George Akerlof was educated at Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his PhD in 1966, the same year he became an assistant professor at Berkeley. He became a full professor in 1978. Professor Akerlof is a 2001 recipient of the Alfred E. Nobel Prize in Economic Science; he was honoured for his theory of asymmetric information and its effect on economic behaviour. He is also the 2006 President of the American Economic Association. He served earlier as vice president and member of the executive committee. He is also on the North American Council of the Econometric Association. 

He also remembers growing up in a country marked by racial discrimination and deep inequalities. These early experiences shaped a question that would remain at the centre of his work for decades: why do economies generate persistent unemployment and exclusion when the standard economic theory predicts that markets should clear?

George Akerlof grew up in an unusually academic family and frequently felt that he was not the most naturally gifted person in the room.  That belief forced him to work harder. It also encouraged a kind of intellectual humility that still remains. Before arriving at MIT, Akerlof spent an entire summer teaching himself advanced topology.  And the professor who taught the course would leave a lasting impression. Before solving a puzzle, identify the larger question that makes the puzzle important. This became a lifelong research philosophy.

"You have to look at the big picture: first understand the structure of the problem, then work on the details."

George Akerlof

"I was concerned about unemployment, but I was also concerned about segregation. Those problems seemed very important to me. I thought economics was one way of understanding them.”

George Akerlof

DeFiPP brings together expertise in development economics, finance, and public policy, while encouraging dialogue across disciplines and methodological approaches. Within this framework, CRED has established itself as one of Europe's leading centres in development economics.  Founded by scholars including Jean-Marie Baland and Jean-Philippe Platteau and now directed by Catherine Guirkinger, CRED has built an international reputation through research that combines theoretical rigor with extensive fieldwork. Its researchers study how institutions, social norms, collective action, market development, and political processes shape economic outcomes in developing countries. Much of the work relies on original data collected directly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, allowing researchers to confront economic theory with realities observed on the ground. 

These questions are at the heart of CRED’s research program. The centre’s researchers study the role of institutions and social norms in shaping development trajectories, analysing how informal rules, collective beliefs, and governance structures influence economic opportunities and well-being. Their work contributes to international research networks such as “Economic Development and Institutions” (EDI), a major initiative dedicated to understanding the links between the quality of institutions and economic development.

This approach echoes one of George Akerlof's central convictions: economics cannot be understood solely through mathematical models. During his studies and later through a formative year in India where he too observed realities on the ground, he became increasingly convinced that economics is not just about facts and figures.

"I learned that understanding an economy means understanding the people who live in it. You have to understand institutions, customs, and beliefs."

George Akerlof

Development, he argues, cannot be explained by markets alone. To understand why some societies prosper while others remain trapped in poverty, we must understand how people behave within specific social and institutional environments.

George Akerlof's work on information asymmetries provides another point of connection. His landmark article The Market for Lemons demonstrated that markets can fail when buyers and sellers possess different information. 

"People make decisions without knowing what other people know."

George Akerlof

The insight transformed economics by showing that imperfect information is not an exception but a fundamental feature of many markets.

At CRED, researchers similarly examine the frictions that prevent markets from functioning efficiently. Their work explores access to credit, agricultural productivity, market integration, taxation, and development finance, seeking to understand why some individuals and communities remain excluded from economic opportunities. Recent projects have investigated issues ranging from tax compliance in Sub-Saharan Africa to the long-term effects of colonial institutions and the digital transformation of agricultural value chains in West Africa.

Another important theme linking George Akerlof's work and CRED's research concerns the role of social norms and multiple equilibria. 

He challenged the idea that economies naturally converge toward a single optimal outcome. Drawing partly on observations made in India, he argued that societies can become trapped in persistent patterns of behaviour sustained by shared beliefs and institutions. Poverty, discrimination, or unemployment may therefore persist not because individuals make irrational choices, but because entire systems of expectations reinforce existing outcomes.

"One of the things I got from India was that one should take into account what people were thinking when thinking about equilibrium. There may be more than one equilibrium."

