Vice-President for Sectors and Knowledge, Inter-American Development Bank

Santiago Levy is the Vice-President for Sectors and Knowledge at the Inter-American Development Bank, and previously Chief Economist. Previously, he was General Director at the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) from December 2000 to October 2005.  From 1994 to 2000, Levy served as the Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico, becoming the main architect of the renowned social program Progresa-Oportunidades that benefits the poor. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and a Masters in Political economy from Boston University. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Cambridge University. Mr. Levy has advised several governments and international organizations and has held several teaching positions, including faculty positions at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo of Mexico and Boston University, where he was Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Economic Development. He is the author of at least 80 articles, monographs and book chapters on such diverse subjects as poverty reduction, competitiveness, foreign exchange policy, export imbalances, pricing, microeconomics and energy. His paper Poverty in Mexico won the 1992 National Research Prize in Economics awarded by the Bank of Mexico.