I received a B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) and M.A. (Cum Laude) in Economics from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, and a Ph.D.  and M.A. in Economics from UCLA. Prior to joining the World Bank, I worked as an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Marshall School of Business of the University of Southern California. I am a faculty affiliate at CEGA, Univ. of California Berkeley, and a research fellow at IZA Institute of Labor Economics, CESR, Univ. Southern California, Schaeffer Center, Univ. Southern California, and the Households in Conflict Network. I am a founding member of Humans LACEA Network and an associate editor of the Journal of Development Economics.

My research informs policy around:

1- The effects of forced migration within hosting economies

2- The role of policies that foster development for migrants and their hosting communities.

3- The consequences of violence and conflict and how to mitigate those effects in developing countries. 

I have on going research work in Latin America, Middle East, South East Asia, and Africa, including multiple RCTs in Jordan, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Colombia. My articles have been published in journals such as the Journal of Labor Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Human Resources, AEA papers and proceedings, and other leading development journals. 

I am co-founder of the VenRePs Study, which collects longitudinal data on Venezuelan forced migrants in Colombia; the Longitudinal Survey of Forced Migrant Children (VenRePs-Kids) which collects data on Venezuelan and Colombian children;  and the Syrian Refugee Life Study (SRLS) which uses a randomized control trial to evaluate the effectiveness of NRC Jordan’s Urban Shelter Program and  collects  longitudinal data for a representative sample of Syrian refugees living Jordan (policy brief here). I was also part of the core team of the World Development Report 2023 on Migrants, Refugees, and Societies.