After obtaining his Ph.D. in economics from New York University, Tito Boeri was senior economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 1987 to 1996. In this position, among other things, he co-ordinated all the work carried out by the OECD in the field of human
resource policies in the central and eastern European economies in transition after 1990. He was also consultant to the International Monetary Fund, the ILO and the World Bank. He is currently associate professor of economics at Bocconi University, Milan, where he teaches courses on labour
economics and the economics of transition, and is affiliated with the Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research (IGIER). He is Director of the Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti, which operates in the field of labour market and social policy reforms in Europe. Lars Calmfors is Professor of
Economics at Stockholm University. Agar Brugiavini is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Venice.