The Institutions, Organizations, and Growth (IOG) Program, in partnership with the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago (BFI), invites leading scholars and IOG members to convene three times annually for research conferences and academic exchange. The IOG Program aims to move beyond the limits of traditional economic approaches and provide new frameworks for understanding why some nations succeed economically while others continually fail; why institutions that foster wealth and well-being in one culture, location, or historical period may be less effective in another; and what policies will create the greatest potential for progress. The IOG Program has a long tradition of fruitful interdisciplinary interactions among scholars from a wide range of analytical perspectives in the social sciences.

Participation in IOG-BFI conferences is by invitation only. Scholars who study topics related to institutions, organizations, and growth across a wide variety of disciplines are invited.

For questions, please contact bfi-events@uchicago.edu.

Agenda

Friday, October 3, 2025
8:30 am–9:00 am

Registration and breakfast

Room 501-502

9:00 am–10:30 am

A Relational Theory of Power Alternation

Room 504

Zhaotian Luo, University of Chicago

10:30 am–11:00 am

Break

11:00 am–12:30 pm

Equilibrium p(doom)

Wioletta Dziuda, University of Chicago

12:30 pm–2:00 pm

Lunch

Room 501-502

2:00 pm–3:30 pm

Zero-Sum Environments, the Evolution of Effort-Suppressing Beliefs, and Economic Development

Nathan Nunn, University of British Columbia

3:30 pm–4:30 pm

Reception

Saturday, October 4, 2025
8:30 am–9:00 am

Breakfast

Room 501-502

9:00 am–10:30 am

Does Contact Reduce Conflict? Experimental Evidence from Nigeria

Oeindrila Dube, University of Chicago

10:30 am–11:00 am

Break

11:00 am–12:30 pm

Aristocratic networks in British politics

Tim Besley, London School of Economics

12:30 pm–2:00 pm

Lunch

Room 501-502

2:00 pm–3:30 pm

The Success of the Embedded State in England

Leander Heldring, Northwestern University

3:30 pm–4:00 pm

Break

4:00 pm–4:30 pm

Discussion and Conclusions

6:30 pm

Conference Dinner

Sunday, October 5, 2025
8:00 am–9:00 am

Breakfast

Room 501-502

8:30 am–9:00 am

IOG Business Meeting

Room 504

Program Members and BFI Senior Staff

9:00 am–10:30 am

Pax Monopolista or the Rule of Law? The Enforcer's Dilemma in Reputational Criminal Wars

Martin Castillo Quintana, University of Chicago

10:30 am–11:00 am

Break

11:00 am–12:30 pm

How To Implement Shareholder Democracy

Luigi Zingales, University of Chicago

12:30 pm

Conference Adjourns

Boxed lunches provided