Growth Lab

Development Talk: Economic Gardening and Capitalism’s Conundrum
2024-03-27 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | HYBRID T-520 NYE BC, HKS / Zoom (registration information below)
The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. This event is co-sponsored with the Taubman Center for State & Local Government. Speaker: Christian Gibbons, founder of the National Center for Economic Gardening (NCEG) and creator of “Economic Gardening,” an entrepreneurial approach to economic development. Moderator: Lara Gale, Economic Development Program Manager, Taubman Center for State & Local Government. This session will be an interactive discussion of capitalism’ conundrum and the role of Economic Gardening- an entrepreneurial, grow-your-own approach to economic development. Economic Gardening is based in part on the science of complex adaptive systems, systems theory and Stage 2 companies with a focus on commodity traps. Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunch will be provided. The Zoom webinar is open to the public. Speaker Bio: Chris Gibbons is the founder of the National Center for Economic Gardening (NCEG). He is the creator of “Economic Gardening,” an entrepreneurial approach to economic development. The program, created in Littleton CO in 1987, is widely regarded as introducing the first entrepreneurial element into economic development. It is a major strategy used in many economic development programs today. From the period 1990 to 2010 the number of jobs in Littleton doubled from 15,000 to 30,000 and sales tax revenues more than tripled from $6 to $21 million. The city did not recruit one business during this period, nor did it offer one cent in incentives or tax rebates. The NCEG was created in 2012 to assist communities across the country to start and operate Economic Gardening programs.

Development Talk - Banking on Colombia’s Development: Innovation and Growth at Bancoldex
2024-04-22 12:00 - 13:00 | HYBRID R-306, HKS / Zoom
The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. Speaker: Javier Díaz Fajardo, President and CEO of Bancóldex Moderator: Juan Jimenez, Lecturer in Public Policy, HKS This session will focus on Innovation and Growth at Bancoldex, Colombia’s entrepreneurial development and export-import bank. Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. Boxed lunch will be provided after the event. The Zoom webinar is open to the public. Speaker Bio: Javier Díaz Fajardo has thirty years of experience in financial markets. His work in this field includes management positions in New York, Washington and Colombia. He has been president of Bancóldex, Colombia’s business development bank, since 2019. During this time, he has led the growth of the entity, exceeding $10 billion in total assets, and has transformed the entity’s business model, going from being a second-tier bank for commercial banking to one that provides direct credit to Colombian companies with an emphasis on innovation, sustainability and digital transformation. In October 2023, he was appointed co-president of the Development Banks Club (IDFC), an organization made up of 26 development institutions from around the world. Previously, he was CEO of Renta 4 Global Fiduciaria, an asset management startup (subsidiary of the Spanish bank Renta4). Until 2017 he was Commercial Vice President and Vice President Corporate of the Colombian Stock Exchange, where he designed and completed the initial financing for a2censo, a fintech that allows Colombian micro, small and medium-sized companies to issue bonds to investors through crowdfunding.Diaz Fajardo holds a Master’s degree in International Business from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and a law degree from the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. In addition, he is a member of the Society of Kauffman Fellows, the main venture capital and entrepreneurship network in Silicon Valley, and is a founding member of the Colombian Institute of Corporate Governance. He has served on 10 boards of directors and taught the class “Financial System: History, Strategy and Leadership” at CESA, Colombia’s main business school. He also served as Vice President of Investor Relations at Grupo Aval, Colombia’s largest financial group, and was a director of Andes Capital, a Colombian venture capital fund that he co-founded.

