Roger Thayer Stone Center For Latin American Studies

Tulane University

Nora Lustig

Professor, Economics. Stone Chair of Latin American Economics.

Nora Lustig is Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics at Tulane University where she holds a joint appointment in the Department of Economics and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies. She is also a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Inter-American Dialogue (Washington, DC) and a senior associate research fellow of Tulane's Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (CIPR).

Prior to joining Tulane she was Shapiro Visiting Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University; Director of the Poverty Group at UNDP; Senior Advisor and Chief of the Poverty and Inequality Unit at the Inter-American Development Bank; Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Studies Program of the Brookings Institution; and, Professor at the Center of Economic
Studies of the Colegio de Mexico. She was a founding member and President of LACEA, the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association; co-director of the 2000/1 World Development
Report Attacking Poverty; and, chair of the Mexican Commission on Macroeconomics and Health.

Dr. Lustig's research and teaching have focused on economic development, poverty and inequality, social policies, and social protection, with particular emphasis on Latin America. She has published sixteen books and more than 70 articles. Her classic Mexico: the Remaking of an Economy (Brookings Institution) was selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Book. A sample of her recent publications includes: Declining Inequality in Latin America. A Decade of Progress?; Thought for Food: the Challenges of Coping with Soaring Food Prices; The Microeconomics of Income Distribution Dynamics; Shielding the Poor: Social Protection in the Developing World.

Currently, Dr. Lustig is the director of the Commitment to Equity project (CEQ), a research initiative focused on assessing the impact of fiscal policy on inequality and poverty in Latin America. She is also the editor of the Journal of Economic Inequality's Forum and a member of the boards of directors of the Institute of Development Studies and the Global Development Network as well as a member of the advisory boards of the Center for Global Development and Columbia University's Earth Institute. She is a member of the advisory committee for the United Nations Development
Programme's Human Development Report 2012-2013. Dr. Lustig was one of the authors of the World Committee on Food Security's report Social Protection for Food Security.

Dr. Lustig received her doctorate in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. She was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has lived in Mexico and the United States.

Degrees

  • B.A., University of California-Berkeley, Economics, 1972
  • M.A., University of California-Berkeley, Economics, 1974
  • Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley, Economics, 1979

Academic Experience

  • Professor, Tulane University, 2009-
  • Visiting Professor, George Washington University, 2008
  • Professor, Universidad de las Américas, 2001-2005
  • Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, 1989-1997
  • Visiting Professor, University of California-Berkeley, 1984
  • Professor and Academic Coordinator, El Colegio de México, 1975-1989

Research & Teaching Specializations: Development Economics; Poverty and Income Distribution; Social Policies and Protection; Globalization; Mexico

Related Experience

  • Director, Commitment to Equity Project (CEQ), 2009-
  • Director, The Poverty Group, UNDP, New York, 2006-2007
  • President, Universidad de las Américas, 2001-2005
  • Senior Advisor and Chief of the Poverty and Inequality Unit, Inter-American Development Bank, 1997-2001
  • Deputy Director and Director, World Development Report, World Bank, 2000-2001
  • United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, 1984

Distinctions

  • Tulane University School of Liberal Arts Outstanding Research Award, May 2012
  • Ford Foundation, Macarthur Foundation, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank Research Grants
  • J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Visiting Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University, 2007-2009
  • Founding member and President, LACEA (Latin America and the Caribbean Economic Association), 1999-2000
  • Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award, Choice Magazine, “Mexico: The Remaking of an Economy, 1994
  • Visiting Scholar, MIT, 1982

