BFI Student Lunch Series – Making the Invisible Hand Visible: How Managers Shape Careers Inside Firms

Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations launched modern economics. BFI is marking its 250th anniversary with a year of events, original essays, and scholarly inquiry into the foundation, frontier, and future of the field.

Please note this event is at capacity and registration is closed.

BFI’s Student Lunch Series invites prominent speakers to engage undergraduate and graduate students in discussions on economics. The talks highlight the practical use of economics for answering real-world questions pertinent to businesses and policymakers.

Lunch will be provided.

Why do some workers advance while others do not, even within the same firm? This talk explores how managers shape the allocation of workers to jobs and, in doing so, influence careers, productivity, and inequality inside organizations. Drawing on large-scale personnel data across firms, Virginia Minni shows that managers play a central role in matching workers to opportunities where they can succeed. The findings highlight how managerial decisions help explain who reaches their potential at work — and why firms differ in their ability to develop talent.

If you have any questions, please email bfi-events@uchicago.edu.