Michela Giorcelli, assistant professor of economics in the UCLA College, was selected as one of the two American economists to receive this year’s global economic affairs excellence award from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Giorcelli was recognized for her contributions to the field of economic history and innovation.
Giorcelli’s research focuses on the factors of productivity and innovation in the 20th century. Her work uses historical policy events and historical data to look at the development and diffusion of management and technology innovations and their impact on firm productivity. In particular, she takes advantage of this data to show causes and effects of how innovations emerge, persist and are spread across countries.
Created to promote young talent, the excellence awards are open to researchers and academics up to 35 years of age. Each recipient will be awarded a research fellowship at the Kiel Institute funded through separate scholarship programs. The aim of the program is to build an international community of young economic researchers. The awards have been presented annually since 2007.