Development Talk: Using Economic Complexity for Policymaking - The Case of Córdoba, Argentina
2024-07-23 11:00 - 12:00 | Online/Zoom
The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. This event is online only. Please register in advance. Speakers: Andrés Michel, Secretary of Economic Policy in the Government of the Province of CórdobaPaula Luvini, Researcher in the Data Science Area at FundarMatías Gutman, Coordinator in the Productive Policy Area at Fundar About the talk: Córdoba, the second largest city in Argentina, is a major tech and education hub with significant potential to attract new industries. However, the complexity of the city’s export basket is an important question. The Government of Córdoba and the think tank Fundar conducted a study to explore opportunities for designing a productive development strategy and policy for the city. Economic Complexity is a key tool in this process, helping to identify sectors with the most potential and to create evidence-based public policies. To achieve this goal, new data on provincial exports and local firms was used. Using secondary sources and web scraping, a new geolocated database of export firms and their goods was created. This database was then used to recalculate the complexity indexes at the city level. As a result, 28 products with potential for Córdoba were selected and grouped into three categories: Machinery, Food and Beverages, and others. The Economic Complexity approach is valuable, leveraging current export data to formulate a concrete plan for future growth. It highlights existing sectors that need improvement and modernization, as well as strategic sectors that are currently underrepresented but have potential to contribute.

Development Talk: Solving the Impossible Problem of Sovereign Debt Restructuring
2024-10-30 12:00 - 13:00 | HYBRID Democracy Lab R414AB / Zoom
The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.
Speaker: Gregory Makoff, M-RCBG Senior Fellow, Author
Moderator: José Ignacio Hernandez, Former Visiting Fellow, Growth Lab
About the Talk: Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government Senior Fellow Gregory Makoff will talk about sovereign debt restructuring. Drawing lessons from Argentina’s 15-year battle with its creditors following its 2001 default on $100 billion on debt, Dr. Makoff will discuss the two central challenges of sovereign debt: the “holdout creditor problem” and the problem of designing an effective resolution system while respecting the sovereignty of the country. He will also discuss his current research into whether the current informal system of sovereign debt restructuring is adequate or whether a formal international debt court will eventually be needed.
Whether attending in person or online, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Buffet lunch will be served. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.
About the Speaker: Gregory Makoff is the author of Default: The Landmark Court Battle over Argentina’s $100 Billion Debt Restructuring. Prior to writing the book Gregory was an investment banker specializing in liability management and debt restructuring (1993-2014) and worked as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Treasury (2015-2016). Currently, he is a senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and, since 2015, has been a non-resident senior fellow writing about sovereign debt at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), a think tank based in Waterloo Canada. Gregory holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago (1993) and B.Sc. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in physics and political science (1986). Gregory is also a CFA® charter holder.

Can South Africa's Government of National Unity Deliver?
2024-12-03 13:00 - 14:00 | HYBRID – Zoom / Wexner W-434AB
The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. Speaker: Ann Bernstein, Executive Director, Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) About the Talk: For the past year, the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) has been working on a major initiative, AGENDA 2024: Priorities for South Africa’s new government. It sets out to answer what is by far the most important question facing the country: What can the new government do to get the country back on track after 15 years of stagnation and decline? This initiative builds on the Growth Lab’s Growth through Inclusion in South Africa project that was supported by CDE between 2021 and 2023. In this talk, Ann Bernstein will discuss South Africa and the government of national unity (GNU) that was formed following the May 2024 general election. Whether attending in person or online, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Buffet lunch will be served. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.
About the Speaker: Ann Bernstein heads the Centre for Development and Enterprise, South Africa. An independent think tank CDE is South Africa’s leading development policy centre, with a special focus on growth, jobs, education, cities and the role of business. Member of the Transition Team, then the Board of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (1994 – 2001). Fellow, National Endowment for Democracy, Washington DC (2005). Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC, 2013. Board member Brenthurst Foundation 2007-2017. In 2008 and 2009 invited African faculty member, World Economic Forum, Davos. Invited Fellow Bellagio Center, Rockefeller Foundation 2016. Her book, The Case for Business in Developing Economies (Penguin 2010) received favourable reviews in South African media, the Economist, Financial Times, Forbes and elsewhere. The book won the Sir Anthony Fisher Award 2012, Atlas Research Foundation, Washington DC.

