Orazio Attanasio | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1959-10-31)31 October 1959 (age 66) |
| Citizenship | Italy United Kingdom |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Bologna London School of Economics and Political Science |
| Doctoral advisor | James Davidson[1] |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University College London Institute for Fiscal Studies University of Bologna Stanford University |
| Website | |
Orazio Attanasio (born 31 October 1959, inNaples) is an Italianeconomist and the Cowles Professor of Economics atYale University. He was theJeremy Bentham Chair of Economics atUniversity College London. He graduated from theUniversity of Bologna in 1982 andLondon School of Economics in 1988. He then went to teach atStanford and was a National Fellow atStanford'sHoover Institution and a visiting professor at theUniversity of Chicago before arriving at University College London in 1995.[2] While in London, he was also a research co-director at theInstitute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) inLondon, director and founder of theCentre for the Evaluation of Development Policies at theInstitute for Fiscal Studies, and a director of theESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy.[2] He moved to Yale in 2019.
In 2001 Attanasio was electedFellow of theEconometric Society and in 2004 he was electedFellow of theBritish Academy. He was also elected to be president of theEuropean Economic Association in 2014.[2] In 2017 he was elected second vice president of theEconometric Society, and served as its President in 2020.
In October 2016, Attanasio won the 1 million Swiss francs Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize for his "use of economic models and field experiments to assess and shape early child development programs and policies in low income countries".[3]
In 2016 Attanasio was also awarded the Carlos Diaz Alejandro prize by theLatin American and Caribbean Economic Association and in 2017 he was elected to serve in 2020 as the 2nd vice-president of theEconometric Society.[2]
Attanasio's research focuses includehousehold consumption, saving and labour supply,human capital accumulation, andmicro credit, among others.[2] He has also served as managing editor ofThe Review of Economic Studies, theJournal of the European Economic Association, andQuantitative Economics.[2]In 2004, Attanasio co-authored an IFS evaluation of an initiative which was designed to improve the lives of children in smallColombian towns and villages by paying their mothers to improve their children's food intake; in return, younger children had to have regular medical check-ups and older ones were required to attend school regularly. Begun in 2002, and funded by both theWorld Bank and theInter-American Development Bank, the project had examined how funds to alleviate poverty and promote development should be targeted. Early results were positive, showing both an increase in the number of children going to school and those enjoying improved diets. Attanasio said, "This evaluation is important, not just for Colombia, but to help us understand how developing countries can best target valuable resources to improve the prospects for their poorest children."[4]
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