Tabellini: Economics and Social Sciences Make Institutions Work

Bocconi Rector Guido Tabellini opened the Academic Year 2009-2010, by affirming the centrality of economics, business management and social science for civil society and economic progress, while underlining the actual contribution that Bocconi is giving to their advancement.

"We are used to thinking that technological progress and the accumulation of knowledge are the main sources of human welfare and progress," Tabellini said, "but even more fundamental is the ability to live together and organize ourselves as a free and democratic society, capable of guaranteeing individual economic and civil rights, to make a market economy function along with firms that operate in such a context." This ability, Tabellini added, "is the fruit of knowledge and values accumulated through time thanks to the ideas of latu sensu social scientists. These ideas are spread throughout society by higher education at universities that are independent from political and economic power."
In economic and social science, "one single scientific community of reference has come into being," stated the Rector, "It is almost always an international community. Those institutions which attain excellence and contribute to the accumulation of knowledge manage to attract resources and talent, in a virtuous, self-sustaining circular process. Local excellence, on the other hand, is destined to slide toward mediocrity."
In a global context, where the link between cutting-edge research and issues of relevance for governments, companies, economic actors is strongest, and where such issues are more often than not transnational, Bocconi has the atout of being "right in the heart of that part of the world that has advanced furthest in the build-up of supranational institutions, i.e. Europe," and to host a scale and a variety of research interests that foster the sort of interdisciplinary work that is increasingly needed in order to better interpret reality.
"Often we wonder what aspects of originality and innovation differentiate Bocconi from other great international universities, which are often endowed with far larger resources," said Tabellini. "I think that the answer can be found in the choice of the problems we seek to solve. Italy, Europe, the social and economic reality around us are extremely rich in sources of scientific inspiration, that maybe others could be slow to seize upon. Capturing the sources of dynamism, but also the limits, of Italian small amd medium-sized firms, treating the problems of the Mezzogiorno (southern Italy), showing how to improve the workings of public administration, setting up a real energy and environmental policy in Europe, understanding how to remedy the defects of Italian corporate governance or augment the contendibility of companies in Europe."
According to Tabellini, good research is the prerequisite for international visibility; good teaching must take the latest knowledge to the classroom along with the findings of top-notch research, and this is "easier to do if the teacher is contributing directly to move the frontier of knowledge forward."
"The importance that the university attaches to research," concluded the Rector, "is motivated by our desire to spread among the younger generations the passion for discovery, the search for truth, intellectual honesty, the drive to understand the world and intervene to try to better it, to question prevailing ideas and doubt what others take for granted. Transmitting these values is a lot harder than spreading knowledge. To succeed, it's necessary that the young feel the sense of belonging to a community, that they seek to emulate the example of persons they hold in esteem within the community, recognize the principles and the identity of this institution as their own, and consider the years spent at the university not as instrumental to finding a good job, but as an unforgettable life experience."