George Akerlof

This perspective has become increasingly influential in development economics. Researchers at CRED investigate how social norms affect household decisions, gender relations, collective action, and access to economic resources. Particular attention has been devoted to understanding discrimination, bargaining power within households, and the economic constraints faced by women. Research led by Catherine Guirkinger, for example, examines the mechanisms behind gender inequalities in Sub-Saharan Africa and the factors that limit women's economic opportunities. 

Beyond its research output, CRED also serves as a vibrant international hub for scholarly exchange. The centre regularly hosts conferences, workshops, doctoral training activities, and collaborations with researchers from around the world. Through these initiatives, it contributes to the development of new generations of economists committed to addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing developing societies. 

The collaboration with Rachel Kranton represented, in many ways, the culmination of George Akerlof’s intellectual trajectory.  Identity economics brought together themes that had been present for decades. Social expectations. Collective beliefs. Norms. Institutions. The boundaries between economics, sociology, psychology, and political science are often less rigid than academic institutions suggest.  Human behaviour does not respect disciplinary boundaries.

"What people think they should do affects what they actually do."

George Akerlof

What ultimately emerges from George Akerlof's reflections is a simple but powerful idea: economics is a science of people before it is a science of markets. Markets matter, institutions matter, and policies matter—but understanding human behaviour remains essential.

This principle lies at the core of CRED's identity. Whether studying poverty, gender inequality, market development, public institutions, or collective action, the centre seeks to understand how economic outcomes are shaped by the interactions between individuals, communities, and institutions. In doing so, it continues a tradition of research that combines analytical rigor with a deep concern for real-world problems.

For George Akerlof, the purpose of economics has always been to better understand society and improve human well-being. For CRED, that ambition remains as relevant today as ever. 

• George Akerlof 
• DeFiPP Institute, Center for Research in Development Economics (CRED), University of Namur
• University of Namur Research Portal (CRED)

The IDnomics project (Identities, Norms, and Narratives) is an inter-university Concerted Research Action (ARC) funded by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB). It explores the interaction between rapidly evolving social identities and public policies, and how these factors impact societal behaviours and economic choices. 

The research is a collaborative effort between the Université de Namur (UNamur) and UCLouvain. Key features and goals of the initiative include: 

• An Interdisciplinary Approach: The project bridges economics, political science, and data science to understand how changing societal demographics and group identities influence public policy adoption.
• Academic research: It serves as a fundamental research hub, aiming to develop centres of excellence in economic and social sciences.
• Research Conferences: The project frequently sponsors academic gatherings, such as the ERINN (Economic Research on Identity, Norms, and Narratives) conference series hosted in Namur.

A phenomenon that has received little attention in the scientific literature has caught the attention of Catherine Guirkinger, an economist and professor at Sciences Po’s Faculty of Economics, Management, and Communication (EMCP), and her colleagues, Pablo Alvarez-Aragon, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bologna, and Jean-Philippe Platteau, professor emeritus at UNamur: the conversion of African women to “new Christian churches.” This term encompasses new Christian-inspired religious movements such as evangelical or Pentecostal churches, which are growing rapidly on the African continent and in other regions of the world. 

“Statistical analyses show that women are much more likely to be members of these new churches than men. This imbalance is unique to these new churches and is not observed in Catholic churches or other traditional religions,” explains Catherine Guirkinger. 

To explain this trend of female conversion, Catherine Guirkinger puts forward a hypothesis centered on the support services offered by these churches, which encourage women in their economic empowerment. “In a previous research study conducted in Benin, we observed that when women gain access to new sources of income, they are more likely to convert,” explains Catherine Guirkinger. “When interviewed, they frequently mention these support services, which help them overcome the obstacles they face in accessing new economic opportunities. These services are not solely financial in nature but also include ‘spiritual protection,’ in a context where ‘successful’ women are often accused of or fall victim to witchcraft.” 

