Sarah Bui

Sarah Bui joined the Growth Lab as a Research Assistant in 2021. She graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Economics and Policy and Environmental Science.  Throughout her undergraduate, she conducted multiple research projects in different fields from microbiology to geographic information systems, before solidifying her interest in economics. For her senior thesis, she studied the impacts of multi-million dollars bridges constructions on air pollution in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.  

Natasha Nathan

Prior to joining the Growth Lab, Tasha worked as a Program Coordinator with EF Education First, organizing international internships, volunteer service learning and language study homestays for students taking a gap year. Tasha’s focus ranged from streamlining processes in a growing department to delivering an exceptional experience for both her students and team members. In her prior role as Senior Tour Consultant for Education First, Tasha also coordinated logistics with international teams and advised travelers partaking in cultural tours, including managing the Emergency Support Team for multiple departments and providing training for staff at conferences in Lille, France and Lisbon, Portugal on emergency response procedures and best practices.

Tasha holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Suffolk University and enjoys practicing and instructing yoga and barre, taking spin classes, reading, cooking, traveling, and being outdoors in her free time.

Miguel Braun

Miguel Braun is a senior adviser at the CSIS Americas Program. Previously, he was vice-Minister of Finance and Secretary of Commerce of Argentina (2015-2019). He played a key role in several international negotiations, including with the IMF, Argentina´s work towards OECD accession, the EU-Mercosur trade deal and Argentina´s negotiation with the US over steel and aluminum tariffs. He led the revamping of competition policy in Argentina, which entailed the setup of the new competition authority, the drafting of the new competition law approved in 2018, and significant mergers and antitrust cases in sectors such as telecoms, electronic payments and consumer products. He was also responsible for modernizing Argentina´s international trade regulations, cutting red tape and simplifying bureaucracy through the setup of the single window for foreign trade.

He co-founded and directed CIPPEC, a policy think-tank based in Buenos Aires, and holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and a BA from Universidad de San Andrés. He has done consulting work across Latin America, taught at Universidad Torcuato di Tella, Universidad de San Andrés and Universidad de Buenos Aires, and published research on macroeconomics and fiscal policy.

Can Soylu

Can joined the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2020. He has been affiliated as an associate since August 2022.

Before joining the Growth Lab, Can worked at the Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, where he researched energy geopolitics and markets. Previously, he has also interned and completed research projects at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the UN, Barings LLC, and the Reserve Bank of India.

He received his A.B. in Social Studies, with a focus field entitled “Politics and Economics of the Post-Ottoman region” from Harvard University, and holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID, 2020) from the Harvard Kennedy School.

His research interests include growth diagnostics, macroeconomics, international finance, and trade.

Andre Ribeiro

Andre Ribeiro is a Research Fellow at the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab. 

Andre Assumpcao

Andre Assumpcao joined the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow in June 2020.

His broad research interests span over the political economy of development; the economics of corruption; judicial politics; philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE); the morality of markets; and natural language processing (NLP) applications in the social sciences. More specifically, Andre is interested in understanding how government institutions can serve as mechanisms to induce growth and prosperity by providing public goods necessary to economic development.

Juan Paez

Juan joined the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2020.

Before joining the Growth Lab, he worked at the Connectivity, Markets, and Finance Division of the Inter-American Development Bank, conducting research on access to finance and internet connectivity in Latin America and the Caribbean region. He also worked for the Macroeconomic Analysis Department of the Think Tank Fedesarrollo, covering macroeconomic forecasts for Colombia.

Juan holds a B.S. and a M.S. in Economics from the Universidad de los Andes, and a Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID, 2020) from the Harvard Kennedy School.

His research interests include public finance, macroeconomics, and international finance.

Farah Hani

Farah joined the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2020. She became an affiliated associate in 2022.

Farah was a Research Manager in the Growth Lab’s Applied Research team. Prior to that, she was a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Global Development, working on a labor mobility project that aims at building the case for more international labor mobility, and advocating for greater international cooperation on this agenda. Farah was also a senior consultant in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Middle East between 2013 and 2017 and worked with government agencies across the Gulf on capability building projects, focusing on the area of human capital management.

Farah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut and a Master’s degree in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard Kennedy School.

Her research interests include labor market policies, with a focus on migration, governance, and growth diagnostics.

Johanna Ramos

Johanna Ramos is a former Growth Lab Fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. Before joining CID, she worked at the Inter-American Development Bank at the Office of Evaluation of Oversight and the Education Division as research fellow. Previously, Johanna worked at the National Planning Department of Colombia and the World Bank as consultant. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree summa cum laude in Economics from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, a Master’s Degree in Economics from the same University, and a Master’s in Public Administration and International Development from Harvard Kennedy School (MPA-ID 2017). She is passionate about quantitative methods and data science. Her research interests include education policy, labor market policy, and gender inequality.

Lucio Castro

Lucio Castro is Global Fellow at the Wilson Center and consultant for international organizations based in Washington DC. Previously, he was Alternate Executive Director for Argentina and Haiti at the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB). Prior to that position, he served as Vice-Minister in the Ministry of Production of Argentina. He was also Director of Economic Development at CIPPEC, one of the principal think tanks in Latin America, and Practice Leader at Maxwell Stamp PLC, a leading economic consulting firm, in London, UK. He also worked in Emerging Markets´s finance at Morley Fund Management in London. He was visiting scholar at the Center for International Development (CID) in Harvard University and received the Fullbright Nexus Scholarship. He is  Affiliated Researcher at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA).  He holds a Phd in Economics from the University of Sussex in UK and a Masters from the Program in Economic Policy Management at Columbia University.