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Monday, June 09, 2008

Ph.D. Scholarship in Public Policy Evaluation - Politecnico di Milano

Deparment of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering,
Politecnico di Milano (Italy)

Yearly value of each PhD scholarship: € 13,000 of which approximately €3,000 are held as retirement contributions.

Yearly net income of each PhD scholarship: approximately € 10,000.

Motivations and objectives of the research in this field: within the context of increasing globalisation of firms and markets, most public institutions are now aware of benefits stemming from both innovation and internationalization of the economic activities. However, studies on the evaluation of effectiveness and economic effects of public incentives are still scant. Main difficulties concern: (i) the need of transparency and examinations at regularly intervals; (ii) the difficulty of distinguishing direct vs. indirect effects, and (iii) the need of counterfactual evidence (what would have happened without the incentive?). The present research project aims at developing both a theoretical framework and an empirical analysis for the evaluation of public policies and incentives to innovation and internationalization of firms.

Methods and techniques that will be developed and used to carry out the research: The research will be both theoretical (development of economic models on the basis of the literature) and empirical (gathering of primary and secondary data on direct and indirect effects of public policies and incentives to innovation and internationalization). Advanced statistic and econometric techniques will be applied in order to test research hypotheses.

Educational objectives: acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of the literature on public policies and incentives, and developing the capacity of elaborating it in a critical manner. Developing advanced statistical and econometric skills for testing theoretical hypotheses. In short, becoming able to write scientific papers on the topic to be published in top international journals.

Job opportunities: the issue of evaluation of public incentives to firms is of great interest for both economic scholars and policy makers. People earning a Ph.D. in this field can yearn for both an academic carrier (public policy evaluation is among the research lines of important economic and management departments) and a carrier in national and international public bodies.

Composition of the research group: a Full Professor, an Assistant Professor, two Dost-Docs, a PhD student, a contracted researcher.

Research director: Lucia Piscitello
e-mail: lucia.piscitello @ polimi.it
Application has to be received by 15 October 2008.

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