Joseph L. Gidwitz Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship
Emanuele Colonnelli is the Joseph L. Gidwitz Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He serves as board member and Co-Chair of the Finance Sector at the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), leads the Finance and Entrepreneurship Theme at the CEPR-FCDO's PEDL initiative, co-directs the Becker Friedman Institute (BFI) LATAM, and he's a Research Associate at NBER, CEPR, and BREAD. He is the founding Faculty Director of Undergraduate Studies in Entrepreneurship at The University of Chicago, the Founder and Director of the Chicago Booth Entrepreneurship Research Lab, and sits on the Faculty Advisory Board of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He is the recipient of a number of grants and awards, such as the 2023 Carlo Alberto Medal, a biennial prize given to the best Italian economist under 40, and the Poets & Quants 40 Under 40 Best MBA Professors.
Colonnelli’s research focuses on the intersection between finance, development, and political economy, with a special interest in high-growth entrepreneurship and the interaction between governments, firms, and investors. Specific interests include a range of topics such as venture capital and private equity, corporate governance, corruption, ESG and impact investing, public procurement, and corporate bankruptcy. He has research and work experience in several emerging economies, including Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Vietnam and regularly conducts world-wide surveys and field experiments with entrepreneurs, firms, and investors. His research has been published in various top academic journals, such as the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Finance, and the Journal of Financial Economics.