First row discussant: Maria Chiaruttini

The State of the Union has selected a group of EUI community members as first-row discussants during the panels on 4 May. They’ll be the ones to get the ball rolling for lively discussion following the panel presentations. Get to know who they are, and what they specialize in.

Maria Chiaruttini

1. What is your connection with the EUI?

I am a third year PhD researcher in Economic History at the Department of History and Civilization

2. How would you summarise your research, in just a few words?

I am broadly interested in the process of financial development and financial integration. My current research is on the early development of modern financial markets in Italy during the first half of the 19th century and their integration in the first decades after Unification. My study focuses in particular on the interaction between politics and financial policies.

3. On which panel will you be a first-row discussant at SoU2017?

The EU and the Challenge of Economic and Monetary Integration

4. What can academics contribute to policy-discussions about the future of Europe?

In my view, academics should both be a source of impartial advice to policy makers and encourage debate and constructive criticism inside society. As an economic historian I also believe that history, more than offering ‘lessons to learn’ for the future, which is always unpredictable and different from the past, teaches  an intellectual approach to recurring issues (like integration-disintegration, political and economic cooperation) which is both critical and multidimensional. History has always the potential to integrate social, economic and cultural questions within a broader framework. It teaches not to replicate past solutions but to work out new ones with the benefit of hindsight.

5. What are you most looking forward to about SoU?

I am looking forward to the SoU as a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between academics, politics and civil society. For academics it is important to engage with policy-relevant questions and share with society what they have learnt and understood in their ivory towers.