Leadership
Nora Lustig | Executive Director
Nora Lustig is Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics and Director of the Commitment to Equity Institute (CEQ) at Tulane University. Professor Lustig’s research focuses on economic development, poverty and inequality, and social policies in developing countries. She has published more than seventy articles and fifteen edited volumes and books. Her current research is centered on assessing the impact of taxation and social spending on inequality and poverty in low and middle income countries, and on the determinants of income distribution in Latin America. Prof. Lustig is a founding member and past president of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) and was a co-director of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2000/1, Attacking Poverty. She is the editor of the Journal of Economic Inequality Forum and a member of the Inter-American Dialogue, the Center of Global Development’s Advisory Board, ECINEQ’s Executive Council, PEP’s Board of Directors, and the World Economic Forum’s Economic Growth and Social Inclusion Stewardship Board. She is also a Nonresident Fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Inter-American Dialogue. Prof. Lustig has served on the Atkinson Commission on Poverty and on the Stiglitz et al. Commission on Measuring Economic Performance and Social Progress. She received her doctorate in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Team Members (alphabetical order by last name)
Maynor Cabrera | Director of Projects and Advisory Services and Associate Director for LAC
Maynor Cabrera is a Senior economist with expertise in fiscal policy, human development and macroeconomics. Graduated from the University of San Carlos and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He has a studies in tax policy at the School of Government of Harvard University. He was Secretary of the Commission of the Fiscal Pact of Guatemala and has worked as a researcher at ICEFI, ASIES and CIEN, as an advisor to government agencies (Ministry of Planning, Tax Administration) and as a consultant to international organizations. He is the author of articles published by ECLAC, CIEPLAN and UNU Wider. He has also produced technical reports for USAID, the World Bank, IDB, as well as other agencies and governments.
Ludovico Feoli | Director of Policy Area
Ludovico Feoli the Director of the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (CIPR) and a Research Associate Professor in the Stone Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Political Science at Tulane University. His research interests include the political economy of market reforms in Latin America, institutions and institutional change, and the quality of governance. He is currently the executive director of the Centro de Investigación y Adiestramiento Político Administrativo, CIAPA, in San José, Costa Rica. He has served as country expert for the Bertelsmann Transformation Index and a researcher for the Proyecto Estado de la Nación in Costa Rica. He received his PhD in Political Science from Tulane University in 2007.
Sean Higgins | Co-Director of CEQ Data Center and Software Development
Sean Higgins is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Center for Effective Global Action and the Director of the Data Center on Fiscal Redistribution at the Commitment to Equity Institute. His research focuses on financial inclusion through government cash transfer programs in developing countries and on the impact of taxes and transfers on inequality and poverty. He received his PhD from Tulane University in 2016 and has worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank. His research has been published in a number of academic journals including the Journal of Development Economics, and has been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Fulbright Program, Innovations for Poverty Action, and the National Science Foundation.
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Jon Jellema | Associate Director for Africa, Asia and Europe
Jon Jellema is an Economist based in Frankfurt, Germany. His research interests are assessing the impact of weakly administered tax systems on inequality and poverty in developing countries and the institutional determinants of poverty and economic growth. He has lead CEQ Assessments in Indonesia, Namibia, Zambia, Uganda, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Vietnam, and has participated in fiscal incidence studies in South Africa, Senegal, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Jordan, Pakistan, and India. He previously worked as a poverty economist and social development specialist for the World Bank assigned to Indonesia. Jon received his PhD in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Israel Martinez | Coordinator of Masterdata
Israel Martinez obtained his Masters in Economics from Universidad de las Americas- Puebla and his Bachelor of Economics from Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla. He has experience in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of municipal, state and federal development policies in Mexico with a focus on public policies and social protection programs. After working as a consultant and public servant, he joined the CEQ Institute in 2016.
Itzel Martinez | Administrative Coordinator
Israel Martinez has worked as a research assistant at the department of International Relations and Political Science of the Universidad de las Americas Puebla and at the Center for Asia and Africa Studies of the El Colegio de Mexico. She received her M.A. in Asia and Africa Studies (specialty in China) from El Colegio de Mexico A.C., and her B.A. in International Relations from the Universidad de las Americas Puebla. Her research focuses on foreign policy, social development and geopolitics.
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Sandra Martinez Aguilar | Co-Director of CEQ Data Center and Software Development
Sandra serves as Commitment to Equity Institute’s Data Center Director. She is also the lead author of the CEQ Assessment for Chile and the technical advisor of the assessments for Paraguay and Senegal. She has collaborated on research related to poverty and public policy as a Consultant for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the United Nations Development Program, among other organizations. She also served as Analyst at the Ministry of Finance of Chile. She holds a Masters degree in Public Policy from Columbia University and a BSc in Economics from the Universidad de Chile.
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Estuardo Morán | Director of Publications and Training and Associate Director for Latin America & the Caribbean
Estuardo Morán served as a senior economist at the Central Bank of Guatemala and has worked as a consultant on poverty and inequality for different international organizations. Education: M.A. in Economics and Public Policies from University Torcuato Di Tella at Buenos Aires and Ph.D. in Economics from Indiana University at Bloomington.
