Elsa Fornero

Elsa Fornero is Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Turin; she is the scientific coordinator of the CeRP-Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies at the Collegio Carlo Alberto (http://www.cerp.carloalberto.org) and Minister of Labor and Social Policies with responsibility for Equal Opportunities in the Government led by Monti (2011-13).

Her research activity has focused on household savings, pension systems, and reforms aimed at making them fairer and more sustainable. In recent years, she has dedicated herself to basic financial education, seen both as a tool to help individuals make choices throughout their lifecycle, and as a prerequisite for a better functioning democracy. Her latest book is: "Who is afraid of reforms. Illusions, commonplaces, and truths about pensions", Bocconi Publisher, 2018.

She says of herself: "With a life behind me lived with a strong 'sense of duty' but also with the joy of someone who loves life, I found myself exercising 'power'. I understood the importance of possessing not only technical skills, but also consciousness and inner balance. I experienced that economics, with its rigor and methodological strength, is a very imperfect guide for solving society's problems. But it cannot be avoided. I make my own the verse of Wislawa Szymborska: It's easy, impossible, difficult, worth it."