 2026
LSE Economics alumnus appointed Nepal's Finance Minister
Dr Swarnim Waglé, LSE alumnus (BSc Economics 1996), has been appointed Finance Minister of Nepal, following the Rastriya Swatantra Party's election victory commanding a near two-thirds parliamentary majority.
Dr Waglé brings over 25 years of international economic expertise to the role. Before entering politics, he held senior positions at the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, where he served as Chief Economic Advisor for Asia-Pacific across 36 countries. He also served on Nepal's National Planning Commission, playing a key policy role in post-earthquake needs assessment and reconstruction planning.
Upon taking office on 27 March 2026, Dr Waglé signalled an agenda focused on economic reform and efficiency in government. Plans include the repeal of 15 outdated laws, including provisions related to the Department of Revenue Investigation, with an emphasis on improving the investment climate and supporting private sector growth.
Commenting, Professor Ronny Razin, Head of the Department of Economics at LSE, said: "Dr Waglé's appointment as Finance Minister of Nepal reflects the kind of impact that LSE Economics graduates go on to have in public life around the world. His career, spanning international development, economic policy and now government, is a strong example of economics applied to real and pressing challenges. We wish him well in the role."
April 2026
Philippe Aghion’s celebration for his Nobel Prize in Economics at LSE
Last Wednesday, the Department of Economics hosted a special breakfast to celebrate Philippe Aghion’s Nobel Prize in Economics. Staff, faculty, and PhD students gathered in SAL to warmly welcome Philippe back to the Department for the first time since receiving the award and to mark this outstanding achievement together.
The event began with a series of congratulatory speeches. LSE President and Vice Chancellor, Larry Kramer, opened the celebration, highlighting Philippe’s remarkable contributions to economic thought and his long-standing connection to LSE. He was followed by Ricardo Reis, John Van Reenen, and Head of Department Ronny Razin, who each shared personal reflections and tributes to Philippe’s influential work and his impact on the academic community.
It was a joyful and inspiring occasion, and a fitting moment to recognise Philippe’s exceptional achievement and the pride it brings to our Department.
To read more about Philippe Aghion’s Nobel Prize in Economics, visit the LSE News article
October 2025
Clare Balboni awarded Philip Leverhulme Prize 2025 to fund future research
Clare Balboni has been awarded prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prizes 2025 by the Leverhulme Trust.
The prizes recognise and celebrate the achievements of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future careers are exceptionally promising.
Each of the prize winners receives £100,000 which can be used to advance their research.
Chosen from over 350 nominations, the Trust offered five prizes in each of the following subject areas: Archaeology, Chemistry, Economics, Engineering, Geography, and Languages and Literatures.
Commenting on her award in the Economics category, Clare said: “I am delighted and honoured to have been awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize by the Leverhulme Trust. This award will support my research at the intersection of environmental economics, trade and development economics, focusing on the management of local and global environmental externalities from growth in developing countries.”
More information about the 2025 prize winners is available from the Leverhulme Trust.
October 2025
LSE academic Philippe Aghion awarded Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences
Professor Philippe Aghion from the Department of Economics and the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at LSE has today (13 October) been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
Professor Aghion was awarded the prize jointly with Joel Mokyr from Northwestern University and Peter Howitt from Brown University “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth”.
Also based at the College de France and INSEAD, Professor Philippe Aghion’s research focuses on the economics of growth.
With Peter Howitt, he studied the mechanisms behind sustained growth. In an article from 1992, they constructed a mathematical model for what is called creative destruction: when a new and better product enters the market, the companies selling the older products lose out. The innovation represents something new and is thus creative. However, it is also destructive, as the company whose technology becomes passé is outcompeted.
In March 2020, he shared the BBVA “Frontier of Knowledge Award” with Peter Howitt for “developing an economic growth theory based on the innovation that emerges from the process of creative destruction.”
Commenting, Professor Larry Kramer, President and Vice Chancellor of the London School of Economics and Political Science said: "With the whole LSE community, I’m absolutely thrilled to congratulate Philippe Aghion on winning the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Professor Aghion's groundbreaking work on innovation-driven growth has profoundly shaped our understanding of how economies evolve and thrive. This award represents much deserved recognition of Professor Aghion's brilliant scholarship and the lasting impact his ideas have had on economic policy and thought around the world."