Stephen D. Younger | Associate Director for Africa, Asia, and Europe
Stephen D. Younger is Associate Director of the CEQ Institute. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics in 1986 from Stanford University and has worked previously at Williams College, Cornell University, the Vrije Universiteit, and the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales – Quito, and Ithaca College. Dr. Younger’s research focuses on public policy and poverty in developing countries, especially fiscal incidence, non-income dimensions of well-being, and multidimensional poverty and inequality measurement.
Contact by Country
Argentina: Dario Rossignolo | darossignolo@yahoo.com
Armenia: Stephen D. Younger | stephen.younger@ceqinstitute.org
Bolivia: Veronica Paz Arauco | vera.paza@gmail.com
Brazil: Claudiney Pereira | claudiney.pereira@asu.edu
Chile: Sandra Martínez-Aguilar | sandra.martinez@ceqinstitute.org
China: Yang Wang | Wyecon@gmail.com
Colombia: Marcela Melendez | marcela.melendez@econestudio.com
Costa Rica: Juan D. Trejos | juan.trejos@ucr.ac.cr
Dominican Republic: Jaime Aristy-Escuder | jaimearisty@gmail.com
Ecuador: Freddy Llerena Pinto | fllerena@economica.com.ec
El Salvador: Jose Andres Oliva | joliva@fusades.org
Ethiopia: Tassew Woldehanna | tassew.woldehanna@gmail.com
Georgia: Cesar Cancho | ccancho@worldbank.org
Ghana: Stephen D. Younger | stephen.younger@ceqinstitute.org
Guatemala: H. Estuardo Moran | estuardo.moran@ceqinstitute.org
Honduras: Ricardo Castañeda | ricardo.castaneda@icefi.org
India: Sridhar Kundu | sridhar@cbgaindia.org
Indonesia: Jon Jellema | jon.jellema@ceqinstitute.org
Iran: Ali Enami | aenami@tulane.edu
Ivory Coast: Jon Jellema | jon.jellema@ceqinstitute.org
Jordan: Shamma Alam | alams@dickinson.edu
Mexico: John Scott | john.scott@cide.edu
Mozambique: Stephen D. Younger | stephen.younger@ceqinstitute.org
Nicaragua: Maynor Cabrera | maynor.cabrera@ceqinstitute.org
Panama: H. Estuardo Moran | estuardo.moran@ceqinstitute.org
Paraguay: Sandra Martínez-Aguilar | sandra.martinez@ceqinstitute.org
Peru: Miguel Jaramillo | mjaramillo@grade.org.pe
Russia: Daria Popova | dpopova@essex.ac.uk
South Africa: Ingrid Woolard | ingrid.woolard@uct.ac.za
Sri Lanka: Nisha Arunatilake | nisha@ips.lk
Tanzania: Stephen D. Younger | stephen.younger@ceqinstitute.org
Togo: Jon Jellema | jon.jellema@ceqinstitute.org
Tunisia: Nizar Jouini | nizar.jouini@dohainstitute.du.qa
Turkey: Koray Caglayan | kcaglaya@tulane.edu
Uganda: Jon Jellema | jon.jellema@ceqinstitute.org
United States: Sean Higgins | sean.higgins@ceqinstitute.org
Uruguay: Marisa Bucheli | marisa.bucheli@cienciassociales.edu.uy
Venezuela: Emiro Molina | molina.emiro@gmail.com
Zambia: Jon Jellema | jon.jellema@ceqinstitute.org
Advisory Board
Chairs
Nora Lustig, Director of CEQ
Samuel Z. Stone Professor, Latin American Economics, Tulane University, and Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Global Development and the Inter-American Dialogue
Peter Hakim
President Emeritus, Inter-American Dialogue
Members
Jere Behrman
W.R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Economics, University of Pennsylvania
Nancy Birdsall
President, Center for Global Development
François Bourguignon
Professor of Economics, Paris School of Economics
Otaviano Canuto
Senior Advisor on BRICS Economies, World Bank
Mauricio Cárdenas
Minister of Finance, Colombia
Fernando Carrera Castro
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Guatemala
Kevin Casas-Zamora
Secretary for Political Affairs, Organization of American States
Luis Castilla
Minister of Economy and Finance, Peru
Louise Cord
Sector Manager, Poverty Reduction and Gender Group, Latin America and Caribbean Region, World Bank
Rolando Cordera Campos
Professor Emeritus of Economics, and Coordinator, Centro de Estudios Globales y de Alternativas para el Desarrollo de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Augusto de la Torre
Chief Economist, Latin America and the Caribbean, World Bank
Ludovico Feoli
Executive Director, CIPR (Center for Inter-American Policy & Research), Tulane University
Francisco Ferreira
Chief Economist, Sub-Saharan Africa Region, World Bank
Ariel Fiszbein
Director, Education Program, Inter-American Dialogue
Juan Alberto Fuentes Knight
Director, Division of Economic Development, UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Juan Carlos Gómez Sabaini
Former Deputy of Security and Tax Policy, Argentina
Carol Graham
Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and College Park Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland.