Languages: Spanish (native); French (basic); German; Portuguese

Selected Publications

  • 2012. “Declining Inequality in Latin America: Some Economics, Some Politics.” Chapter in Peter Kingstone and Deborah Yashar, eds., Routledge Handbook of Latin American Politics. With Nancy Birdsall and Darryl McLeod.
  • 2011. “The Power of Protest: Occupy Wall Street and the Chilean Student Movement.” Chapter in Jane Byrne, ed., The Occupy Handbook. With Alejandra Mizala and Eduardo Silva. Little, Brown and Company, New York.
  • 2011. “Multidimensional indices of achievements and poverty: what do we gain and what do we lose? An introduction to JOEI Forum on multidimensional poverty.” In Journal of Economic Inequality, 9(2): 227-234.
  • 2007. “Investing in Health for Economic Development: The Case of Mexico.” In Advancing Development-Core Themes in Global Economics. George Mavrotas and Anthony Shorrocks, eds. Washington, D.C.: Palgrave Macmillan and the United Nations University-World Institute for Deveopment and Economics Research.
  • 2005. The Microeconomics of Income Distribution Dynamics in East Asia and Latin America. Editor with Francois Bourguignon and Francisco Ferreira. Washington, D.C.: Oxford University Press.
  • 2004. “Do we know how much poverty there is?” With Miguel Szekely, et al. Oxford Development Studies. 32 (4): 523-558.

Recently-Taught Latin American-Related Courses: Inequality and Poverty in Latin America, Economic Development Policy, Economic Development

Number of Dissertations or Theses Supervised in the Past 5 Years: 10

See her complete CV here.
Link to Nora Lustig’s official website here.
Commitment to Equity Project

Class:
School:
Department:
Region:
Countries:

LATEST SITE UPDATES

NEWS

EVENTS

MEDIA

More

Upcoming Events

Rethinking State-Society Relations in Contemporary Latin America

View Full Event Description

The emergence, crisis, and collapse of neoliberalism gave way to new types of political regimes that set themselves the task of redefining state-society relationships to promote more socially inclusive polities. The accomplishments and shortcomings of those processes need yet to be evaluated, particularly from an encompassing, historically-informed perspective that is not afraid of challenging established assumptions and mainstream understandings of Latin America to do justice to current developments. What are the continuities/ discontinuities in terms of state-society linkages that the various processes of change experienced since the return to democracy introduced in the Latin American landscape? Is Latin America moving towards a more democratic and inclusive society? What is the nature of the new patterns of state-society interaction? Have they drastically altered the legacy of populism, bureaucratic-authoritarianism, and neoliberalism?, in which specific ways? Are emerging regimes promoting new patterns of exclusion or novel forms of authoritarianism?

A group of scholars from different disciplines, country expertise drawn from Latin America, the US and Europe will meet on May 24th at Tulane University to debate empirically and theoretically informed articles that address these questions.

SCHEDULE
10:00 AM-10:15 AM – Introduction and welcoming

10:15 AM-10.45 AM – Justice and politics: the dialogic alternative by Roberto Gargarella

10:45 AM-11:15 AM – The political economy of post-neoliberal Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay development regimes by Christopher Wylde

11:15 AM-11:45 AM – The impact of taxes and social spending on inequality and poverty in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru: a synthesis of results by Nora Lustig, George Gray-Molina, Sean Higgins, Miguel Jaramillo, Wilson Jiménez, Veronica Paz, Claudiney Pereira, Carola Pessino, John Scott, and Ernesto Yañez

12:00 PM -1:30 PM – LUNCH

1:45 PM -2:15 PM – Participatory developments and democratic representation in South America by Leonardo Avritzer and Enrique Peruzzotti

2:15 PM -2:45 PM – The second wave of incorporation and territorialized politics in Argentina and Brazil by Federico M. Rossi

2:45 PM -3:15 PM – Indigenous-state relations in Ecuador and Bolivia: challenges and opportunities by Roberta Rice

3:15 PM-3:30 PM – COFFEE BREAK

3:30 PM -4:00 PM – Gender, power, and women's political inclusion in Argentina and Chile by Susan Franceschet

4:00 PM -4:30 PM – Viral politics, the post-liberal imaginary and #Yosoy132 in Mexico by Benjamín Arditi

Summer K-12 Teacher Institute - Exploring Brazil: A Window into the Language & Culture of a Country on the Rise

