The European Economic Association has announced Oriana Bandiera of the London School of Economics as the 2026 recipient of the Birgit Grodal Award for her exceptional contributions to the field of economics.

The Committee specifically acknowledged Prof. Bandiera’s pathbreaking research across development, labor, and organizational economics. Her scholarship combines in-depth theoretical understanding with empirical innovation, providing significant policy relevance.

Three specific areas of her research were highlighted by the Committee: First, her work using personnel data and field experiments illustrates how social ties influence effort, incentives, and productivity in workplace settings. This research emphasizes that understanding workplace dynamics requires going beyond traditional monetary incentives to include social connections and peer influences.

Second, Bandiera has made crucial contributions to development economics, particularly regarding poverty traps. Her insights help design effective interventions that can facilitate sustained exits from extreme poverty.

Third, her research has focused on public service delivery in contexts with weak institutions. Bandiera has explored how prosocial motivations and performance incentives can enhance public service, generating crucial insights for the effective recruitment and deployment of workers delivering essential public goods.

The award committee consists of Silvana Tenreyro (Chair), Mariacristina De Nardi, Christian Schultz, Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, and Fabrizio Zilibotti.

The EEA expresses its pride in honoring such a talented economist and extends its warm congratulations to Oriana Bandiera for her achievements. CEPR also recognised the achievement in a press release.

Prof. Bandiera is a Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a research fellow at CEPR, where she was also Programme Director of the Development Economics Programme from 2015-2018. She is also a fellow of numerous other organisations, including the Econometric Society, cesIFO, IZA and the British Academy. She is a former President of the EEA and a former editor of Econometrica.

For more information about Prof. Bandiera and her work, visit her personal site.

For more about the award and its recipients, visit here.