George Gray Molina
Chief Economist, Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations Development Programme
Rebeca Grynspan
Under Secretary General and Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
Martin Hopenhayn
Director, Division for Social Development, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile
Miguel Jaramillo
Senior Researcher, GRADE (Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo), Peru
Santiago Levy
Vice President, Sectors and Knowledge, Inter-American Development Bank
Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva
Lead Economist, Poverty Reduction and Gender Group, Latin America and Caribbean Region, World Bank
Mario Marcel
Deputy Director, Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate, OECD
Jonathan Menkos Zeissig
Executive Director, Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales, Guatemala
Carmelo Mesa-Lago
Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh
Judith Morrison
Senior Advisor, Gender and Diversity Unit, Inter-American Development Bank
Hugo Noé Pino
Former Executive Director, Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales, Guatemala
José Antonio Ocampo
Professor of Professional Practice, and Director, Program in Economic and Political Development, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Daniel Ortega
Senior Research Economist, Research Department, CAF (Latin American development bank), Venezuela
Tamara Ortega Goodspeed
Senior Associate, Inter-American Dialogue
Guillermo Perry
Profesor, Faculty of Economics, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia, and Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development
Carola Pessino
Senior Researcher, Department of Economics at the Universidad del CEMA, Argentina, and consultant for the World Bank and IDB, Washington, DC
Jeffrey Puryear
Vice President for Social Policy, Inter-American Dialogue
David Roodman
Senior Economic Advisor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Jaime Saavedra
Minister of Education, Peru
Ana María Sanjuan
Secretariat and External Relations, CAF (Latin American development bank), Venezuela
John Scott
Professor and Researcher, CIDE (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas), Mexico, and Academic Advisor, CONEVAL (Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social), Mexico
Michael Shifter
President, Inter-American Dialogue
Vito Tanzi
Honorary President, International Institute of Public Finance
Andras Uthoff
Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad de Chile
Research Associates (alphabetical order by last name)
Shamma Alam | Dickinson University | USA
Jim Alm | Tulane University | USA
Facundo Alvaredo | Paris School of Economics and CONICET | Belgium
Rodrigo Aranda | Tulane University | USA
Jaime Aristy-Escuder | INTEC | Dominican Republic
Nisha Arunatilake | Institute of Policy Studies | Sri Lanka
Stefano Barbieri | Tulane University | USA
Jeremy Barofsky | Brookings Institution | USA
Margarita Beneke de Sanfeliu | FUSADES | El Salvador
Marisa Bucheli | Universidad de la Republica | Uruguay
Koray Caglayan | Tulane University | USA
Bernardo Candia | Universidad de Chile | Chile
Ricardo Castaneda | ICEFI | Guatemala
Jose Cuesta | UNICEF | Italy
Subrat Das | CBGA | India
Enrique de la Rosa | Tulane University | USA
Ali Enami | Tulane University | USA
Eduardo Engel | Universidad de Chile | Chile
Ilya Espino | Universidad de Minas Gerais | Brazil
Jose Maria Fanelli | Universidad de San Andres | Argentina
George Gray Molina | Consultant | USA
Astrid Haas | International Growth Center | Uganda
Arturo Harker | Universidad de los Andes | Colombia
Rana Hendi | Doha Institute for Graduate Studies | Qatar
Miguel Jaramillo | GRADE | Peru
Wilson Jimenez | Fundacion Aru | Bolivia
Nizar Jouini | Doha Institute for Graduate Studies | Qatar
Sridhar Kundu | CBGA | India
Cristhina Llerena | Economica CIC | Ecuador
Freddy Llerena | Economica CIC | Ecuador
Mashekwa Maboshe | University of Capetown | South Africa
Valentina Martinez | Inter-American Development Bank | USA
Kenneth Mdadila | University of Dar es Salaam | Tanzania
Marcela Melendez | ECONOESTUDIO | Colombia
Emiro Molina | Corporacion Multifranquicias | Venezuela
Flora Myamba | REPOA | Tanzania
Jose Andres Oliva | FUSADES | El Salvador
Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez | King’s College | UK
Eric Osei-Assibey | University of Ghana | Ghana
Veronica Paz-Arauco | Instituto Alternativo | Bolivia
Claudiney Pereira | Arizona State University | USA
Daria Popova | University of Essex | UK
Adam Ratzlaff | University of Colorado | USA
Dario Rossignolo | Universidad de Buenos Aires | Argentina
Maximo Rossi | Universidad de la Republica | Uruguay
John Scott | CIDE | Mexico
Abebe Shimeles | African Development Bank | Ivory Coast
Juan Diego Trejos | Universidad de Costa Rica | Costa Rica
Sergio Urzua | University of Maryland | USA
Yang Wang | Tianjin University | China
Tassew Woldehanna | Addis Ababa University | Ethiopia
Sebastian Wolf | International Growth Center | Uganda
Ingrid Woolard | University of Capetown | South Africa
Ernesto Yanez | Instituto Alternativo | Bolivia