History and Economics in Mara Squicciarini's Research

THE ACADEMIC INTERESTS OF THE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS INCLUDE NOT ONLY THE IMPACT OF CULTURE ON GROWTH, BUT ALSO THE ECONOMICS OF CHOCOLATE

She studied, researched and taught in Belgium, the Netherlands and the Unites States. Now Mara Squicciarini returns “where it all began”. From 1 September, she will be Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, where she will teach Economics of Culture and Institutions. Having graduated at Bocconi, she does not hide the thrill of returning to the university where she learned the passion for economics. “I left Bocconi in 2009. I am amazed at its growth”.
 
Mara Squicciarini enrolled in Economics in 2004 driven by the desire to find the reasons for the huge gap between rich and poor countries. Her idealism led her to volunteer in South Sudan and, shortly after the 2005 tsunami, in the Andaman Islands, India. The Indian food industry is at the core of her earliest research works. “During my PhD, being motivated by the wish to understand the historical roots of inequalities, I studied the literature on economic history and long-term growth. This is a research thread that has allowed me to merge my two great passions, economics and history”.
 
During her stay at the University of California in Los Angeles, she focused on XIX century France. “History can provide answers to questions about the impact of culture, religion and institutions on economic growth”, she says. “In the XIX century, France was emerging from economic stagnation. It is an extremely interesting context. It allows us to draw some parallels with contemporary developing countries”.
 
Squicciarini is among the authors of The Economics of Chocolate (Oxford University Press, 2016), a book based on a conference on topics related to chocolate that took place in Belgium (“The unofficial reason is my love for chocolate”, she says). She loves running and she is training for the Amsterdam marathon that will take place in October 2017. “Whether you are running or doing research, you need the same virtues: passion and perseverance”.

by Claudio Todesco