Ricardo Benzecry

Ricardo joined the Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2025. He specializes in applying data science and machine learning methods to economic and policy research. His work spans labor markets, poverty analysis, impact evaluation, and macroeconomic analysis.

Ricardo began at a policy research consultancy in Venezuela, where he led teams conducting experimental research on labor and housing market discrimination in Latin American countries with the IDB. He then joined the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity division, leading household data collection operations and contributing to analytical reports that guide policy interventions.

His technical work includes applying machine learning to estimate the impact of oil policies on human capital, mapping socioeconomic conditions using small area estimation techniques, and exploring the economic implications of emerging AI technologies. Ricardo also taught Development Economics and Data Science at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.

Ricardo holds a Master of Public Administration in Data Science for Public Policy from the London School of Economics and a BA in Economics from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. His research interests focus on labor markets and the impact of emerging technologies, economic complexity, and inequality reduction.

Archita Misra

Archita joined the Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2025.

Drawing on several years of experience as a data analyst and development policy researcher, she specializes in distilling clear insights from data across various institutional contexts. At the OECD, Archita co-authored reports related to aid flows and managed projects on statistical capacity building across developing countries. At the World Bank’s Development Research Group, she contributed to research on technology and public finance, and at Oxford’s Digital Pathways program, she synthesized evidence on digital skills development while collaborating with government stakeholders in Africa and Asia.

More recently, Archita worked as a Research Analyst for the Ethnographic Survey of Africa project, a collaborative effort of economists from Harvard Business School, MIT, and others. In this role, she conducted research on the impact of cultural norms on contemporary socioeconomic outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa using newly-digitized historical data.

Archita holds a Master’s in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor’s in Economics from St. Stephen’s College at the University of Delhi. Her research interests include political economy, labor markets, and technological change, with a particular fascination for deploying new types of data sources!

Abdi Zihaul

Abdi joined the Growth Lab as an applied Research Fellow in 2025.

Before joining the Growth Lab, Abdi was an Analyst at Prospera, Australia’s economic advisory program in Indonesia, where he led research and policy engagement on trade, investment, and competitiveness. He advised senior officials at various economic ministries in Indonesia on reforms related to non-tariff barriers, special economic zones, and the energy transition.

He has also worked as an Economist at Grab where he applied causal inference methods to high-frequency transaction data to inform pricing strategies.

At Harvard, Abdi interned with the Growth Lab, contributing to Morocco’s Growth Diagnostics by performing a data-driven analysis of the country’s special economic zones and how they may align with its green growth agenda.

Abdi holds a Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School and a BSc in Economics from Universitas Indonesia. His research interests include industrial policy, trade and investment, innovation, and green growth in emerging markets.

Martina Cometti

Martina Cometti joined the Growth Lab as an applied Research Fellow in 2025. She specializes in international macroeconomics and finance. Her career spans the private sector, government, and multilateral development banking.

She began in Argentina’s asset-management industry, conducting financial research and managing portfolios for institutional investors. She then joined the Ministry of Economy, where she oversaw national health-care spending and budgeting. Moving to Washington, DC, Martina worked at IDB Invest, mobilizing capital for development projects across Latin America and the Caribbean in sectors such as clean energy, health, financial inclusion, and transportation.

During the summer of 2024, while pursuing graduate studies, she served as a research intern at the Central Bank of Armenia, contributing to monetary-policy analysis.

Martina holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires and a Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard Kennedy School.

Victoria Suarez Rubio

Victoria joined the Growth Lab as an applied Research Fellow in 2025. Her professional background centers on economic governance and public finance reforms. Prior to this role, she worked as a consultant with the World Bank, where she contributed to public expenditure tracking and supported anti-corruption initiatives in West Africa. She previously served as Chief of Staff at the European Parliament, leading negotiations on EU anti-money laundering legislation and EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. Earlier in her career, she worked as an analyst with the Insights team at the World Energy Council and helped found a social start-up in Spain focused on alleviating youth unemployment. Victoria holds a Master of Public Administration with a specialization in Economic Policy from the London School of Economics, as well as a dual degree in Law and Business Management from Complutense University of Madrid.

Her research interests include the role of governance and institutional factors in economic growth, private sector development policies and economic diversification.

Juan Carlos Orrego

Juan Carlos Orrego joined the Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2024. Before joining the Growth Lab, Juan Carlos dedicated his career to crafting and strengthening Peruvian public policies, first at a private consulting firm and later within the public sector at the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

During his time in government, he focused on designing and implementing results-based financing mechanisms that reward institutions financially for meeting predefined targets. Most recently, he served as a Policy Fellow in the New Mexico State Government, where he contributed to the state’s economic development plan update. Juan Carlos holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universidad del Pacífico in Lima, Peru.