Thus, initial analyses suggest that religious conversion is correlated with the economic cycle: it is more frequent when incomes rise. “This is a rather unexpected finding,” the researcher notes. “Religious conversion is generally interpreted as a response to difficulties, particularly financial ones. Yet it would seem that economic growth, on the contrary, encourages membership in these new churches.” 

One of the gray areas Catherine Guirkinger hopes to shed light on is identifying the roles these churches play in the empowerment of these women in the face of rather conservative and patriarchal gender norms. To understand this, Catherine Guirkinger will employ a combination of methods: statistical data, qualitative surveys, econometric analyses, as well as “economic games”—role-playing exercises designed to understand individual behaviors through simulated scenarios.  

The project will run for four years, from 2026 to 2030. The project team includes a doctoral student (currently being recruited), Jean-Philippe Platteau, professor emeritus at the Defipp Institute, and Pablo Alvarez of the University of Bologna (Italy). 

Catherine Guirkinger specializes in development economics. At the Center for Economic Development Research (CRED) of the DeFIPP Institute (Development Finance & Public Policies), she conducts research on changes in family structures during development processes. Her work also focuses on the respective roles of women and men in society and on the role of public institutions in the broader sense. Catherine Guirkinger explores these issues particularly in the colonial context, drawing on archival data and historical surveys. In 2017, she received European ERC funding for this research program, and in 2024, she secured funding from the F.R.S-FNRS for a collaborative project with Bruno Schoumaker, professor of demography at UCLouvain, aimed at digitizing census data. As a professor, Catherine Guirkinger teaches courses in microeconomics and development economics. 

The "Credits & Projects" call for proposals resulted in 12 grants being awarded for ambitious new projects. These include two "equipment" grants, eight "research credits (CDR)" grants, and two "research projects (PDR)" grants, one of which is in collaboration with the ULB. The FRIA call for doctoral research support will fund eleven doctoral scholarships and the FRESH call will fund three. 

Two prestigious Scientific Impulse Mandates (MIS) were also obtained. This three-year funding supports young permanent researchers who wish to develop an original and innovative research program by acquiring scientific autonomy within their department.  

We would also like to highlight the two projects funded under the "WelCHANGE" call, a funding instrument for research projects with potential societal impact, led by a principal investigator in the humanities and social sciences.

Call for Equipment  

• Xavier De Bolle, Narilis Institute, Co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain
• Luca Fusaro, NISM Institute 

Call for Research Grants (CDR) 

• Marc Hennequart, NARILIS Institute
• Nicolas Gillet, NARILIS Institute
• Jean-Yves Matroule, NARILIS Institute
• Patricia Renard, NARILIS Institute
• Francesco Renzi, NARILIS Institute
• Stéphane Vincent, NISM Institute
• Laurence Meurant, NaLTT Institute
• Emma-Louise Silva, NaLTT Institute  

Call for Research Projects (PDR) 

• Jérémy Dodeigne, Transitions Institute, Co-supervisor in collaboration with ULB
• Luc Henrard, NISM Institute; Co-supervisor: Yoann Olivier, NISM Institute 

Fund for Training in Research in Industry and Agriculture (FRIA)

• Emma Bongiovanni - Supervisor: Catherine Michaux, NISM Institute
• Simon Chabot - Supervisor: Carine Michiels, Narilis Institute; Co-supervisor: Anne-Catherine Heuskin, Narilis Institute
• Lee Denis - Supervisor: Muriel Lepère, ILEE Institute
• Maé Desclez - Supervisor: Johan Yans, ILEE Institute; Co-supervisor: Hamed Pourkhorsandi (University of Toulouse)
• Pierre Lombard - Supervisor: Benoît Muylkens, Narilis Institute; Co-supervisor: Damien Coupeau, Narilis Institute
• Amandine Pecquet - Supervisor: Nicolas Gillet, Narilis Institute; Co-supervisor: Damien Coupeau, Narilis Institute
• Kilian Petit - Supervisor: Henri-François Renard, Narilis Institute; Co-supervisor: Xavier De Bolle, Narilis Institute
• Simon Rouxhet - Supervisor: Catherine Michaux, NISM Institute; Co-supervisor: Nicolas Gillet, Narilis Institute
• William Soulié - Supervisor: Yoann Olivier, NISM Institute
• Elisabeth Wanlin - Supervisor: Xavier De Bolle, Narilis Institute
• Laura Willam - Supervisor: Frédérik De Laender, ILEE Institute 

