Laura Alfaro
Executive Committee Member 2006-2010

Laura Alfaro earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1999, where she was recipient of the Dissertation Fellowship award. She received a B.A in economics with honors from the Universdad de Costa Rica in 1992 and a “Licenciatura” from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica of Chile in 1994, where she graduated with highest honors. In 1992, she was awarded a Francisco Marroquin Foundation scholarship. She joined the Business Government and the International Economy unit at eh Harvard Business School in 1999 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005. Professor Alfaro is part of the Making Markets Work faculty, a Harvard Business School executive education program focused on development devoted to public and private sector leaders in Africa. She is also faculty associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.Alfaro’s latest research has focused on the role that local institutions play in attracting capital flows and allowing positive benefits of such flows, in particular foreign direct investment (FDI), to materialize. Professor Alfaro is the author of a number of articles published in leading academic journals and of Harvard Business School cases related to the field of international economics and in particular international capita flows, foreign direct investment and sustainability of sovereign debt. Other research interests include political economy, capital controls, and exchange-rate-based stabilization programs.

Click here to access Laura Alfaro's personal web page.