Diversifying from Oil: Aspirations and Results of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030
2024-12-05 13:00 - 14:00 | HYBRID WEXNER L-230, HKS / Zoom
The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. Speaker: Ziad Daoud, Chief Emerging Markets Economist at Bloomberg LP, Senior Fellow with the Middle East Initiative at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Moderator: Tim Cheston, Senior Manager, Applied Research, Growth Lab About the Talk: One of the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 is to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil. In this event, Ziad Daoud, Chief Emerging Markets Economist at Bloomberg LP, will analyze the results of Saudi diversification efforts and whether Saudi Vision 2030 is succeeding in decreasing the economy’s reliance on oil revenue. Tim Cheston, Senior Manager at the Growth Lab, will follow with a discussion on the challenges to economic diversification in an oil economy. Whether attending in person or online, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Buffet lunch will be served. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.
About the Speaker: Ziad Daoud is a Senior Fellow with the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He is the Chief Emerging Markets Economist at Bloomberg. Prior to that, he was the Chief Middle East Economist at Bloomberg, Head of Economics at QNB Group, and an economist at Fulcrum Asset Management. He holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics and a BSc in economics and statistics from University College London.

Growth Lab Development Talk - Green Steel in Namibia: Progress Report Summary
2025-03-27 12:00 - 13:00 | Allison Dining Room (T-520)
The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. Speaker: James Mnyupe, Presidential Economic Advisor and Hydrogen Commissioner, Government of The Republic of Namibia Moderator: Ketan Ahuja, Growth Lab Research Fellow About the Talk: James Mnyupe will speak about his work in Namibia setting up an industrial ecosystem around green hydrogen production, and related industries. He will discuss a pilot project involving direct reduced iron production using green hydrogen that is currently being commissioned. The speaker invites attendees to watch this video before the event. Whether attending in person or online, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Buffet lunch will be served. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.
About the Speaker: Mr. Mnyupe is a multidisciplinary financial professional with a background in accounting, asset management and wealth management. A graduate of UNAM and Rhodes University, Mr. Mnyupe plied his trade in the private sector for over a decade auditing a wide variety of companies in all three sectors of the Namibian economy and undertook extensive research on listed securities on the local stock exchange. He led one of Namibia’s prominent asset management firms for five years, was the Founding Chair of the Namibia Savings and Investment Association, was appointed to the High-Level Panel on the Namibian Economy in 2019 by President Hage Geingob and holds the CA, CFA and CFP designations. Mr Mnyupe possesses a holistic appreciation for how the capital and institutional savings markets intertwine to drive Namibia’s economic and developmental agenda. His involvement in various industry and national bodies have offered him a unique perspective from which to contribute to various dialogues and initiatives that look to deploy said assets across various opportunity sets, locally and regionally more effectively.

AI and Economic Development: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policy Implications
2025-10-30 12:00 - 13:00 | Allison Dining Room (T-520)
Development Talks

As artificial intelligence capabilities advance rapidly, they are beginning to reshape patterns of economic development, productivity growth, and labor markets around the world. The emergence of open-source AI is transforming how these technologies diffuse across economies and who can access them. These shifts raise fundamental questions about which sectors and regions will benefit most and what policy frameworks are needed to navigate them.

Thomas Wolf, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Hugging Face, will discuss how AI is influencing dynamics in economic development, and explore the key challenges facing policymakers and researchers as they work to understand and guide these transformations. HuggingFace operates the leading open platform for collaboration in AI.

Speaker: Thomas Wolf, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Hugging Face

Moderator: Pierre-Alex Balland, Visiting Fellow at the Growth Lab, and Chief Data Scientist at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS)

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. The Zoom session is open to the public.

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.

