Growth Academy 2025

July 21 – July 25, 2025

The University of Chicago

Special Fireside Chat: H.E. Bandar Ibrahim Alkhorayef

This year’s Growth Academy featured an exclusive fireside chat with His Excellency Bandar Ibrahim Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia. As a key architect of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, he shared insights on industrial transformation, economic diversification, and the future of sustainable development.

GROWTH ACADEMY 2025 SPEAKERS

Indermit Gill

Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics
The World Bank Group

Middle Income Trap” (Slides)

 

Philippe Aghion

INSEAD, London School of Economics and College de France

 

 

Economics of Creative Destruction” (Slides)

Lars Peter Hansen

David Rockefeller Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, Statistics, and the Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago 

Uncertainty, Social Valuation, and Climate Change Policy” (Slides)

 

Fabrizio Zilibotti

Tuntex Professor of International and Development Economics
Yale University

 

Creative Destruction and Distance to Frontier: Implications for Emerging Economies (Slides)

 

 

James Heckman

The Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and the College
The University of Chicago

Roots of the Skills Gap: Family Life and Black-White-Hispanic Disparities” (Slides)

Penny Goldberg

William Nordhaus Professor of Economics and Global Affairs
Yale University

The Global Gender Distortions Index” (Slides)

Susan Athey

The Economics of Technology Professor
Stanford University

 

AI and the New Economy” (Slides)

 

Brent Neiman

Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Economics
The University of Chicago 

Global Capital Allocation (Slides)

Michael Greenstone

The Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and the College
University of Chicago

The Economics of the Global Energy Challenge 

 

Somik Lall

Senior Adviser to the Chief Economist of the World Bank
The World Bank Group

 

Energy, Emissions, and Creative Destruction” (Slides)

Ufuk Akcigit

The Arnold C. Harberger Professor in Economics and the College
The University of Chicago

The Role of Firms and Talent in Shaping Economic Sophistication and Growth” (Slides)

 

Chang-Tai Hsieh

Phyllis and Irwin Winkelried Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and PCL Faculty Scholar
The University of Chicago 

Where is China Headed 

James Evans

Max Palevsky Professor, Department of Sociology; Faculty Director, Masters in Computational Social Science Program
The University of Chicago 

The Paradox of Innovation Institutions: Designing Flexible Ecosystems that Accelerate Discovery, Invention, and Growth” (Slides)

 

Josh Lerner

Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking
Harvard Business School

 

Growing Entreprenurial Clusters” (Slides)

Michael Kremer

University Professor in Economics and the College and the Harris School of Public Policy
The University of Chicago

Experimentation, Innovation, and Economics

 

Joel Mokyr

Robert H. Strotz Professor
Northwestern University

 

The Marshall Plan: Then and Now