She was born in San Carlo Canavese in 1948.

From 1993 to 1997 she was a member of the Municipal Council of the City of Turin.

From 2001 to 2002 she chaired the Task Force on Pension Portability of the Center for Economic Policy Studies in Brussels.

In 2001 she received the Saint Vincent Award for Economy, and in 2003 she was awarded by the INA with a prize for her studies in insurance matters.

One year later, she worked as an independent expert for the World Bank, with the task of evaluating the supporting role played by the Bank in the implementation of pension reforms in Russia, Latvia, Macedonia, Albania.

In 2011 she received the “La Mela d’Oro” award from the Marisa Bellisario Foundation dedicated to “Women, innovation and human capital”.

In 2013 she received the Ezio Tarantelli Award for the best economic idea of the year, she was also awarded by the Economy Club for having created the Social Employment Insurance (ASPI). She currently is Honorary Professor of Political Economy at the Department of Economic-Social and Mathematical-Statistical Sciences (ESOMAS), University of Turin, where she held the chair of Political Economy until 31 October 2018.

She was Scientific coordinator of the CeRP – Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies Carlo Alberto and Vice President of SHARE-ERIC. She was also Vice-President of OEE , and then, she became Honorary Senior Fellow of the Collegio Carlo Alberto. She was also a member of the Research Committee of the OECD’s International Network on Financial Education (INFE) and of the Scientific Committee of GFLEC (Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, Washington DC).

In 2021 she was appointed as a member of the Steering Committee for Economic Policy of the Draghi Government.

She worked as a key-note speaker, columnist for La Stampa and television commentator.

From November 2011 to April 2013 she took part of the Government led by Mario Monti, as Minister of Labor and Social Policies with responsibility for Equal Opportunities. In this role, she carried out the pension and labor market reforms, approved by Parliament at the end of 2011 and mid-2012 respectively.