Maria Marta Ferreyra

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT MARIA MARTA FERREYRA

I am an economist with over twenty years of experience in economic development, research, and teaching. I am an Economics of Education expert and currently work as a senior economist at the Global Engagement and Knowledge office of the Education Global Practice of the World Bank, where I lead and participate in studies, conduct research, engage with policymakers, and support World Bank efforts to work with governments around the world. My current focus is on higher education. I have studied higher education in the developing world, particularly Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, and South Asia. For Latin America and the Caribbean, I have led comprehensive studies on higher education and on short-cycle higher education programs (lasting two or three years), co-led a study on cities and productivity, and contributed to a study on knowledge and capabilities for innovation. I am a coauthor of the World Development Report 2024, where I studied the role of education in social mobility and growth. I am currently leading a global study on higher education’s contribution to research, innovation, and growth. I have conducted research on higher education supply and expansion, access and equity, outcomes and quality, and productivity implications across geographic areas. I have also written on K-12 education issues in the US, including private school vouchers, charter schools, public school finance, and accountability and standards. My research has been published in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Public Economics, and the American Economic Journal-Economic Policy. Prior to joining the World Bank, I served as a faculty member at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, where I taught Economics, Statistics, and Economics of Education at the undergraduate and graduate levels. I have a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.For more information, see https://sites.google.com/site/mariamartaferreyraphd/.