About us

Vanessa Alviarez is a Research Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank and an Assistant Professor in the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. She received her B.A. in Economics from the University Central of Venezuela (Summa Cum Laude), and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan. During her studies, she was a Dissertation Intern at the Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She also has worked as a consultant at the Office of Evaluation and Oversight at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and the Research Department at CAF - Development Bank of Latin America. Her research focuses on international economics, looking at how multinational's location and sourcing decisions affect employment, trade patterns, and firm's performance.

É economista do Departamento de Pesquisa do BID. Seus interesses de pesquisa se concentram em economia internacional, macroeconomia e finanças públicas. Formado em economia pela Universidade de São Paulo, João tem mestrado e doutorado em economia pela Fundação Getúlio Vargas e doutorado em Economia pela Universidade de Minnesota.

Samuel Berlinski is a Lead Economist at the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. Prior to joining the Bank in 2010, he was an Assistant Professor of Economics at University College London and previously held appointments at Universidad de San Andrés and the London School of Economics. His work has appeared in numerous journals including the Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Law and Economics and Economic Development and Cultural Change. His research at the Bank focuses on the evaluation of public policy, with particular emphasis on Education, Health and Labor Markets. He completed his undergraduate studies in Economics at Universidad de Buenos Aires and obtained a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Oxford, Nuffield College.

Matias Busso is a Lead Economist in the Research Department at the Inter-American Development Bank. He is also a Research Fellow at the Center for Distributive, Labor and Social Studies (CEDLAS) and a member of the executing committee of the Network of Inequality and Poverty of LACEA. His research uses empirical evidence and theory to inform the design of more effective public policies in areas related to labor, education, and productivity. Matias received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan in 2008. He has published articles in the American Economic Review and The Review of Economics and Statistics, among others.

Eduardo Cavallo is Principal Economist at the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington DC. Prior to joining the IDB, Eduardo was a Vice-President and Senior Latin American Economist for Goldman Sachs in New York. Eduardo had already worked at the IDB as a Research Economist between 2006 and 2010. Before that he served as a research fellow at the Center for International Development (CID), a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and a member of the faculty at the Kennedy School of Government's Summer Program. In Argentina he co-founded Fundación Grupo Innova.

Eduardo’s research interests are in the fields of international finance and macroeconomics with a focus on Latin America. He has published in several academic journals, and is the co-editor of the books “Building Opportunities for Growth in a Challenging World” (IDB, 2019); “A Mandate to Grow” (IDB, 2018); “Saving for Development: how Latin America and the Caribbean can save more and better” (Palgrave, 2016) and “Dealing with an International Credit Crunch: Policy Responses to Sudden Stops in Latin America” (IDB, 2009). He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and an MPP from Harvard University, and a B.A. in Economics from Universidad de San Andres (UdeSA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Juan Pablo Chauvin is a Research Economist in the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. He is also an associate at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. His research focuses on the economic development of cities and regions, with a focus on understanding the connections between labor markets, housing markets, and the industrial composition of places. In the past, he has been a consultant with the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GiZ), the World Bank, the OECD and the private sector; advising local and national governments in South America, Asia, the MENA region and South East Europe. He has also been an instructor at the Harvard Kennedy School and at Ecuadorian Universities. He holds a PhD in Public Policy and a Masters in Public Administration - International Development from Harvard, a Masters in Public Policy from FLACSO - Ecuador, and B.A.s in Sociology and Economics from Universidad San Francisco de Quito.

Julian Cristia is a Principal Economist in the Research Department at the Inter-American Development Bank. His current research analyzes how governments can promote skills development using technology in a cost-effective way. He has evaluated programs that introduced technology into schools and expanded access to pre-primary education. Additionally, he has produced systematic reviews on early childhood development, the use of technology in education and how to improve learning in primary schools. His work has appeared in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Human Resources, and Journal of Health Economics. His research has been covered by several media outlets including The Economist, NPR, and Associated Press. Prior to joining the IDB, he worked as an Associate Analyst in the Health and Human Resources Division of the Congressional Budget Office. Cristia holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland.

