Nata il 1° Dicembre 1968. Laureata in Discipline economiche e sociali presso l'Università Bocconi nel 1993. Ha conseguito il PhD in Economics presso la Harvard University nel 1999.
Professore ordinario di Economia politica. Research Fellow del Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) e dell'Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research (IGIER).Membro dell' European Development Research Network (EUDN). Direttore del Corso di Laurea in Economia e Scienze Sociali (CLES).
Economia dello sviluppo. Economia pubblica. Political economics.
"Descent Rules and Strategic Transfers. Evidence from Matrilineal Groups in Ghana", Journal of Development Economics, 2006 (in corso di stampa); "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance" (con A. Alesina), Journal of Economic Literature, 2005; "Preferences for Redistribution in the Land of Opportunities" (con A. Alesina), Journal of Public Economics, 2005 ; "Kin Groups and Reciprocity: A Model of Credit Transactions in Ghana", in American Economic Review, 2003; "Inequality and Group Participation: Theory and Evidence from Rural Tanzania", in Journal of Public Economics, 2002; "Who Trusts Others?" (con A. Alesina), in Journal of Public Economics, 2002; "Self-Help Groups and Income Generation in the Informal Settlements of Nairobi", in Journal of African Economies, 2002;"Political Competition in Weak States" (con R.H. Bates), in Economics and Politics, 2001; "Participation in Heterogeneous Communities" (con A. Alesina), in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2000.