Carlo Alberto Medal 2008: ENRICO MORETTI

The Collegio Carlo Alberto has instituted the annual Carlo Alberto Medal to be awarded to a young Italian economist (resident in Italy or abroad) under the age of 40 for his/her outstanding research contributions to the field of economics. The recipient will deliver the Carlo Alberto Lecture in June 2008 and will be nominated Honorary Fellow of the Collegio.

The prize represents the public recognition to a young Italian scholar for the scientific results attained.

The selection process consisted of two stages (click here for more details).

The winner of the 2008 Carlo Alberto Medal is Enrico Moretti, Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Born in Milan on December 2, 1968, Enrico Moretti holds a Laurea degree in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan, and a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley. After four years as Assistant Professor at UCLA, he moved to UC Berkeley where he is now Professor of Economics with the Michael Peevey and Donald Vial Chair in Labor Economics.  He is Research Fellow of CEPR and IZA, and Research Associate of NBER.

He has received a number of honors, fellowships, and grants, including the first Young Labor Economist Award assigned by IZA in 2006 for an outstanding paper published by a young labor economist under the age of 40, two research grants from the National Science Foundation, and one research grant from the National Institute of Health.

Motivation 
With many articles published in top economics journals (American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Review of Economic Studies), Enrico Moretti has written on an impressive range of important topics in Labor Economics, Human Capital, Productivity and Economic Growth, Economics of the Family, Political Economy, Economics of Crime, and Health Economics.

Among his contributions, one of the most highly cited is the article published in the Journal of Econometrics (2004), in which he shows that the social return to education may in fact exceed the private return. His research is scientifically original, methodologically rigorous, and policy relevant. His works combine unusual creativity in the design of empirical analyses with the ingenious use of data sources and measurement techniques. The breadth and the importance of the topics he has chosen to analyze add to his outstanding set of skills.

The Carlo Alberto Lecture
On June 11, 2008, Enrico Moretti will deliver the Carlo Alberto Lecture at the Collegio. On June 10 and 12, respectively, Michael Kremer (Harvard University) and Thomas J. Sargent (New York University) will deliver the Vilfredo Pareto Lectures in Economics and Social Sciences through which the Collegio aims to honor Pareto (1848-1923), alumnus of the University and the Politecnico of Torino and a towering figure in the social sciences.