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Exiting the Resource Curse: The Political Economy of Natural Resource Management in Latin America
2025-11-19 14:30 - 15:30 | Wexner 434 AB
Development Talks

Latin America is one of the world’s most resource-rich regions, with major oil reserves in Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela, abundant natural gas in Argentina and Bolivia, and significant mineral deposits in Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, and Peru. Yet, natural resource management in the region is often shaped by shifting political and economic factors, including ideological rifts and volatile commodity prices, hindering consistent policy and institutional development to manage rents and foster broader economic development.

Osmel Manzano will discuss the key challenges and opportunities for effective natural resource management in Latin America, and its implications for economic development and productive diversification.

Speaker: Osmel Manzano, Regional Economic Advisor for the Country Department for the Andean Group at the Inter-American Development Bank

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Refreshments will be served. The Zoom session is open to the public.

Speaker Bio: Osmel Manzano is an Adjunct Professor at the Walsh School of Foreign Service (Georgetown University) and the Elliot School of International Affairs (George Washington University). He is also Regional Economic Advisor for the Country Department for the Andean Group at the Inter-American Development Bank. He has taught courses on Macroeconomics, Public Finance, Energy Economics and Oil Economics. He is responsible for the economic work and macroeconomic monitoring of the IADB in the Andean Region. He has been working on the development challenges in Latin America, with emphasis on resource abundance, agriculture, energy, and growth and productivity. He has authored different publications on these subjects. Read more >>

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.

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Getting Things Done: Issue Spotting in the Infrastructure Development Projects Ecosystem
2026-02-04 12:00 - 13:00 | Democracy Lab (414-AB)
Development Talks

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In this Development Talk, Bill Dobbs will share a front‑row view of how public policy, governance, and engineering intersect in real‑world settings. He will offer Insights into how large public works succeed—or fail—depending on governance, institutions, and the quality of decision‑making and practical advice to future policy makers on infrastructure project management.

Speaker: Bill Dobbs, Former Civil and Structural Engineer and Project Manager

Moderator: Ricardo Hausmann, Director, Growth Lab

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Lunch will be served. The Zoom session is open to the public.

Speaker Bio: Over nearly fifty years as a civil and structural engineer and project manager, Bill Dobbs has worked on major infrastructure projects in over 20 countries. Trained (B.Sc., and M.Eng.) at Cornell University, Bill Dobbs has overseen the design and construction of, inter alia, hydroelectric dams, tunnels, water and wastewater systems, transportation projects, and U.S. government facilities across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Many of his projects were funded by international institutions such as USAID, the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter‑American Development Bank, and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.

Mr. Dobbs brings a technically sophisticated, but practical and culturally sensitive focus to world-class engineering projects. His assignments required navigating through complex stakeholder environments involving national government agencies, local communities, international lenders, and private contractors.

Whether dealing with funding agencies, aligning infrastructure plans with social and environmental safeguards, or helping governments build technical capacity, he has worked at the point where policy objectives meet on-the-ground realities. He retired from full-time practice in 2024, but continues to support international projects and maintains contact with his professional associates, offering them guidance in their professional careers.

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.

From Vacant Houses to Growth-Ready Capabilities: A Place-Based Growth Diagnostic
2026-02-12 12:00 - 13:00 | Malkin Penthouse (L-P-9)
Development Talks

This talk explores housing vacancy as a source of insight into how cities can unlock new growth opportunities. Using Baltimore as a case study, it highlights how strengthening institutional coordination, capital access, and prevention capacity can shape more resilient development trajectories. The talk connects place-based innovation to Growth Lab frameworks on capabilities, complexity, and structural transformation.

Speaker: Terrance Smith, Chief Innovation Officer for the city of Baltimore

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Lunch will be served. The Zoom session is open to the public.

Speaker Bio: Terrance Smith is a public innovation leader focused on designing trustworthy public institutions that demonstrate ability, humanity, and integrity through how systems actually operate.

