Over twenty-five years Morocco built an automotive and aeronautics export base largely from scratch, expanded renewables, and positioned itself as a bridge between Europe and Africa — while still struggling with low female labor-force participation, weak educational outcomes, and a growth rate that has not delivered the convergence the country hoped for.

Karim El Aynaoui, former Director of Economics at Bank Al-Maghrib and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Moroccan Economy, joins the Growth Lab for a candid accounting: which industrial policies paid off, which did not and why, and what Morocco’s experience offers other middle-income economies attempting the same climb.

Speaker: Karim El Aynaoui, Executive President of the Policy Center for the New South, Executive Vice-President of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University

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: Karim El Aynaoui is Executive President of the Policy Center for the New South. He is also Executive Vice-President of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Dean of its Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences Cluster. 

From 2005 to 2012, he worked at the Central Bank of Morocco (Bank Al-Maghrib) as Director of Economics, Statistics, and International Relations. He also created and headed the Research Department and served as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet. Previously, he worked for eight years at the World Bank as an economist for its regional units of the Middle East and North Africa and Africa. 

Karim El Aynaoui has published books and journal articles on macroeconomic issues in developing countries. He has co-authored works on growth and the labor market in Morocco and has recently co-edited a book entitled The Oxford Handbook of the Moroccan Economy. 

Karim El Aynaoui holds scientific and advisory positions in several institutions. He is currently a member of Malabo Montpellier Panel, the Scientific Committee of The Italian Institute for International Political Studies, the Advisory Committee of The World Bank’s Institute for Economic Development, the Scientific Council of The Moroccan Capital Market Authority, the International Board of Med-Or Italian Foundation, and a global member of The Trilateral Commission. He also serves as advisor to the CEO and Chairman of OCP Group and is a board member of OCP Foundation. 

Karim El Aynaoui holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Bordeaux where he taught courses in Statistics and Economics for three years. He is Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. 

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.

Rio de Janeiro’s historic center tells a story familiar to many cities across Latin America and the developing world: decades of outward expansion have hollowed out urban cores, leaving behind degraded buildings, strained public services, and neighborhoods that once defined the city’s civic life. Washington Fajardo has spent over a decade designing urban revitalization policies to address this decay. As the Director of the IDB Cities’ Lab he works on cutting-edge solutions to address urban challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously as the Mayor’s Special Advisor for Urban Issues and President of the Rio World Heritage Institute (2009–2016), he designed policies and financing mechanisms to preserve heritage, regenerate buildings, and improve public services in the city center. He joins the Growth Lab to discuss what it takes to bring city centers back to life: which policy tools actually work to regenerate buildings and public spaces, how to finance preservation at scale, and what Rio’s experience offers other cities grappling with urban decay at their core.

Speaker: Washington Fajardo, Director of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Cities Lab

Moderator: Andres Fortunato, Growth Lab Research Manager

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: Washington Fajardo is an architect and urbanist. He coordinates Cities LAB at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in the Housing and Urban Development Division, where he works on institutional innovation, urban regeneration, and digital transformation and AI adoption in Latin American and Caribbean cities. From 2009 to 2016, throughout Rio de Janeiro’s preparation for the 2016 Olympic Games, he served as the Mayor’s special advisor for urban issues and head of historic preservation, working on Porto Maravilha, the UNESCO World Heritage designation of Rio’s Carioca Landscapes, and the protection of Cais do Valongo. He returned to City Hall as Chief of Urban Planning and President of the Instituto Pereira Passos (2021–2022), where he created Reviver Centro, the downtown housing and regeneration program. He curated the Brazilian Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale and was a Harvard Loeb Fellow (2019).

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.

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.

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.

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.