CASE bids farewell to Luca Barbone

The former President of CASE and current CASE Fellow Dr. Luca Barbone, aged 62, passed away on September 1, 2015 after short but dramatic struggle with cancer.

An Italian national but man of the world, Dr. Barbone grew up in Milan and graduated from Bocconi University in 1976. In 1985 he obtained a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After three years spent with the OECD he moved to the World Bank in 1988 where he worked for the next 23 years in various capacities. His contacts with CASE started in the first half of 1990s while he was the World Bank Lead Economist for Central Europe, continuing when he became the Regional Director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine (2000-2004) and the Director for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management of the Europe and Central Asia region.

In January 2011, after his retirement from the World Bank, he joined the CASE network as one of CASE Fellows. Eight months later, in September 2011, he became CASE President, a position which he held until September 2013. In this capacity, he contributed to strengthening CASE’s research potential and its international recognition as one of the leading think tanks in Europe.

His numerous engagements and contributions to CASE, including his projects and subsequent publications, concentrated on the issues of migration, tax policy coordination in the EU (especially in respect to VAT), economic governance in the EU and EMU, pension systems, and economic reforms in countries of the former USSR. Recently he also collaborated with the Institute for the Study of International Migration of the Georgetown University, Washington, DC as the Senior Fellow.

The CASE network of staff, fellows, experts, and alumni mourn his passing.