Ten Years of LEAP: Research in the Fight Against Poverty

Established in 2016 thanks to the generous support of the Fondazione Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi, a Donor and Partner of Bocconi University for more than 30 years, LEAP – the Laboratory for Effective Anti-Poverty Policies – was founded with an ambitious mission: to understand the causes of poverty and identify effective solutions through rigorous scientific evaluation methods.

Over the past decade, the laboratory has developed and supported research projects across a wide range of key areas for human and social development, including education, health, social norms and gender equality, migration, and agriculture. Through collaboration with governments, non-governmental organizations, international institutions, local communities, and research partners around the world, LEAP has contributed to generating scientific evidence capable of informing public decision-making and concretely improving the lives of the most vulnerable populations.

To celebrate this important milestone, Bocconi organized the LEAP 10th Anniversary Conference, dedicated to reflecting on ten years of research, evidence, and impact. For two days, Milan became a meeting point for researchers from leading universities and international institutions, including Yale, Harvard, Oxford, Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the London School of Economics, and the World Bank. Through keynote lectures and thematic sessions, participants presented new evidence on topics ranging from public health and education to women’s participation in the labor market, social mobility, and the effects of climate change on vulnerable communities.

Over the past ten years, LEAP has helped strengthen the dialogue between research and public policy, producing evidence that enables governments and organizations to make more effective decisions. This conference provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress achieved and, above all, on the challenges that remain in promoting opportunities and well-being for the most vulnerable people. _{- Michela Carlana, Director of LEAP}

LEAP continues to demonstrate how academic research, supported by a far-sighted philanthropic vision, can generate knowledge that helps address some of the most pressing social challenges of our time. Recently, the laboratory became part of the new Bocconi INSPIRE research center (Invernizzi Center for Social Policy Impact Research and Evaluation), creating an opportunity to explore new frontiers in applied economic research and the contribution that scientific evidence can make toward building more inclusive, resilient, and opportunity-rich societies.