Keynote Speakers

Manisha Shah (UC Berkeley) — Inaugural Lecture on 2 June 

Unmasking the Global Epidemic: Understanding Violence Against Women and Shaping Change Through Policy

Abstract: Intimate partner violence (IPV) generates significant private and social costs, yet remains understudied in economics, both theoretically and empirically. This talk examines the growing body of evidence on policy levers aimed at reducing IPV in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including cash transfer programs, economic empowerment initiatives, and reforms to laws and social norms. I then present results from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, where adolescent IPV rates are among the highest globally. The RCT evaluates two interventions: a goal-setting exercise to influence girls’ sexual and reproductive health (SRH) behavior, and a male-focused soccer program that integrates SRH and anti-violence messaging. Both treatments significantly reduce IPV. The soccer intervention improves young men’s attitudes toward violence and risky sexual behaviors. The goal-setting treatment increases girls’ agency, leading to exits from violent relationships. These findings highlight distinct but complementary behavioral pathways through which gender-targeted interventions can reduce IPV.

Manisha Shah is a development economist and Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Manisha works in low and middle income settings to better understand which policies and interventions increase human capital investment in children and adolescents. She has also written several papers on the economics of sex markets in order to learn how more effective policies and programs can be deployed to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. Her research affiliations include NBER, BREAD, CEGA, and IZA. She is an editor at Journal of Health Economics, an Associate Editor at The Review of Economics and Statistics, and serves on the Editorial Board for the American Economic Review.

Learn more about Manisha and her work on her homepage.

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Anne Perrot (General Inspectorate of Finance) — Presidential Address on 3 June

Anne joined the Inspection Générale des Finances, a service of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in September 2018. She is a member of the Council of Economic Analysis since 2015. She was a partner at MAPP, an economic consultancy from 2012 to 2018. She was previously the Vice President of the French Competition Authority (2004-2012). She belonged to several public think tanks on competition policy, such as the Economic Advisory Group on Competition Policy (before the European Commission) or the ''group of experts'' of the French energy regulator (CRE). She also was a member of several commissions appointed by the French government on subjects such as telecoms deregulation. Anne is a Professor of Economics at University of Paris I (Sorbonne) and ENSAE. She also taught at the Paris School of Economics and the Brussels School of Competition. She earned a Ph. D in Mathematics from the University Paris VI and a Ph. D in Economics from the University of Paris I.

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Alexander Teytelboym (University of Oxford) — Jean-Jacques Laffont Lecture on 4 June 

Duality in Market Design

Abstract: There are many settings in market design involving allocation of indivisible goods including auctions, trading networks, and pseudomarkets. One of the main concerns in such markets is the existence of market-clearing prices. In this lecture, I will take steps towards a unified analysis of equilibrium in different markets with indivisible goods. I will describe economically interpretable conditions for equilibrium existence as well as surprising dualities between different markets.

Alex's keynote will be based on his ERC-funded research agenda on duality in market design.

Alex is a Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford, a Tutorial Fellow at St. Catherine’s College, a Senior Research Fellow at  the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, and a Research Affiliate at CEPR (IO Programme). His research interests lie mainly in market design and the economics of networks. In 2023 he gave the Paul Kleindorfer Lecture at the Society for Economic Design and was an invited speaker at IJCAI. He is also co-founder of Refugees.AI, an organisation that is developing new technology for refugee resettlement (originally funded by Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship). This subsequent activity is connected to his academic research on refugee resettlement.

Learn more about Alex and his work on his homepage.