Social Norms and Economic Behavior: Gender Norms, Perceptions, and their Impact

As Global Director for Gender, Hana Brixi leads a global effort to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. She sets the overall direction for the World Bank Group’s Gender knowledge agenda, drives Bank-wide efforts for results in closing gender gaps, and fosters partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders toward innovations at scale. In her career, Ms. Brixi has contributed to advances in human development, public finance, and governance. As Manager of the Human Capital Project, she led a global effort to protect and invest in people with an emphasis on girls and women empowerment. Prior to this, she held managerial and leadership positions in the Social Protection & Jobs and Governance Global Practices and in the Middle East & North Africa, East Asia & Pacific, and Europe & Central Asia regions. Based in China during 2001-10, she also served as World Health Organization’s Manager and UNICEF Chief in China. Ms. Brixi has published articles in professional journals and written several books on economic development, including Trust, Voice and Incentives on service delivery and Government at Risk on fiscal management. She holds graduate degrees in physics and economic policy from Masaryk University and Princeton University, respectively.

Leonardo Bursztyn is the Saieh Family Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. He is also an Editor of the Journal of Political Economy, the co-director of the Becker Friedman Institute Political Economics Initiative, and the founder and director of the Normal Lab. His research uses field experiments, often combined with observational data, to better understand how individuals' main economic decisions are shaped by their social environments. His work has examined educational, labor market, financial, consumption, and political decisions, both in developing and developed countries. Leonardo is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a fellow at the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), and an affiliate at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and at the Pearson Institute. He is also the recipient of a 2016 Sloan Research Fellowship. He received his PhD in economics at Harvard University in 2010.

Maurizio Bussolo, lead economist in the Chief Economist Office for South Asia, has been working on quantitative analyses of economic policy and development with research interests spanning both micro and macroeconomic topics. At the World Bank, he also worked in the Chief Economist Office for Europe and Central Asia and in the Development Economics Prospects Group; and he led operational teams in the aftermath of the 2008-09 crisis negotiating with Latin American and Caribbean governments the implementation of reforms to shield the most vulnerable. Before joining the World Bank in 2003, Bussolo worked at the OECD, at the Overseas Development Institute in London, and at Fedesarrollo and the Los Andes University in Colombia. He has extensively published in peer-reviewed journals on trade, growth, poverty and income distribution. Some of his recent publications include ‘Toward a New Social Contract’, ‘Golden Aging: Prospects for Healthy, Active, and Prosperous Aging’ and ‘The Impact of Macroeconomic Policies on Poverty and Income Distribution’. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Warwick.

Ana Maria Munoz Boudet is a senior social scientist in the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice with the Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD). Her work focuses on gender, poverty and inequality issues. She has worked in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, Africa, and South Asia. As part of eMBeD Ana Maria’s work has focused on socio-emotional skills development to close gaps in education and labor markets, and in changing behaviors associated with negative human capital outcomes. She has lead analytical research at the country and regional level, impact evaluations of policies and programs, as well as technical assistance to client countries. Ana Maria is also part of the South Asia Gender Innovation Lab (SARGIL). She is a co-author of the World Development Report 2012 on Gender Equality and Development. A sociologist by training, she holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and doctorate studies from the University College of London.