May 14 – A young researcher from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) won the prestigious “Fondation Cournot” scholarship, established for the promotion of economic research. The winner is Maddalena Cavicchioli, PhD, a Fellow at the Marco Biagi Department of Economics and already winner of numerous other awards in economics and statistics research. The level of competitiveness of this award is evidenced by the 222 applications received by the organizers. The Cournot Foundation scientific team selected 23 of these research projects, and then submitted them to the Robert Solow, Nobel Prize Laureate for economics in 1987. Solow in turn selected 4 studies worthy of funding. For the 2015/2016 academic year, the winners are Johannes Buggle (Sciences Po, Paris), Julia Cajal (University of Warwick, UK), Maddalena Cavicchioli (Unimore, Italy) and Jacob Seifert (University of St. Andrews, UK). Cavicchioli, the only Italian to win the competition this year, received her post-doctoral fellowship, named after Robert Solow, of €24,000 with a research project entitled “New Studies on Structural Change with Nonlinear Models : Theory and Applications.” The research focuses on the identification and estimation of non-linear models and their application for macroeconomic structural analysis. The main objective is to propose new econometric and statistical methods to analyze the state of the economy, predict its evolution, and assess the impact of structural shocks and their propagation. “I am really touched and honored by this prestigious international recognition – commented the researcher – I warmly thank Professor Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate in Economics, and the professors of the Cournot Foundation for having believed and invested in my research project. This recognition is a source of great satisfaction and encouragement for my daily work.” The “Fondation Cournot”, based in Paris, was established for the promotion of economic research. The foundation was named after economist, mathematician and philosopher Antoine Augustin Cournot (1801-77). Each year, the Foundation funds the “Robert Solow Postdoctoral Fellowships” for researchers from different countries. Winners can conduct their post-doctoral research in an institution of their choice.