He currently serves as Chief Innovation Officer for the city of Baltimore, leading two high-performing teams advancing public safety recruitment and retention and housing vacancy prevention, while delivering system-level outcomes and building institutional capacity for trust and performance at scale.

Previously, Terrance was a Public Innovation Fellow at the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University and served as Innovation Director for the City of Mobile, Alabama, where he founded the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Initiatives and led the city’s Innovation Team and Datacenter. In Mobile, his work helped reduce blighted properties by 53 percent, earning national recognition from Fast Company and catalyzing legislative change and new models for cities addressing long-term disinvestment.

Across housing, public safety, and service delivery, Terrance’s work centers on a core insight: public innovation succeeds when trust is designed into systems, not treated as a byproduct. He has been named a Bloomberg Cities CityLab Innovator to Watch and a Top Forty Under Forty by Mobile Bay Magazine.

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.

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Industrial Policy in Action: Lessons from Over a Decade at the Department of Energy
2026-02-26 12:00 - 13:00 | Allison Dining Room (T-520)
Development Talks

The energy sector stands at an inflection point. After 15 years of remarkable change, the convergence of surging electricity demand, climate pressures, and emerging industries promises even more rapid transformation. This presentation and discussion draws on Garrett’s experience at the Department of Energy and Waypoint Strategy Group to explore the path from research to commercialization, the impacts of policy on technology development and deployment, and the broader ecosystem that makes modern energy systems work. We’ll close with a look at what the coming years may hold.

Speaker: Garrett Nilsen, Co-Founder and Partner Waypoint Strategy Group

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Lunch will be served. The Zoom session is open to the public.

Speaker Bio: Garrett spent over 13 years working in the US Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), rising the roles of Deputy (and Acting) Director, aiding the industry’s rise from a minor contributor to the US electricity sector to the nation’s fastest growing energy source. He managed a $300+ million-per-year portfolio spanning photovoltaics, solar-thermal, grid integration, supply-chain resilience, and non-hardware solar costs (e.g. workforce development, siting, community acceptance, equitable access to solar). Under his leadership the office launched first of their kind programs to address technology commercialization, solar energy and load forecasting, renewable energy siting, renewable energy grid interconnection, new uses of solar, and more. Prior to leadership roles at SETO, he led teams working on accelerating technologies to market and got to see first hand how industrial policy can shape a technologies future. Garrett is now at Waypoint Strategy Group, which he founded with 3 other senior DOE leaders in 2025 to bring lessons on technology research, development, and commercialization and effective funding program design to the world.

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.

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Growth Versus Development: The Peruvian Example
2026-04-16 12:15 - 13:15 | Wexner W-330
Development Talks

Despite significant political volatility and external shocks Peru has been able to maintain remarkable macroeconomic stability. At the same time, enormous deficiencies remain regarding access to basic services, inclusion, and social and political development. What explains the discordance between Peru’s macroeconomic success and the country’s failure in terms of development? What might an inclusive growth strategy look like for Peru? What do we learn about tradeoffs and challenges between growth and development? In this Development Talk, Roberto Chang, Professor in the Department of Economics at Rutgers University and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, will discuss his recently published books “Economia Peruana ¿Milagro o Ficción?” and “Los 10 Números Que Todo Peruano Debe Conocer” and explore relevant lessons for Peru and the developing world.

Speaker: Roberto Chang, Professor of Economics at Rutgers University, Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research

Moderator: Ricardo Villasmil, Senior Research Fellow, Growth Lab

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Boxed lunch will be provided at the end of the event. The Zoom session is open to the public.

Speaker Bio: Roberto Chang is a Professor of Economics at Rutgers University and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Before joining Rutgers in 2000, he was a Research Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He has also been an Assistant Professor at NYU and a Visiting Professor at Princeton. Chang has published extensively on monetary economics, exchange rate policy, and financial crises. He has served in the editorial boards of the Journal of International Economics and the Journal of Development Economics, and as a member of the Economics Panel of the National Science Foundation. Chang is a native of Peru and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.

