Oriana Bandiera
Professor Oriana Bandiera has been awarded the prestigious Yrjö Jahnsson prize for her transformative work researching the role of social relationships in economics.
Professor Bandiera was awarded the 2019 prize jointly with Imran Rasul from University College London and the Institute for Fiscal Studies for their pioneering use of field experiments, especially in the areas of personnel economics and development.
In a series of experiments in the workplace and social networks, Oriana and Imran, along with fellow researcher Iwan Barankay, explored the causal effect of social relationships on incentives.
The researchers used the setting of workers picking ‘soft fruit’ in the UK to look at a number of issues that had, until then, only been studied theoretically or in laboratory settings such as the impact of social preferences, the role of connections and the effect of inequality on incentives.
Oriana and Imran have also provided novel empirical evidence in a number of other areas including the role of social networks in the adoption of technology in a farming context.
Their experiments have become a role model for randomised control trials for incentive treatments and their work has significantly influenced the field of microeconomics.
The biennial Yrjö Jahnsson Award was established in 1993 to recognise European economists who have made a contribution in theoretical and applied research that is significant to economics in Europe.
Commenting, Professor Steve Pischke, Head of the Department of Economics at LSE, said: “Congratulations from the Department of Economics and the entire Economics community at LSE to Oriana and Imran for this prestigious award. Their pioneering work on the interaction of social relations in the workplace with economic incentives has generated an active literature and changed the way economists think about employment relations. Most deserved."
Oriana and Imran will be presented with their Award during the annual European Economic Association (EEA) Congress in August 2019.