Four projects by the Institute of Economics at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa funded by the Italian Science Fund (FIS)
Economic and climate inequalities, sustainability and the costs of climate change are the themes of the projects that have received total funding of over €4.3 million
Four projects from the Institute of Economics at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa have been funded in the third edition of the Italian Science Fund (FIS), for a total of over €4.3 million. The funding is part of the “Starting Grant” funding line, which aims to support the project activities of emerging researchers.
The projects from the Institute of Economics that have been awarded funding are: Welnlt - Wealth and Inheritance in Modern Italian History (1815-2015) by Giacomo Gabbuti, researcher in economic history; TRACE - Tackling Regional Asymmetries and Climate Inequalities by Matteo Coronese, researcher in political economy; SCI-PET - Socioeconomic and Climate Inequality: understanding disparities in emissions, climate impacts and perceptions to design Policy for an Equitable Transition by Elisa Palagi, research fellow at the Institute of Economics; NARNIA - NAture-related systemic Risks: micro exposures, macro-financial policies for a Network-based Integrated Assessment by Gianluca Pallante, research fellow at the Institute of Economics.
"The success of four FIS projects is an exceptional achievement for the Institute of Economics, adding to the recent ERC Synergy funding obtained by Prof. Arianna Martinelli. I am confident that these projects will advance knowledge in the areas of inequality, sustainability and the costs of climate change. I am very proud of this result, which rewards the quality of our Institute's recruitment and the excellence of our international PhD programme in Economics, given that three of the four winners were former PhD students of ours," said Andrea Roventini, Director of the Institute of Economics.
In total, the Italian Science Fund of the Ministry of University and Research has distributed €475 million this year to fund basic research in key scientific fields, from life sciences to engineering, medicine, and the humanities and social sciences. The main objective is to promote the development of research in accordance with established European practices, based on the model of the European Research Council (ERC).
"This is a significant achievement, placing the Sant'Anna School among the top Italian universities in the macro-sector of social sciences and humanities. This funding demonstrates the School's focus on issues that can no longer be postponed, such as inequality, the climate crisis and the costs of environmental policies, which are crucial for building a more just, resilient and equitable society," said Nicola Vitiello, Rector of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies.
The four funded projects
WeInIt – Wealth, inheritance and inequality in Italian history
Giacomo Gabbuti's project studies the evolution of wealth inequality in Italy over two centuries, reconstructing for the first time the distribution of wealth from the Napoleonic period to the post-war period thanks to a new micro-dataset of 135,000 successions. The project will measure how wealth and inheritance have fuelled inequalities between social classes but also between genders, and how political and economic shocks have changed their dynamics. By analysing social mobility, economic elites and gender gaps, WeInIt will provide a unique empirical basis for understanding the historical roots of Italian inequalities and their impact on contemporary democracy.
TRACE – Regional asymmetries and climate inequalities
The effects of climate change are not distributed evenly: different regions and income groups suffer profoundly unequal impacts, often hidden by national averages. Matteo Coronese's TRACE project aims to reveal these disparities by constructing the first framework linking emissions and economic damage at the sub-national level. Integrating climate science, economics and machine learning, the project estimates how climate anomalies affect different income groups and assesses which adaptation and mitigation strategies truly protect the most vulnerable groups. The aim is to provide solid evidence for more targeted, equitable and sustainable climate policies.
SCI-PET – Socio-economic and climate inequality
SCI-PET, a project by Elisa Palagi, investigates the double link between economic inequality and climate change through a combination of econometric analysis, surveys and experimental methods. The aim is to analyse the distribution of resources, the contribution of different social classes to emissions and the climate impacts on the most vulnerable sections of the population, building a framework to quantify the disproportionate contribution of the wealthiest segments of society to the climate crisis. The project also explores different perceptions of climate change and climate policies, focusing on Italy and Norway, two high-income countries with stark contrasts in terms of levels of inequality, fiscal policy, economic structures and climate challenges, with the aim of generating robust comparative insights.
NARNIA – systemic risks related to nature
Gianluca Pallante's NARNIA project aims to assess the macroeconomic consequences of environmental and ecosystem degradation, quantifying the systemic economic and financial risks. In a multidisciplinary framework that combines the complexity of terrestrial and socio-economic systems with sustainable finance, NARNIA aims to map the exposure of economic activities to the deterioration of the environment around us and evaluate policies capable of ensuring economic stability and ecosystem protection. The project will also provide new evidence on the channels through which environmental risks propagate in economic and financial networks and on how policies can support global environmental recovery and regeneration objectives.
