Program

Talent Economics Conference

Rome

Conference · 22-23 October 2026
Early Career Researchers Workshop · 21 October 2026

The Talent Economics Conference brings together researchers across economics and related disciplines working at the frontier of the economics of talent: how exceptional talent develops, how it can be identified and nurtured, and how exceptional individuals shape science, innovation, and economic growth.

Organized by Global Talent Fund (GTF) and the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF).

Program committee: Ruchir Agarwal (Harvard & GTF), Gaia Dossi (EIEF), Patrick Gaule (Bristol & GTF).

Wednesday · 21 October

Early Career Researchers Workshop

13:00-14:00

Welcome and Lecture - Talent Economics: Questions, Data, Methods

Gaia Dossi (EIEF); Ruchir Agarwal (Harvard & GTF); Patrick Gaule (Bristol & GTF)
14:00-14:15

Break

14:15-15:30

Presentations: Innovation and Labour Market

Teenage Innovators: Selection, Performance, and Ideas in a Large Competition for High School Students

Frederic Denker (PSE); Gaia Dossi (EIEF); John Van Reenen (LSE)

From Students to Inventors: Talent and the Pathway to Invention

April Burrage (Stanford); Ina Ganguli (UMass Amherst)

Childcare and Innovation

Jordan Bisset (Max Planck Innovation)

Scope of Work: Job Co-occurrence Networks in Companies, Careers, and AI Automation Risk

Peter Lambert (LSE & Warwick); Clemens Oberhuemer (Pompeu Fabra); Tongmeng Xie (York University)

Beyond Test Scores: How Academic Rank Shapes Long-Term Outcomes

Emilia Del Bono (Essex); Angus Holford (Essex); Tommaso Sartori (Monash)

Worker Mobility, Retention, and the Finance Wage Premium

Stefano Colonnello (Ca' Foscari Venice); Giuliano Antonio Curatola (Siena); Iana Onegova (Ca' Foscari Venice)
15:30-15:45

Break

15:45-17:00

Presentations: Networks, Migration, and the Making of Talent

The Production of Mathematical Talents in France

Pierre-Michel Menger (Collège de France); Colombe Saillard (Collège de France)

Beyond Test Scores: The Effect of School Entry Age on Specific Cognitive Processes

Jaroslav Groero (CERGE-EI); Alena Bičáková (CERGE-EI)

Finding Nemo, Abroad

Vastav Ratra (LSE)

Peer Networks and Educational Migration: Experimental Evidence from India

Merve Demirel (Stockholm)

Top Researchers on Scientific Committees: Decision Quality, Peer Effects, and Opportunity Costs

Milan Makany (Erasmus Rotterdam); Natalia Zinovyeva (Warwick)

Lost Einsteins or Borrowed Ones? Generative AI and the Formation of Exceptional Talent

Charles Ayoubi (ESSEC)
17:00-17:15

Coffee

17:15-18:15

Masterclass - The Psychology of Intellectual Talent

David Lubinski (Vanderbilt)
18:15-18:30

Wrap-up

Thursday · 22 October

Conference

8:45-9:00

Welcome

9:00-10:30

Session 1 · Gifted Students' Programs

Sorting or Supporting? The Effect of Gifted Education on Achievement and Access

Jimmy Chin (UC Berkeley); Geoffrey Kocks (MIT)

Gifted Children Programs’ Short and Long-Term Impact: Higher Education, Earnings, and the Knowledge Economy

Yoav Goldstein (Tel Aviv); Victor Lavy (Warwick & Hebrew University); Genia Rachkovski (Tel Aviv)

The Long-Term Effects of Gifted Students' Programs

Niv Brosh (Hebrew University); Oren Danieli (Tel Aviv); David Maagan (CBS Israel); Ran Shorrer (Penn State); Noam Zussman (Bank of Israel)
10:30-11:00

Coffee

11:00-12:30

Session 2 · Training Exceptional Talent: Evidence from Three Stages

Will The University Endowment Tax Slow Scientific Progress? Evidence from Elite Economics PhD Programs

Joshua Angrist (MIT); Marc Diederichs (Passau); Glenn Ellison (MIT)

Can Gifted Education Help Higher-Ability Boys from Disadvantaged Backgrounds?

David Card (UC Berkeley); Eric Chyn (UT Austin); Laura Giuliano (UC Santa Cruz)

Developing Math Talent Worldwide: Evidence from a Global RCT

Ruchir Agarwal (Harvard & GTF); Patrick Gaule (Bristol & GTF)
12:30-13:30

Lunch

13:30-15:00

Session 3 · Going to College and Beyond: Access, Choice, and Exposure

Success Spills Over

Diana Moreira (UC Davis); Fernanda Estevan (FGV EESP)

Brief Exposure to Female STEM Professionals and Students' Trajectories in College

Justus Bamert (Brown)

Friends in Higher Places: Social Fit and University Choice

Kartik Vira (IFS); Nagisa Tadjfar (MIT)
15:00-15:30

Coffee

15:30-16:15

Keynote Event

Raj Choudhury (LSE)

Friday · 23 October

Conference

9:00-10:30

Session 4 · Cultivating Talent: From Classroom to PhD

Beyond the Lab: The Effect of PhD Programs on Innovation

Manfredi Aliberti (Max Planck Innovation)

Teacher Training in Active Learning Benefits High-Performing Girls: Evidence from an RCT in Italy

Amaya Chunga; Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll (Turin); Contini; Di Tommaso; Piazzalunga; Mendolia; Savio; Solis Alonso; Rettore; Rocco

The Math-Verbal Divide: Unequal Returns to Cognitive Skills in Education and Work

Judith Delaney (Bath); Paul J. Devereux (UCD)
10:30-11:00

Coffee

11:00-12:00

Keynote Event: Rome Dialogues I

John Van Reenen (LSE), with Dominique Foray (EPFL)
12:00-13:00

Lunch

13:00-14:15

Session 5 · Frontiers in Finding Talent

Knowledge competitions and school performance: Evidence from the Math Olympiad of Public Schools

Fernanda Estevan (FGV EESP); Gabriel Leite (FGV EESP); Diana Moreira (UC Davis); Nathalia Sales (PUC-Rio)

Finding Talent at Scale: Evidence from Rwanda's Mathematics Olympiad

Ian Calaway (DePaul); Caroline Fry (Hawai'i)

Uncovering missing math talent in Central America

Idaliya Grigoryeva (UC San Diego); Michelle Escobar-Carias (Melbourne)
14:15-15:15

Keynote Event: Rome Dialogues II

Camilla Benbow & David Lubinski (Vanderbilt)
15:15-15:30

Closing remarks and group photograph