The UPF Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences opened its 2016-2017 academic year with an opening ceremony and inaugural lesson by distinguished MIT professor Dr. Robert Gibbons. Presented at the Ciutadella campus auditorium, Prof. Gibbons' talk was the Faculty's 27th annual Economics welcoming lecture.

The event's presidential table included Pelegrí Viader, Secretary General of the UPF; Walter Garcia-Fontes, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business; Juan José Ganuza, UPF Economics and Business Professor; and Pilar Miracle, group treasurer of Laboratorios Dr. Esteve, SA, sponsor of the lecture.

Prof. Garcia-Fontes, in his opening remarks, said that the welcoming lecture tradition has become "an endearing act" for the Faculty. The Dean went on to mention the challenges that must be faced for the new school year ahead, amongst which were "maintaining the preferential ranking, and the climate of work, rigor, and excellence" that characterise the school.

Prof. Gibbons then presented his lecture, entitled "Organizational Economics?". The talk analysed the benefits that economic science can bring to the study of organisations, and outlined how economists can help improve collaboration between actors to achieve greater well-being.

Significant economic activity is conducted by different types of organisations and institutions, including hospitals, schools, and governments, so it is essential to study how their operations are designed and managed. Prof. Gibbons presented a definition of what an organisation is and the economic areas it impacts; topics to be cautious of; internal organisation structures; how good policy helps address internal conflicts; and the importance of organisational culture in decision-making.

Prof. Gibbons is Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management at the Sloan School at MIT and Professor of Economics at MIT. Since 1996 he has taught in the UPF GPEFM doctoral programme, as well as at Nanterre, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Sorbonne, Chicago and Goethe. Since 2002 he has been principal investigator of the MIT Sloan program on Innovation in Markets and Organizations.

Prof. Gibbons's research is focused on the design and performance of organisational activities in companies and institutions, with a particular interest in "relational" contracts - informal agreements linked to the circumstances of the parties. His work Game Theory for Appiled Economist (Princeton University Press, 1992) has been translated into several languages. He is co-editor of the Handbook of Organizatonal Economics, along with John Roberts (Princeton University Press, 2013), and soon, the work Introduction to Organizational Economics (Princeton University Press, 2017).

Outside of MIT, Prof. Gibbons is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, the Society of Labor Economist, and founding director of the NBER working group on economics of organisations, amongst other positions and allegiances.

> Click here to see photos from the talk on Flickr