Professor Robert Wright (Economics) spent the period from August 31 to October 1 as a visiting professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Naples, Federico II. He is part of a €3.5 million grant from the Government of the Campania Region titled: “Network, Public Policies and Development”. The grant is funding a programme of research aimed at using social network and econometric analysis to evaluate the effect of RD policies on growth and development of Italian regions.
Along with Professor Alfredo Del Monte from the University of Naples, Professor Wright organised a one-week workshop in Naples (September 10-14) titled: “Issues and Methods for the Evaluation of Public Policies”. The workshop was attended by 50 PhD students and early-career researchers. The keynote lectures were delivered by Jochen Kluve, Professor of Empirical Economics at Humboldt University in Berlin, who is a leading expert in these methods. Professor Wright lectured on the topic of estimating casual relationships with instrumental variables.