Entry Date:
June 5, 2007

World Economy Laboratory (WEL)

Principal Investigator Olivier Blanchard


The World Economy Laboratory (WEL) is a research center at the MIT Department of Economics.

The center has two purposes. The first is to strengthen the links between the MIT Department of Economics, policy makers, and business leaders. The second is to finance policy-relevant research by students and junior faculty in the department.

The center runs two independent programs, the first, WEL-MIT, aims at developing links with business leaders. These links consist of policy briefings and discussions a few times a year -- in the recent past, these meetings have taken place in Cambridge, New York, and London -- and of direct contacts with faculty members with convergent interests. The second, WEL-MIT-Central Bank Research Network, is specifically aimed toward developing links with central banks consisting primarily of a meeting each year in Cambridge. Additionally, staff researchers from participating member banks may come and discuss their work with us. This is accomplished through short-term visits, from a few days to a few weeks.