Asli Demirgüç-Kunt is the Director of Research in the World Bank. After joining the Bank in 1989 as a Young Economist, she has held different positions, including Director of Development Policy, Chief Economist of Financial and Private Sector Development
Thierry Tressel is a lead economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. He joined the World Bank in 2014. He previously worked in the European, Research and Asia and Pacific departments of the International Monetary Fund. He earned a PhD from DELTA - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (2001) and an engineering degree from the Ecole Polytechnique (1995). In 2013, he co-edited an IMF book on the European financial crisis, titled From Fragmentation to Financial Integration in Europe. He has published in books and academic journals including the Journal of Finance, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Economic Growth, Journal of the European Economic Association, and volumes by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Research Manager, Finance and Private Sector Development, Development Research Group
Maria Soledad Martinez Peria is the Research Manager of the Finance and Private Sector Development Team of the Development Economics Research Group at The World Bank. Her published work has focused on currency and banking crises, depositor market discipline, foreign bank participation in developing countries, bank financing to SMEs, the impact of remittances on financial development and the spread of the recent financial crisis. Prior to joining The World Bank, Sole worked at the Brookings Institution, the Central Bank of Argentina, the Federal Reserve Board, and the International Monetary Fund. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. from Stanford University.
Sergio is a Lead Economist at the World Bank’s Development Research Group. My research area is international finance and international financial markets and institutions. In particular, I work on emerging market finance, financial globalization, financial crises and contagion, financial development, and institutional investor behavior. I obtained my Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1997, when I joined the World Bank's Young Economist and Young Professionals Programs.
Lixin Colin Xu is a lead economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. After studying at Peking University and the University of Chicago, he joined the Research Group of the World Bank in 1996. His current research has focused on applied microeconomic topics such as development, industrial organization, corporate governance, governance and institutions, political economy, cultural change, and Chinese economy in transition. He has published widely with articles appearing in Journal of Financial Econ., AER (papers and proceedings), J. Public Econ., J. Labor Econ., J. Law and Econ., JLEO, Review of Econ. & Statistics, J. Development Econ., J. Comparative Econ., Economics of Transition, and so on.
Miriam Bruhn is a Senior Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Development Team of the Development Research Group. She joined the Bank as a Young Economist in September 2007. Her research interests include the effect of regulatory reform on entrepreneurial activity, the informal sector, micro and small enterprises, financial literacy, and the relationship between institutions and economic development. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT and a B.A. in Economics from Yale University.
Tatiana Didier is a Senior Economist in the Operations and Strategy Unit of the Development Economics Vice Presidency. She obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 2008. She is currently doing research on international trade and finance. Topics of interest include the dynamics of trade and capital flows and the implications for economic growth and development; international capital flows and the implications for access to finance and the development of domestic financial systems.
Claudia Ruiz
Economist, Development Research Group
Claudia Ruiz is an Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Development Team of the Development Research Group. She joined the Bank in September 2011. Her research has focused on understanding the impact that access to finance has on individuals and firms, and the role that financial services have in promoting economic development. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA.
Martin Kanz is an Economist in the Finance Team of the Development Research Group at the World Bank. Martin's research interests include banking and financial intermediation, consumer finance, and the political economy of state interventions in credit markets. As part of his research, Martin has been involved in several field experiments and impact evaluations on financial sector topics, predominantly in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining the World Bank, Martin worked for the Investment Strategy Group at Goldman Sachs in New York and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in finance and economics. He received his AB in Economics from Harvard College, his MSc in Development Economics from Oxford and his PhD from Harvard University.
Alvaro Pedraza is an Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Development Team of the Development Research Group. His research interests include financial economics, asset pricing and macroeconomics. Prior to joining the Bank he worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Colombian Association of Pension Fund Administrators and the National Collateral Fund of Colombia. He holds a B.A. in Physics and a M.A. in Economics from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland.
Juan Jose Cortina Lorente is a Research Analyst at the World Bank’s Development Research Group, Macroeconomics and Growth Team. He joined the Bank in July of 2013 and worked on topics relating to emerging markets finance, financial globalization, and financial development. He is co-author of a future publication on Global Financial Markets, with Didier T. and Schmukler S.L. Prior to joining the Bank, he has worked as a Research Fellow at the Complutense University of Madrid. He holds a M.Sc. in Economics from the Barcelona GSE (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and a B.A. with honors from the Complutense University of Madrid.
Jeanne Verrier
Consultant
Jeanne Verrier is a Consultant with the Development Research Group and core team member of the GFDR. Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked on banking crises and macro-prudential policies at the IMF Research Department for three years. She also completed research projects at the Reserve Bank of India, the French Ministry of Economy in Bangkok and BNP Paribas in Singapore. She received a M.A. in Economics with Distinction from Johns Hopkins University and is currently a PhD candidate in Economics at the Graduate Institute, Geneva.
Nan Zhou
Research Analyst
Nan Zhou is a Research Analyst with the Development Research Group. He joined the World Bank in 2013, as part of the World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior team, contributing to research on improving the quality of financial decisions using behavioral economics. Most recently, his project explores linkages between the presence of institutional investor assets and the market activities regarding long-term finance instruments. Beyond issues in financial sector development, Nan is also interested in applying markets for information monitoring and prediction. He holds an M.A. in economics from Cornell University and B.Soc.Sc. from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Matias Moretti
Consultant
Matias Moretti worked as a short-term consultant for the World Bank Group from 2013 to 2015. Prior to joining the team, Matias worked as a Research Analyst in the Macroeconomics and Growth Team. As part of his research agenda at the Bank, he has also investigated the financial integration of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries with both North and South countries, the sectoral allocation of LACs financial inflows, and how these relate with LACs trade flows. He is currently studying a PhD in Economics at New York University.
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