ECA Talk: "Returns to Education" Turns 50

George Psacharopoulos—author of the book Returns to Education—has made a deep impact on the way education is viewed in relation to economics and developing nations. His conception of how investment in education can be approached has helped shape and influence research studies and policy formation, especially as they relate to developing nations. 

Anna Bjerde has served as World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia since May 1, 2020. In this position, she leads the World Bank’s strategic, analytical, operational and knowledge work in the region. 

Indermit Gill is Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. Before starting this position on September 1, 2022, he served as the World Bank’s Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he played a key role in shaping the institution’s response to the extraordinary series of shocks that have hit developing economies since 2020.

Rita K. Almeida is a Manager with the World Bank's Education Global Practice, covering the Europe and Central Asia region. Prior to this, Rita was the lead economist and human development program leader for Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama). 

Dr. Luis Benveniste is the World Bank's Human Development Regional Director for Latin American and the Caribbean. He was a co-author of the World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development.

Barry R. Chiswick is a professor of economics and international affairs in the Department of Economics and the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. Together with Gary Becker, he was the first to study the relationship between the natural log of earnings and schooling.

Carmel Chiswick is a development and labor economist, who is now a research professor of economics at George Washington University She previously worked as an economist at USAID, the United Nations, the World Bank, and the University of Illinois at Chicago before coming to GWU. 

Ivailo Izvorski has served as World Bank Chief Economist for the Europe and Central Asia region since December 1, 2022. He previously worked as the Practice Manager for the Global Macro, Growth and Debt unit in the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment (MTI) Global Practice. 

Dean Karlan is Chief Economist at USAID. He is the Frederic Esser Nemmers Distinguished Professor of Economics and Finance and co-director of the Global Poverty Research Lab at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. 

Niki Kerameus is the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs of the Hellenic Republic since July 2019 and a Member of the Hellenic Parliament since January 2015. During her tenure as Minister, she has introduced a series of legislative reforms to upgrade the quality of the Greek education system and render it more fair, inclusive, and dynamic.

Elizabeth M. King is Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, editor of the Journal of Development Effectiveness, and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She serves on the executive and advisory boards of international NGOs and multinational organizations. 

Adriana D. Kugler has served as the World Bank Group Executive Director for the United States since May 2022. Prior to joining the World Bank Group's Board, Dr. Kugler’s career in research and policy as a development and labor economist in high level leadership roles includes serving as Vice Provost for Faculty at Georgetown University and Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. 

Renata Lemos is a Senior Economist in the World Bank's Education Global Practice where she has worked on operations and analytical activities in the Latin America and Caribbean and the Europe and Central Asia regions. Renata’s research work focuses on topics in managerial and organizational economics, economics of education and labor economics.

Arif Mamun serves as the Managing Director for Economic Analysis in the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Department of Policy and Evaluation. In that capacity, he guides and manages MCC’s economic analysis team that supports partner countries to identify binding constraints to economic growth and examines their underlying causes as well as conducts cost-benefit analysis and performs beneficiary analysis for MCC compacts and threshold programs.

Walter W. McMahon is an emeritus professor of economics and education at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. His fields are macroeconomic analysis (unemployment, inflation, productivity growth) and the economics of education and human capital.

Harry Anthony Patrinos is Adviser, Office of the Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank. He specializes in the economics of education. 

Tatiana Proskuryakova is the World Bank’s Regional Director for the Central Asia region. Prior to this appointment, she served as the Country Manager for Romania and Hungary during 2017-2021, Country Manager in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro based in Sarajevo since 2015, Country Manager in North Macedonia 2013-14, and Country Operations Adviser for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay from 2010 to 2013. 

Jozef Ritzen is a former Minister of Education, Culture, and Science of the Netherlands. Ritzen previously served as Vice President of the World Bank's Human Development Network and as President of Maastricht University, working also with UNESCO, UNDP and the OECD.

Fadia Saadah is currently the World Bank's Human Development Director for the Europe and Central Asia region. She has held several leadership and managerial posts at the World Bank including Director for the Global Practice for Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP). 

Jaime Saavedra leads the Education Global Practice at the World Bank Group, where he oversees a $20 billion portfolio of education financing. He rejoined the World Bank Group in 2017 from the Government of Peru, where he served as Minister of Education from 2013 through 2016, being the first minister to continue in the same position across two administrations. 

Marcelo Selowsky is a Chilean economist, who previously served as the World Bank's Chief Economist for Latin America and then for the transition countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 

Paul Vandenberg is the Senior Economist for the Asian Development Bank's Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department. He taught in the United Kingdom and India before joining ADB in 2010.

Eduardo Velez Bustillo is a consultant on the education sector with the World Bank. He has held a number of roles with the World Bank, including Education Sector Manager for East Asia and the Pacific and for Latin American and the Caribbean.