View Full Event Description

The University of Georgia, Tulane University, and Vanderbilt University will collaborate to offer a Summer Institute on Brazilian Culture and Portuguese Language. K-12 educators of any discipline and grade-level are welcome to apply to attend this 4 day institute. The goal of this institute is to encourage and promote the teaching of Portuguese and the culture of Brazil through film, literature, service learning, and technology in any K-12 classroom. The institute will focus on the language, history, and geography of Brazil. Sessions will include Portuguese language instruction and participants will explore the culture, history, and geography of Brazil. Film screenings and other presentations will be incorporated into the institute to highlight contemporary and engaging cultural content for the K-12 classroom. During the week, educators will work in teams to develop interdisciplinary units that address applicable state learning standards, which they will bring back to their schools to teach and share with colleagues. Educators may receive a certificate of completion for 20 hours of professional development if desired.

Sponsored in part through a Portuguese Flagship Program at the University of Georgia and through a Title VI U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center grant on Latin America awarded to Tulane University’s Stone Center for Latin American Studies and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American Studies.

Registration Information Below:

  • Base Registration ($50) includes all materials, parking and registration to entire program with no meals or housing included. You are responsible for making your own housing and dining accommodations.
  • Registration with Base Housing ($150) includes everything above as well as breakfast and lunch, and a double room on campus in dormitory housing.
  • Registration with Private Housing ($225) includes everything above and assures a private room and bath in dormitory housing.
  • Add $50 to registration if interested in receiving Georgia Department of Education approved Professional Learning Units (PLUs)

For more information contact:

Denise Woltering (Tulane University), 504.862.3143, dwolteri@tulane.edu
Kathleen Schmaltz (University of Georgia), 706.583.0388, schmaltz@uga.edu
Claire Gonzalez (Vanderbilt University), 615.343.1837, claire.p.gonzalez@vanderbilt.edu

Two-week Public Service summer program in Ecuador

View Full Event Description

Center for Public Service: International Programs
Ecuador: Tropical Field Biology and Conservation
Chocó Rainforest, Ecuador | Tentative dates: August 9 – August 23, 2013

Application deadline: January 28, 2013
Deadline extended!

All majors are welcome to apply to spend two weeks in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. Ecuador: Tropical Field Biology and Conservation gives students the opportunity to apply the theory and knowledge they have acquired in the classroom to the real world. Students will travel with Dr. Karubian and Dr. Duraes to Ecuador for a two-week intensive field course. While on the course, students will experience first-hand the challenges and rewards of conducting field research and implementing conservation activities in tropical environments. These activities will take place within a context of community engagement based on active collaboration and interaction with Ecuadorian local residents in a variety of contexts.

For more information, click here to visit the Center for Public Service’s page on this program.

Call for Papers: Radical Caribbeans

View Full Event Description

Read the official Call for Papers here.

We welcome papers that address any facet of the Caribbean radicalis and radical approaches to Caribbean identity, culture and social practices. Papers may focus on one country or invoke comparative strategies of any regions contained in the greater Caribbean, beyond the confines of the Caribbean sea, northeast of the Florida straits and into the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, and south, along the Atlantic coast, past Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. Papers may be in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese, though English is preferred.

If you are interested in participating, please send a 250 word abstract as an attachment to either of the email addresses listed below by June 15th, 2013. Include the title of your paper, your name (and the names of any co-presenters), institutional affiliation, phone number, mailing and email address. Papers for presentation should be no more than than 20 minutes and may be considered for publication. If submitting a panel for consideration, please include a top sheet with panel title, participant names and a brief abstract of the panel topic in addition to the individual paper proposals.
Notification of acceptance to the conference will be made by July 5, 2013.
For more information on the conference, location and arrangements, visit the Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute website for updates at cuba.tulane.edu.

Submit abstracts by June 15 to:
lopez_AT_tulane.edu
icaballe_AT_tulane.edu