Fund for Research in the Humanities (FRESH) 

• Louis Droussin - Supervisor: Arthur Borriello, Transitions Institute; Co-supervisor: Vincent Jacquet, Transitions Institute
• Nicolas Larrea Avila - Supervisor: Guilhem Cassan, DeFIPP Institute
• Victor Sluyters – Supervisor: Wafa Hammedi, NADI Institute
• Amandine Leboutte - Co-supervisor: Erika Wauthia (UMons); Co-supervisor: Cédric Vanhoolandt, IRDENa Institute.

Scientific Impulse Mandate (MIS) 

• Charlotte Beaudart, Narilis Institute
• Eli Thoré ILEE Institute 

WelCHANGE Call  

• Nathalie Burnay Transitions Institute, in collaboration with UCLouvain
• Catherine Guirkinger, DeFIPP Institute

Congratulations to all! 

The five-year Ernest-John Solvay Prize, one of the FNRS's most prestigious honors, was awarded this November 24, 2025 to Jean-Marie Baland, professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Namur since 1991. The prize, awarded every five years, recognizes researchers whose work has marked their discipline by its originality and impact.

"Jean-Marie Baland combines theoretical rigor with field studies conducted in countries such as India, Nepal, Kenya and Chile. His research tackles key issues such as economic development, poverty reduction and environmental protection," emphasizes the FNRS jury.

As a specialist in less developed countries, Jean-Marie Baland has devoted his work to the analysis of informal institutions, a subject for which he was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant in 2009. His research also explores the determinants of deforestation, the consequences of poverty, and more recently, the causes of infant mortality in South Asia, or domestic violence.

What's always motivated him?

"The desire to understand the world. My motivation in my research has always been to produce knowledge before wanting it to have a societal impact. The usefulness of research is of course important, but personally it's not what drives me forward. Of course, the results of my research are regularly used to shape public policy, for example. But that's not an end in itself for my work as a researcher ", he stresses.

Jean-Marie Baland's academic career has been studded with prestigious distinctions: Chaire Francqui (2008), Distinguished Fellow Award at Harvard (2007), member of the Academia Europaea (2012)... So many accolades that testify to his scientific influence.

But one of his proudest achievements is the creation of UNamur's Center for Research in Development Economics (CRED), founded with Professor Jean-Philippe Platteau. Jean-Marie Baland is a member of the Centre de recherchéche en économie du développement (CRED). A center now internationally recognized for its expertise in development economics, applied microeconomics and environmental economics, contributing to research with a strong societal impact. "The CRED today includes five academics and some fifteen researchers," says Jean-Marie Baland. The economist is also one of the founders of the Master of Specialization in Development Economics .

To the generation of future economists, Jean-Marie Baland addresses this wish:

"Interested in fields that make sense to you! And work as part of a team, even with people who think differently from you. For me, this experience of human interaction has been a very rich experience," he concludes.

These prestigious prizes, awarded every five years by the FNRS, were presented this November 24, 2025 by King Philippe to one researcher and five researchers from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. They confirm the international recognition and crown the exceptional careers of these scientists, in all disciplines. The Excellentieprijzen of the FWO, Flanders' equivalent of the FNRS, were also awarded on November 24 by His Majesty the King. At the ceremony, Véronique Halloin, Secretary General of the FNRS, congratulated the winners, thanking the 42 members of the international juries, as well as the sponsors who make these awards possible. She also spoke of "essential issues for scientific research and society as a whole", insisting on the need "to maintain the level of funding for fundamental research, to keep its full place for strategic research but also for the human and social sciences."