I am a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank, a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California, Berkeley; a Research Fellow at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics; an Academic Member at Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP); and a Faculty Affiliate at both the Center for Economic and Social Research and the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics at the University of Southern California.
I also serve as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Development Economics. I mentor through the Association for Mentoring and Inclusion in Economics (AMIE), collaborate with the Households in Conflict Network (HiCN), and am a founding member of the Humans LACEA Network.
My research advances evidence-based policies that promote meaningful change across the following areas:
The nexus between migration and development, including policies that shape outcomes for migrants and host communities;
The intersections of crime, conflict, and development;
The impacts of shocks on business development and resilience; and
The interactions of technology adoption, gender roles, and fertility decisions.
In recognition of the impact of my research and policy work, I received the 2024 Juan Luis Londoño Award, given biennially to Colombians under 40 whose work has significantly improved welfare in Colombia.
My current projects span Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa, and include several randomized control trials in Jordan, Ethiopia, and Colombia. I co-founded major research initiatives such as the VenRePs Adults Study of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, VenRePs-Kids Study for internal and internationally displaced children, and the Syrian Refugee Life Study (SRLS) in Jordan. I also contributed to the World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies.