The Institutions, Organizations, and Growth Program (IOG), in partnership with the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) at the University of Chicago and Stanford University, invites leading scholars and IOG members to convene for a research conference 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.

Scholars who study topics related to institutions, organizations, and growth across a wide variety of disciplines are invited. If you have any questions, please email bfi-events@uchicago.edu.

Agenda

Friday, June 5, 2026
8:30 am–9:00 am

Registration and breakfast

Oksenberg Room (3rd Floor)

9:00 am–10:30 am

A Theory of Economic Coercion and Fragmentation

Matteo Maggiori, Stanford University

10:30 am–11:00 am

Break

11:00 am–12:30 pm

Immigration and the American Dream Over the Long Run

Ran Abramitzky, Stanford University

12:30 pm–2:00 pm

Lunch

Bechtel Courtyard

2:00 pm–3:30 pm

Policymaking in the American States, 1787-2020*

Nicolas Longuet-Marx, Stanford University

3:30 pm–3:45 pm

Break

3:45 pm–4:45 pm

Reception

Bechtel Courtyard

4:45 pm

Conference Adjourns

Saturday, June 6, 2026
8:30 am–9:00 am

Breakfast

Oksenberg Room (3rd Floor)

9:00 am–10:30 am

Migration and the Making of the English Middle Class

Vicky Fouka, Stanford University

10:30 am–11:00 am

Break

11:00 am–12:30 pm

Political Commitment Bonds

Bård Harstad, Stanford University

12:30 pm–2:00 pm

Lunch

Bechtel Courtyard

2:00 pm–3:30 pm

Imagined Communities, National Identity, Personal Identity, and Pro-Sociality: The Impact of Mexico’s Mestizaje Narrative

Enrique Seira Bejarano, University of Notre Dame

3:30 pm

Conference Adjourns

6:00 pm

Conference Dinner

By Invitation Only

Sunday, June 7, 2026
8:00 am–9:00 am

Breakfast

Oksenberg Room (3rd Floor)

8:30 am–9:00 am

IOG Business Meeting

IOG Members and BFI Senior Staff

9:00 am–10:30 am

Learning from the Past: How History Education Shapes Support for Extreme Ideology

Luca Braghieri, Bocconi University

10:30 am–11:00 am

Break

11:00 am–12:30 pm

Decoupling Taste-Based versus Statistical Discrimination in Elections

Francesco Trebbi, University of California, Berkeley

12:30 pm

Conference Concludes

Boxed lunches provided