Eliana La Ferrara

Eliana La Ferrara is Professor of Public Policy and Faculty Chair of the MPA/ID Program at Harvard Kennedy School. She received a PhD in Economics from Harvard in 1999. Prior to joining HKS, she was the Invernizzi Chair in Development Economics at Bocconi University, Milan, where she founded and directed the Laboratory for Effective Anti-poverty Policies (LEAP). 

She is Past-President of the Econometric Society, of the European Economic Association and of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD). She is Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association, International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, NBER Research Associate, Director of Development Economics at CEPR, and J-PAL Affiliate. She is the recipient of the 2020 Birgit Grodal Award. 

Her research focuses on Development Economics and Political Economics, particularly on the role of social factors in economic development. She has studied ethnic diversity, conflict, stereotypes, kin structure and social norms, and the effects of television on social outcomes. Her current research focuses on understanding the drivers of social norms and on designing and testing innovative approaches for changing attitudes and behavior. Her work has been published in leading economic journals.