Chile and Ecuador
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María Isabel Larenas G. is an economist with more than 20 years of professional experience in Chile and the United States. Her academic work combines applied research in various areas of economics, and she has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors.
Her academic and research career began in 2000 and has unfolded at universities and research centers, including the University of Chile, the University of Maryland, and the University of Chicago. Her work has focused on human capital, employment, education, innovation, and inequality, and includes the preparation of technical studies, public policy analysis, and technical outreach publications. She has also served as a professor of econometrics at the University of Chile.
In the private sector, early in her career, she served as a partner and director of a manufacturing company in Chile and later did consulting work on corporate risk assessment and management, including her work at RCF Economic and Financial Consulting in Chicago from 2004 to 2008.
In the Chilean public sector, she participated in the design and evaluation of public policies, as well as in innovation and productive development initiatives for institutions such as CORFO (2000-2001) and the Ministry of the Interior (CONACE/SENDA, 2010-2011).
She also served as a senior consultant for international organizations, including the World Bank and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), collaborating on studies and evaluations in a variety of international contexts. From 2018 until her appointment as Executive Director, she served as Senior Counselor to the Boards of Executive Directors of the IDB Group.
She is a Commercial Engineer and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chile, where she also earned a master’s degree in economics. She also holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland and has completed specialized coursework at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton).
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