The Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE) is an interdisciplinary research institute of the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) located in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Since 2010, it has been part of the Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and Modeling in economics and statistics (LIDAM), along with the Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES), Louvain Finance (LFIN) and the Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).
CORE integrates fundamental and applied research in the following key fields: economics and game theory, econometrics, quantitative and economic geography, and operations research. Researchers at CORE aim at developing a theoretical and methodological base for the analysis of decision problems related to economic policy and the management of the public and private sector, the theory of optimisation and statistics for the solution of design and decision problems, and computational tools (algorithms and software).
History and international recognition CORE was founded in Leuven in 1966 at the initiative of Jacques Drèze, who is considered its founding father, Anton Barten and Guy de Ghellinck. Initially, the center existed within the Catholic University of Leuven. Following its split in 1968 to form the Dutch-speaking Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the French-speaking Université catholique de Louvain, CORE moved to Louvain-la-Neuve in 1977 to join the latter.
CORE, the creation of which was inspired by the Cowles Foundation as well as the other institutions that Jacques Drèze had visited during his research work in the United States, brought economic modelling to Europe. Being a pioneer in the domain, CORE propelled Belgian and European economic research, which was very "local" at that time, into development. The center modernized it through the economic knowledge and research practices imported from the United States and contributed to its internationalization, while at the same time creating a local economic culture in Europe, e.g., through disequilibrium economics, which can be considered a French ‘trademark’ in macroeconomics. Another element of the continental economic culture was the development of specific research forms, such as research teams, co-authorship and peer review.
In 1966, CORE opened its doors with four academic members and three researchers on the staff. For comparison, today the center hosts 22 faculty members including emeritus professors, as well as 33 doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers.
In 1967, CORE received a five-year grant from the Ford Foundation, which propelled the center into rapid development by attracting faculty members and visitors. These researchers, including Gérard Debreu, Truman Bewley, Hildegard Dierker, Birgit Grodal, David Schmeidler, Karl Vind and Werner Hildenbrand, gained CORE international recognition in the field of mathematical economics. The time of the Ford grant coincided with the epoch of "Neo-Walrasian" economics at CORE, which also started the differentiation of disciplines. While initially the research fields were integrated, at that time there appeared the complementary but independent disciplines of mathematical economics, operations research and econometrics. After the division of the disciplines, disequilibrium economics became the major and most influential research area at CORE, differentiating the center from US practices and establishing it as a specific school in macroeconomics.
By 1973, when the Ford grant ended, CORE had expanded its permanent faculty to 21 members with about as many visitors. The maintenance of the center was taken over by the university, supported by external funding through various research contracts with the Belgian government and different organizations. With the disciplines becoming more and more differentiated, mathematical programming and econometrics, initially minor fields, also developed and became important research areas at CORE. Thus, Bayesian econometrics can be considered a trademark of the center, sometimes referred to as the "Belgian Bayesian School".
In 1977, CORE expanded into training activities by the creation of the European Doctoral Program in Quantitative Economics, later joined by other partners. In 1985, the European Economic Association was created at the initiative of Jacques Drèze (who became its first president), Jean Gabszewicz, Louis Phlips, Jacques-François Thisse, and Jean Waelbroeck.
Today, CORE's major research fields include economics, game theory, operations research, quantitative and economic geography. Its main objectives are fostering quality research, developing networking connections for scientific exchange and collaboration, training young doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, as well as making professionals in the public and private sector benefit from scientific knowledge.
People The permanent academic staff of CORE is constituted of 22 faculty members coming from UCLouvain and its partner institutions, supported by several administrative employees.
Yearly, the center hosts an average of 25 researchers coming to CORE on long-term visits, including two categories of external visitors: associate fellows and research associates working at CORE on a weekly and yearly basis respectively. They are appointed for two years subject to the support of two CORE members, with the possibility to extend this period. Associate fellows and research associates are expected to participate in all CORE activities including scientific projects, seminars and publications. Yearly, several research fellows receive CORE fellowships, which are postdoctoral grants distributed on a competitive basis for a period of time from one to three years. In the framework of its Ph.D. and postdoctoral training programs, the center hosts 33 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers per year. In addition to the longer stays, CORE regularly receives faculty and researchers coming on short visits from a few days to a few weeks.
With its members and visitors coming from institutions all over the world, CORE is characterised by an international working environment and attributes particular importance to research networking connections.
Governance The following lists detail the chronological succession of CORE's Presidents and Research Directors since its foundation in 1966, based on the institutional archives.
