Biography

Laura Alfaro is the Warren Alpert Professor of Business Administration. At Harvard Business School since 1999, she is also a Faculty Research Associate in the NBER International Finance and Macroeconomics Program and the International Trade and Investment Program, CEPR IFM program She served as Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy in Costa Rica from 2010-2012, taking a leave from HBS.

She is a Co-Editor of the Journal of International Economics and the World Bank Research Observer. Professor Alfaro is the author of multiple articles published in leading academic journals such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of International Economics, Journal of the European Economic Association and Harvard Business School cases related to the field of international economics and in particular international capital flows, foreign direct investment, sovereign debt, trade, and emerging markets. She is a member of the Latin-American Financial Regulatory Committee (CLAAF), the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) policy committee, Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, among others. At Harvard Business School, Professor Alfaro has taught in the first and second years of the MBA program, the doctoral program, the General Management Program, the Program for Leadership Development, and in other executive education offerings. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, at Los Angeles (UCLA), where she was the recipient of the Dissertation Fellowship award.

She received a B.A in economics with honors from the Universidad de Costa Rica and a ‘Licenciatura’ from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile where she graduated with the highest honors. She was awarded a Francisco Marroquin Foundation scholarship. In 2008, she was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.