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First Calvó-Armengol International Prize Lecture

June 2010

Prof. Esther Duflo (MIT) delivered the first Calvó-Armengol Prize Lecture, "Gender equality and development," to the GSE community on Friday, June 4, 2010 at Casa Convalescència in Barcelona.

Prof. Duflo is the inaugural winner of the Calvó-Armengol International Prize, established in memory of Prof. Antoni Calvó-Armengol (ICREA-UAB and BSE) by the BSE in cooperation with the Andorran Government and the Crèdit Andorrà Foundation. The Prize is awarded every two years to a top researcher in economics or social sciences younger than 40 years old for his or her contribution to the theory and comprehension of the mechanisms of social interaction.

Dignitaries, family, colleagues, and friends

Prof. Duflo's lecture was introduced by European Commission Vice President and honorary president of the BSE, Mr. Joaquín Almunia. Among those in attendance were the head of the Andorran government, Mr. Jaume Bartumeu; the Catalan Minister of Education, Mr. Ernest Maragall; the president of the Crèdit Andorrà Foundation, Mr. Antoni Pintat; and BSE Chairman Andreu Mas-Colell.

Members of Prof. Calvó's family, former colleagues, and students filled the auditorium of the Casa Convalescència, while others watched via live web feed on the GSE website from Germany, Hungary, or as far away as Australia.

The Prize Lecture kicked off a full weekend of activities honoring Prof. Duflo, who formally received the Prize on Saturday in an official ceremony in Andorra and directed a fully-funded three-day workshop there for 20 young researchers from institutions around the world. In addition to the Prize lecture and workshop, the Prize includes a cash award of 30,000 euros.

Media Coverage

About Prof. Esther Duflo

Prof. Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the world's top development economists. Her research focuses on microeconomic issues in developing countries, including household behavior, politics, gender, education, access to finance, health and policy evaluation.

Prof. Duflo has been a driving force in advancing field experiments as an important methodology to discover causal relationships in economics. International recognition for her work includes the MacArthur Fellowship in 2009 and the John Bates Clark Medal in 2010.

Prof. Esther Duflo (MIT), first recipient of the Calvó-Armengol International Prize, delivers the Calvó Prize Lecture "Gender equality and development".

European Commission Vice President and honorary president of the BSE, Mr. Joaquín Almunia, introduced the Calvó Prize Lecture.

Casa Convalescència (UAB), site of the first Calvó Prize Lecture.

Presentation Slides

Award Ceremony Program

About the Calvó-Armengol Prize