Researchers

Laura Alfaro Maykall is the Chief Economist and Economic Counselor of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She started in this role on June 1, 2025, after taking a leave from Harvard Business School, where she is the Warren Alpert Professor of Business Administration. She served as Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy in Costa Rica from 2010 to 2012. She is Co-Editor of the Journal of International Economics and the World Bank Research Observer, President of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA), and Faculty Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).Ms. Alfaro Maykall has authored numerous articles on international economics, capital flows, foreign direct investment (FDI), sovereign debt, and trade. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where she received the Dissertation Fellowship award. She received a B.A. degree in economics from the Universidad de Costa Rica and a 'Licenciatura' from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile. Ms. Laura Alfaro Maykall is a citizen of Costa Rica and the United States.

Ernesto Schargrodsky is the Deputy Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Before joining the IDB in 2025, he was Full Professor and Director of the Crime Lab at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina, and previously served as Director of Socioeconomic Research at CAF. 

Vanessa Alviarez is an Economics Lead Specialist 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.

Fernando Arce is a Senior Specialist Economist at the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. Previously, he was an economist in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Fernando holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota, an M.Sc. in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford, and a master’s degree in Statistics and Engineering from ENSAE ParisTech. His research focuses on international macroeconomics and finance in emerging economies, with particular emphasis on macroprudential policy, sovereign default, and the political economy of fiscal policy.

João Ayres is an Economics Senior Specialist in the Research Department at the Inter-American Development Bank. He received his B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Sao Paulo, his M.Sc. and D.Sc. in Economics from Getulio Vargas Foundation, and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota. During his studies, he held visiting positions at Columbia University, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and worked as a Research Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. His research focuses on international economics, macroeconomics, and public finance.

Samuel Berlinski is an Economics Principal Specialist 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 an Economics Principal Specialist 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.

Juan Pablo Chauvin is an Economist Specialist 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 an Economics Principal Specialist 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.

Bridget Hoffmann is an Economics Lead Specialist 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.

Leticia Juarez is an Economist Specialist at the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She works on the fields of International Economics, Macroeconomics, Environmental Economics.

Luciana Juvenal is a Principal Economist at the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Her research interests span international finance, external balance sheets, commodity markets, and international trade with a strong track record in policy-relevant research. Prior to joining the IDB, she held senior economist roles at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), including in the Research Department, the European Department, and the Institute for Capacity Development, where she contributed to global macroeconomic surveillance, flagship reports, and training programs for policymakers across Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Before joining the IMF she was an economist in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Luciana's scholarly work has been published in leading journals such as the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of International Economics, and the Journal of the European Economic Association. She is also an Associate Editor of the Review of World Economics.

Luciana holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick, an MSc from University College London, and a bachelor's degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires.

Mathieu Pedemonte is a senior economist at the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. Previously, he was a Research Economist at the Federal Reserve of Cleveland. His research field is macroeconomics, with interests in economic history and international economics. He obtained his PhD at the Economics Department of the University of California at Berkeley. Before that, he got a master's and B.A. degree in Economics at the Universidad de Chile.

Cezar Santos is Economics Lead Specialist 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.

Miguel Ángel Talamas Marcos is an Economics Specialist 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.

Carolina Tojal is an economist specialist in the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Her research focuses on industrial organization, environmental economics, and development economics. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan in 2024 and holds master's and bachelor's degrees in Economics from the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

Diego Vera-Cossio is an Economics Senior Specialist 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 Masters Degree in Economics from Universidad de Chile and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Universidad Católica Boliviana.

Razvan Vlaicu is an Economics Senior Specialist 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.