Seven Champions of Impactful Research
PAPERS ON FEMALE POLITICIANS, FISCAL CONSOLIDATION, ORGANIZATIONAL ROUTINES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS EARNED THEIR AUTHORS AWARDS FOR THEIR RELEVANCE TO THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY AND TO SOCIETY. TWENTYEIGHT COLLEAGUES HAVE BEEN AWARDED FOR THEIR PUBLICATIONS IN PRESTIGIOUS JOURNALSAlessandra Casarico, Paola Profeta, Francesco Giavazzi, Carlo Favero and Carlo Salvato are the winners of Bocconi’s 2018 Annual Award for Research Impact, while Leonardo Borlini and Claudio Dordi have been awarded the Legal Studies Award 2018.
The Annual Award for Research Impact, at its third edition, was established to stimulate the production of research relevant both to the scientific community and society. Eligible works had to have been published between 7 and 3 years ago and have been rated based on citations and impact on the public debate and in policymaking.
“While most Bocconi acknowledgements to research activity are based on the quality of the journals where a paper is published”, Dean for Research Marco Ottaviani said, “with the award for Research Impact we want to complete our perspective by evaluating ex-post how a paper is received not only by the academic community, but also by policy makers and practitioners”.
Alessandra Casarico and Paola Profeta have been awarded for their Gender Quotas and the Quality of Politicians, (with Audinga Baltruinate and Paola Bello), published in Journal of Public Economics (2014). The paper exploits the change of legislation for Italian local elections to investigate the causal impact of gender quota on the quality of elected politicians. The paper documents that the introduction of quotas increased the level of education of elected politicians, due not only to an increase in the number of elected women who are on average more educated than men, but also to a reduction in the number of poorly educated men who are elected. This is the first paper to show empirically that gender quotas may have positive effects on the selection of representatives, contrary to conventional wisdom. The paper has attracted citations by articles published in leading academic journals and as well as the attention of a number of national media, including major TV and radio programs. Along with other studies by the same authors, the paper has been influential in shaping public opinion and policy discussions about Italian and European legislation on gender quotas for political elections as well as corporate boards of listed companies.
Francesco Giavazzi and Carlo Favero, in their The Output Effect of Fiscal Consolidation Plans (with Alberto Alesina), in Journal of International Economics (2015), show that the correct experiment to evaluate the effects of a fiscal adjustment is the simulation of a multi-year fiscal plan rather than of individual fiscal shocks. Simulation of fiscal plans adopted by 16 OECD countries over a 30-year period supports the hypothesis that the effects of consolidations depend on their design. The authors find that fiscal adjustments based upon spending cuts are less costly, in terms of output losses, than adjustments based on increasing taxes. The difference between the two appears to be due to the different responses of business confidence and private investment. The paper has attracted many citations in academic publications and has influenced the policy debate at a number of international institutions, including the European Central Bank, the New York Fed and the International Monetary Fund. The paper was awarded the 2015 Addington Prize in Measurement by the Fraser Institute (Canada) with the motivation that its contribution is timely and relevant at a time when “we see more and more governments at all levels around the globe increasing spending and financing much of these increases with deficits”.
Carlo Salvato has been acknowledged for Beyond Collective Entities: Multilevel Research on Organizational Routines and Capabilities (with Claus Rerup), in Journal of Management (2011). The paper examines the widely used constructs of organizational routines and capabilities. The authors apply a multilevel perspective and sort out the relations between the different parts of routines and capabilities. In so doing they provide a deeper understanding of the role of individuals in shaping routines, capabilities and firm performance. The paper has had a noteworthy impact both academically with a high number of top citations and also on managerial practice. The impact on managerial practice is witnessed by a manager of an Italian company who highlights that “the paper is a relevant piece of knowledge that illuminates the main factors that shape key organizational processes in our company, and their performance effects.
The Legal Studies Award goes to the author of a law publication in the last year which is outstanding for its originality and innovativeness, methodological rigor, relevance for comparative law and impact on the scientific community.
The winners, Leonardo Borlini and Claudio Dordi, published their Deepening International Systems of Subsidy Control: The (Different) Legal Regimes of Subsidies in the EU Bilateral Preferential Trade Agreements in Columbia Journal of European Law (2016-2017). The article investigates the impact of preferential treatment agreements that are currently in force or under negotiation in the EU. Preferential treatment agreements are categorized, particularly with regard to policies pursued by the EU. The authors present a critical and insightful assessment of the impact that EU multilateral agreements have on subsidy politics of third countries and on their degree of competitiveness.
Research awards also include prizes to 28 professors who, in 2017, published scholarly articles in the most prestigious journals. CLICK HERE to know who they are and where they did publish.
In addition to the research awards, 30 teaching awards have also been assigned. CLICK HERE to know more.
by Fabio Todesco
