Zingales Luigi

Luigi Zingales, born in Padua on February 8, 1963, is an internationally renowned Italian economist, known for his critical analysis of contemporary capitalism and his commitment to promoting greater competition and transparency in markets. After graduating with honors in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan in 1987, he earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1992, under the supervision of James M. Poterba and Oliver Hart.

Since 1992, Zingales has been a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he holds the Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance chair. He also serves as the director of the Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.

His research interests range from corporate governance to financial development, from political economy to the economic effects of culture. He co-developed the Financial Trust Index, a tool designed to monitor the level of trust Americans have in their financial system.

Zingales is the author of numerous academic articles and influential books. Among his best-known works are Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists(2003), co-authored with Raghuram G. Rajan, and A Capitalism for the People:Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity(2012), in which he proposes reforms to counter crony capitalism and strengthen market competition.

In 2003, he received the Germán Bernácer Prize as the best young European economist in the field of macro-finance. In 2012, he was named one of the 100 most influential global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine.

In addition to his academic work, Zingales is actively involved in public debate. In 2012, he was one of the founders of the Italian political movement “Fermare il Declino” (Stop the Decline). Since 2018, he has co-hosted the podcast “Capitalisn’t”, which explores the dysfunctions of capitalism and potential solutions.