Presidents Henri Florin (1966–1967) Frans Van Winckel (1968–1969) Jacques Drèze (1970–1983) Jean Gabszewicz (1983–1992) Laurence Wolsey (1992–1998) Heracles Polemarchakis (1998–2000) Jacques Thisse (2000–2006) Claude d'Aspremont (2006–2010) Luc Bauwens (2010–2013) Philippe Chevalier (2013–2019) Mathieu Van Vyve (2019–2022) Daniele Catanzaro (2022–present)
Research Directors Jacques Drèze (1966–1970) Anton Barten (1967–1975) Guy de Ghellinck (1974–1975) George Nemhauser (1975–1977) Jean Gabszewicz (1977–1980) Laurence Wolsey (1980–81, 1988–1991) Paul Champsaur (1981–1983) Jean-François Richard (1983–1986) Bernard Cornet (1986–1988) Heracles Polemarchakis (1991–1995) Claude d'Aspremont (1995–1998) Michel Le Breton (1998–2000) Yves Pochet (2000–2004) Rabah Amir (2003–2004) Shlomo Weber (2004–2006) Luc Bauwens (2006–2009) Erik Schokkaert (2009–2011) François Maniquet (2011–2014, 2019–2021) Maurice Queyranne (2014–2016) Isabelle Thomas (2016–2019) Sébastien Van Bellegem (2021–2026) Francesca Monti (2026–present)
Research CORE's major research areas are: Economics and Game theory, Econometrics, Operations Research and Quantitative and Economic Geography.
Economics and game theory Among the major research areas developed at CORE are traditionally general equilibrium (uncertainty, incomplete markets, computation of equilibrium, non-convexities in the production sector, introduction of money, price equilibria, unemployment study), industrial economics, political economics, spatial economics, public economics, environmental economics, decision theory, macroeconomics as well as non-cooperative and cooperative game theory (equilibrium concepts, uncertainty, cooperative solutions). The current research in this area comprises theoretical, applied and empirical developments. It aims at providing a theoretical basis for the solution of market regulation and public sector organisation problems. The current research areas include industrial organization, public economics and political economy, environmental economics, welfare economics and social choice theory, general equilibrium and various game-theoretical topics.
Econometrics Econometrics research at CORE is aimed at the development of quantitative models as well as statistical and computational methods applied to treating economic data. Among the major CORE contributions in econometrics are Bayesian estimation of simultaneous equations systems (Bayesian inference methods are widely used in research at CORE) and the concepts of weak and strong exogeneity used in statistical inference. Other important research fields include financial econometrics and structural econometrics. The current research areas in econometrics are financial econometrics, time series econometrics and Bayesian methods.
Operations research Research in this field is related to optimization and mathematical programming. Among the major contribution areas are discrete optimization, integer programming and convex optimization. Research is also carried out in the fields of large energy investments, electricity transfers and markets and European market design and regulation as well as in supply chain management. Operations research is closely connected with economic geography through the use of mathematical programming methods in solving location decision problems. The current operations research areas include modelling and finding solutions to industrial economics problems, discrete optimization, linear and nonlinear optimization, and the calculation of equilibria.
Quantitative and economic geography Research in geography at CORE is closely connected with economics, e.g. the joint study of the location of human activities and their environmental footprint. It is focused on the areas of quantitative and economic geography and finds its applications in land-use planning policy. The current research areas in geography include location-allocation models, transport geography and sustainable mobility, spatial quantitative analyses, human and economic geography.
Chairs and scientific projects Around 30 scientific projects are developed yearly at CORE, financed in the form of grants and contracts by the public and private sector, including the Belgian Federal Government, e.g., the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, the Fund for Scientific Research – FNRS, the Belgian French Community, the European Commission, e.g., the European Research Council, Framework Programmes, COST Actions, various Belgian and foreign public institutions, private enterprises, etc.
At CORE, there are currently three research chairs: ENGIE Chair in Energy Economics and Energy Risk Management funded by Engie and supporting research in the field of risk management in energy markets. Kronos Group Chair in Strategic Sourcing and Procurement financed by Kronos Group, Belgium, and combining research, teaching and networking activities in strategic sourcing and procurement at the Louvain School of Management, both in the theoretical and practical domain. Chair in Digital Economics financed by Google, linked to the Digital Economics Research Network DERN, stimulating theory- and evidence-based research, meeting the highest standards of quality and objectivity, in the field of digital economics.
At CORE, previous chairs include