About

Current Work

I currently serve as Head of the Regional and Sectoral Data Group, Inter-American Development Bank, on external service from the World Bank.

My role focuses on strengthening how data are governed, discovered, integrated and used across analytical and operational work. It requires bridging communities that often speak different professional languages: economists, data scientists, engineers, technology teams, sector specialists and senior decision-makers.

My interest is not data infrastructure for its own sake. It is how better institutional data can contribute to better analysis and better public decisions.

World Bank

Before joining the IDB, I spent much of my career at the World Bank in consulting and staff roles, most recently as a Senior Economist.

I led and contributed to international work on human capital, climate change, migration, poverty, statistical systems and government delivery across Latin America, Africa and global initiatives. My work ranged from economic research and country diagnostics to government advisory, operations, high-frequency monitoring, data systems, policy dialogue and global partnerships.

I also managed multidisciplinary teams and helped lead global Human Capital initiatives bringing together governments, development partners, researchers and senior institutional leadership.

Research

Research remains an important part of how I think. My work has examined the long-run and intergenerational effects of natural disasters, climate-related migration, the economic consequences of forced migration, conflict and human capital, multidimensional poverty and the use of machine learning and nontraditional data in development economics.

It has appeared in the Journal of Development Economics, American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, Oxford Economic Papers, World Development, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Review of Income and Wealth, Climatic Change and other journals.