Antonio Spilimbergo, a Bridge Builder at the IMF

"Being a researcher that separates the economy and the economic policy is like being an engineer who has never seen a bridge". A Bocconi graduate with a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the mentorship of Olivier Blanchard and Paul Krugman, Antonio Spilimbergo wants to build bridges. There's no doubt that the research for him is a tool for problem solving. In 1994 he joins the Inter-American Development Bank, in 1997 he begins working at the International Monetary Fund first at the research department, then as a mission chief in Countries such as Italy, Russia, and Turkey. "I am an IMF inspector, as they unfortunately say in Italy. Our missionship is to snap a picture of a country's economy. Having done research is useful for two reasons: it allows you to avoid the trap of seeing this work as a mere exercise in accountancy and it betters the communication with your counterparts. There's a common understanding with ministers, governors and state officials who often come from the research community".

The most satisfying, motivating and inspiring part of his job is using the research to fix collective problems. It happened in 2008 when he co-authored with Olivier Blanchard, Carlo Cottarelli and Steven Symansky a document on fiscal policy for the crisis, an instant paper written for policy-makers. Or more recently when he supervised the production of an IMF study on the impact of waves of immigration on economic, fiscal and labor markets, a paper that Christine Lagarde wanted to be a landmark in a highly ideologized topic. To a young student who's beginning his research path, Spilimbergo offers some advice: "Don't be prisoner of the thinkers who came before. Take the risk and try something new".