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Ecuador: Economic Reactivation at the Global Crossroads and the New Commercial Era
2026-04-17 12:00 - 13:00 | Wexner W-330
Development Talks

After a decade of stagnation, Ecuador finds itself at a critical yet promising moment to revitalize its economy. With its recent return to international markets and progress in strategic trade negotiations — such as those with the United States — the country has the opportunity to launch a new stage of economic and productive development.

In this Development Talk, Minister Luis Alberto Jaramillo will discuss Ecuador’s economic outlook and, in particular, how, amid a backdrop of growing geopolitical tensions and the reconfiguration of global alliances, Ecuador seeks to redefine its positioning to attract investment, boost production, and secure a future of sustained growth and stability.

Speaker: Min. Luis Alberto Jaramillo, Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, and Investment, Ecuador

Moderator: Sebastián Bustos, Senior Research Fellow

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Boxed lunch will be provided at the end of the event. The Zoom session is open to the public.

Bio: Business leader with more than 30 years of experience in the industrial sector. Industrial and Systems Engineer from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM). Master’s in Marketing from the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL). Expertise in investment projects, productivity, quality, continuous improvement, process analysis and reengineering, process management, information technology, integrated management systems, management indicators, and talent development/coaching. Within his experience in developing successful strategies, he has served as General Manager, Commercial Director, and Advisor at industrial companies such as Industria Cartonera Ecuatoriana S.A. and Grupasa Grupo Papelero S.A. He taught at the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), delivering courses on industrial engineering, international marketing, and market research; at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Production Sciences, and the Institute of Humanistic and Economic Sciences. He has participated in executive programs on continuous improvement and process management at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE). He previously served as Minister of Economy and Finance and as Director General of the National Customs Service of Ecuador (Senae).

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy.

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The Startup State: What Drives Economies That Innovate
2026-04-28 12:30 - 13:30 | Allison Dining Room – Taubman 5th Floor
Development Talks

What does entrepreneurship really mean, and why does it matter? America has a unique entrepreneurial edge. Its innovation engine, shaped by culture, markets, and policy has powered some of the world’s most transformative Ideas. What makes it different, and why does it continue to matter today? Join us for a conversation with Howard Wolk (MC/MPA 2002), a longtime entrepreneur who has experienced America’s startup ecosystem firsthand. We will dive into Wolk’s book, “Launchpad Republic: America’s Entrepreneurial Edge and Why It Matters”, the “secret sauce” of entrepreneurship, and an examination of the past, present, and future of American innovation.

We’ll explore big questions at the heart of innovation:

Does government fuel entrepreneurship, or get in its way?

What insights did Joseph Schumpeter offer on creative destruction, and why are they still relevant?

What can other countries learn from the U.S. model of innovation?

Speaker: Howard Wolk Co-CEO of The Cross Country Group (CCG)

Moderator: Yariv Gabay, Wolk fellow in the Center for Public Leadership and an MC/MPA 2026 candidate at HKS

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is permitted for the Harvard community. Lunch will be provided. The Zoom session is open to the public.

Bio: Howard L. Wolk is Co-President of The Cross Country Group (CCG). Howard began his career at the New York City law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and then joined the White House as Associate Counsel for the transition team during the Clinton Administration, also serving as a member of Vice President Gore’s Task Force on Reinventing Government. He received B.A. and B.S.Ec. (Wharton School) degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School, and an M.P.A. degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he served as a Senior Fellow. Howard is an active member of non-profit and social entrepreneurship organizations, including the Boston Bridges Initiative. Most recently, Howard is also the co-author of Launchpad Republic: America’s Entrepreneurial Edge and Why It Matters (Aug. 2022, Wiley)

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working on economic growth and development in countries, regions, states, and cities in the US and around the world. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both economic growth and development and analytical work centered on policy. This Development Talk is co-sponsored by the Center for Public Leadership at HKS.

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