Rodrigo Heresi Gajardo es economista en el Departamente de Investigación del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo.

Bridget Hoffmann is an economist in the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. Her research interests are applied microeconomics, development economics, and environmental economics. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University in 2015. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Financial Economics and Mathematics from the University of Rochester.

Alejandro Izquierdo is Deputy Director and Head of the Macro Group at the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). He previously held positions as interim Chief Economist and Manager of the Research Department, Regional Economic Advisor for Mexico and Central America, and Principal Economist across the IDB. Alejandro spearheaded the IDB’s Annual Macroeconomic Report for several years and is currently co-director of the Columbia University-IDB executive program on international financial issues in emerging markets. He has also led IDB’s flagship product, the Development in the Americas, on issues such as credit and public expenditure in Latin America. Before his career at the IDB, Alejandro worked at the World Bank in the Department of Economic Policy, and taught courses on macroeconomics and international finance at several Latin American universities. He has several publications in professional journals and edited volumes. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland, an M.S. from Instituto Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina, and a B.A. in Economics from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Eric Parrado Herrera is Chief Economist and General Manager of the IDB’s Research Department since March 2019. Before joining the IDB, he was a professor of economics and finance at the ESE Business School of the Universidad de los Andes in Santiago, Chile. Mr. Parrado is a visiting professor at Oxford University and the Central European University, and a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Financial and Monetary Systems.

Throughout his professional career, Mr. Parrado has focused on monetary, fiscal and financial policy, advising central banks on managing inflation targeting regimes and implementing sovereign wealth funds in several countries. He has also written several academic articles on monetary policy, fiscal policy and sovereign wealth funds.

Cezar Santos is Senior Research Economist at the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. His research focuses on macroeconomic development, with an emphasis on labor markets, credit markets, family economics, climate change and infectious diseases. His work has appeared in academic journals such as Econometrica, AEJ: Macro, Journal of Development Economics, Economic Journal, among others. Prior to joining the Bank, he was an Associate Professor of Economics at Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV EPGE) and a research economist at the Bank of Portugal. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Mannheim. He completed his undergraduate studies in Economics at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), his master's at FGV EPGE and obtained a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Carlos Scartascini is Head of the Development Research Group at the Research Department and Leader of the Behavioral Economics Group of the Inter-American Development Bank. He has published eight books and more than 60 articles in academic journals and edited volumes. He is a member of the Executive Committee of IDB's Gender and Diversity Lab, member of the Board of Advisors of the Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, Associate Editor of the academic journal Economía, and Founding Member of LACEA's BRAIN (Behavioral Insights Network). A native of Argentina, Dr. Scartascini holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Economics from George Mason University.

Dunn Smith es editor asistente del Departamento de Investigación del BID

Miguel Ángel Talamas Marcos is an Economist at the Research Department. Miguel holds a Ph.D. in Managerial Economics and Strategy from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University. His research focuses on firms and labor markets in developing countries. Before his doctoral studies, he worked in consulting for McKinsey & Company and Cornerstone Research.

Diego Vera-Cossio is an economist in the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. His area of interest is development economics. In particular, his research analyzes how different policies help or prevent family businesses from growing in contexts in which access to finance is limited. He is also interested in understanding how different methods of targeting and delivering resources from public programs affect policy effectiveness. Diego, a citizen of Bolivia, received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego in 2018. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Universidad de Chile and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Universidad Católica Boliviana.

Razvan Vlaicu is a senior economist in the Research Department at the Inter-American Development Bank. His research interests are in public economics and political economics, with a focus on the role of governance and institutions in economic development. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University, taught economics at the University of Maryland, and held short-term positions at the Kellogg School of Management and the World Bank. His research has been published in journals such as the Review of Economic Studies, American Political Science Review, Journal of International Economics, and Journal of Public Economics.