Monica Yanez Pagans

Monica Yanez-Pagans is a Senior Economist in the World Bank Group’s Education Global Practice, where she works in operational and analytical activities across a range of countries in South Asia. She has worked in diverse country contexts, including Fragile and Conflict-Affected (Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan), lower-middle income (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal), and upper-middle income (Mexico, Paraguay, Panama, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Maldives). She has also led a multi-year regional analytical program on issues related to human capital in Central America and is currently leading regional analytical work on green skills in South Asia. Prior to joining the Education Global Practice, she worked in the Poverty Global Practice, where she focused on poverty measurement issues at the country and regional level in South Asia (2013-2017) and East Africa (2012-2013), as well as at the Global Poverty Unit (2011-2012). Before joining the World Bank, she worked as an Associate Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2007), in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University at Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2006-2011), and in the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank (2003-2005). She holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Universidad Católica Boliviana, a Master in Banking and Finance from Universidad Pompeu Fabra, and a Master in Statistics and PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.