London South Bank University | United Kingdom
Grazia Ietto-Gillies is an Italian-born economist and emerita Professor of Applied Economics at London South Bank University, also serving as a Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She studied in Rome at the Istituto Leonardo da Vinci and then at La Sapienza University under the supervision of Bruno de Finetti, followed by a year of graduate studies at MIT (1966–67) funded by a CNR scholarship. Early in her career she worked as a researcher at ISCO in Rome and then at the University of Siena before moving to London in 1971, where she joined London South Bank Polytechnic (now University). Her research spans investment in the Italian economy, de-industrialization in the UK, transnational corporations (TNCs), innovation, absorptive capacity, indices of transnationality, labor fragmentation (e.g., in FIAT), and the digital economy. She has published extensively, including books, journal articles, working papers, and book chapters; her major book Transnational Corporations and International Production (Edward Elgar) is widely cited. According to her RePEc/CitEc profile, she has an h-index of 11 with around 800 citations and over 47 research documents. She has received recognition as a leading figure in applied economics, especially in globalisation and innovation policy. In addition to her academic work, since retirement she has written literary pieces, including a memoir of her Calabrian childhood and essays. Her long and influential career bridges rigorous economic analysis and personal reflection, highlighting both her intellectual and human depth.
Featured Publications
Filippetti, A., Frenz, M., & Ietto-Gillies, G. (2011). Are innovation and internationalization related? An analysis of European countries. Industry and Innovation.
Filippetti, A., Frenz, M., & Ietto-Gillies, G. (2017). The impact of internationalization on innovation at countries’ level: The role of absorptive capacity. Cambridge Journal of Economic.
Frenz, M., Girardone, C., & Ietto-Gillies, G. (2005). Multinationality matters in innovation: The case of the UK financial services. Industry & Innovation.
Ietto-Gillies, G. (2009). Conceptual issues behind the assessment of the degree of internationalization. Transnational Corporations.
Chesnais, F., Ietto-Gillies, G., & Simonetti, R. (2003). European integration and global corporate strategies. Routledge.