Professor Ronny Razin, Head of the Department of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science said: “Professor Aghion’s pioneering work on innovation, growth, and the dynamics of capitalism has transformed modern economic thinking and profoundly influenced both academic research and public policy.
“His scholarship has deepened our understanding of how innovation drives productivity and how institutions and policy frameworks shape the process of creative destruction.
“We are immensely proud to count Professor Aghion among our colleagues. His presence enriches our research community and inspires our students and faculty alike. This recognition underscores LSE’s long tradition of world-leading research and our enduring commitment to understanding and improving the world through the study of economics.
“On behalf of all colleagues in the LSE Department of Economics, I extend our warmest congratulations to Philippe on this richly deserved honour.”
October 2025
Department of Economics academics receive European Research Council Starting Grants
European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants have been awarded to Department of Economics Assistant Professors Clare Balboni and Isabela Manelici.
They have been awarded the prestigious grants which aim to help researchers at the beginning of their careers to launch their own projects, build research teams and pursue their most promising ideas.
With a total funding of €761 million awarded to 478 early-career researchers across Europe, ERC Starting Grants are highly sought-after and are estimated to create up to 3,000 jobs within the teams of the new grantees.
Assistant Professor Clare Balboni of the Department of Economics and STICERD will receive her award for her project: Managing local and global externalities from growth.
Assistant Professor Balboni said: “I am delighted and hugely grateful to have received this support from the ERC to advance a research agenda focused on how developing countries can manage the consequences of the externalities associated with their growth. In order to balance the benefits of growth and its attendant externalities, there is a vital need for progress in accurate measurement of these externalities, analysis of how they affect economic decision-making and outcomes, and feeding these estimates into policy design. These aims will be at the centre of the research supported by this grant, which I am very excited to take forward.”
Project summary: The burden of local and global externalities from growth - such as pollution, congestion and climate change - falls mainly on the poorest across and within countries. This research agenda aims to inform the key question of how developing countries can manage the consequences of the local and global externalities associated with their growth. It will offer novel insights into the magnitude and distribution of these externalities in low-income countries, and the design of policies that balance the dual imperatives of shielding vulnerable populations and continued growth. A first theme will consider how local externalities alter assessments of the aggregate and distributional impacts of trade facilitation, which is key for the design of transport and trade policies. The second theme studies how vulnerable populations respond to the global externalities from climate change and how policy can support these adaptive adjustments.
Assistant Professor Isabela Manelici of the Department of Economics and Centre for Economic Performance will receive her award for her project: Can Multinational Linkages Be Leveraged for Development (LINK4DEV)?
Assistant Professor Manelici said: “I am excited about this opportunity to pursue a frontier research agenda aimed at closing critical knowledge gaps on the potential and risks of multinational linkages for development.”
Project summary: Less developed countries compete to attract multinational corporations (MNCs), often seen as growth engines. Meanwhile, domestic firms, workers, and consumers express concerns that MNCs may offer weak trickle-down benefits while increasing their vulnerability to global shocks. This tension is not new: the debate on the trade-offs associated with MNC-led development strategies is long-standing yet unresolved.
LINK4DEV will break new ground in three ways. First, the program will examine the impact of MNCs and their linkages on development through a wide (inside-the-firm) micro to (cross-country) macro lens. Second, it will combine “big data” and causal-inference methods with novel theory. Third, it will partner with governments from four continents, maximizing cross-country learning and impact.
LINK4DEV consists of four interconnected projects. Project 1 will examine whether MNCs foster linkages with local firms or operate in silos, increasing inequality. It will provide a first-time anatomy of MNC linkages in the production networks of four economies at different development stages: Uganda, Costa Rica, Turkey and Belgium. Project 2 will examine whether technology transfers from MNCs to local suppliers are socially optimal in the same four economies. It will then estimate the associated aggregate economic gains and identify policies to increase them. Project 3 will study why MNCs source a large share of inputs globally, focusing on the role of centralized decision-making in MNCs. Attracting MNCs with global sourcing undermines efforts to promote local linkages. This project will merge detailed transaction records from Costa Rica with global supplier and survey data for MNCs. Project 4 will assess how far-reaching the effects of an international trade shock are and how central MNCs are to these effects. It will leverage a cyberattack on Costa Rica’s customs system and a new economy-wide mapping of all firm-to-firm, firm-to-worker, and firm-to-consumer interactions.
Read the ERC’s full press release here.
October 2025