Jose R. Molinas

Jose R. Molinas Vega Sr. Economist Latin America and the Caribbean Region The World Bank Group

José Molinas has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1997). From 1998-2001, he taught development economics and macroeconomics at both undergraduate and graduate level at the Catholic University of Asuncion (Paraguay), where he was also Academic Director of the Master's Program in Economics. From 2002 until he joined the Bank in 2005, he was Director of Institute Desarrollo.

 

His fields of research include social capital, rural development, the political economy of social service delivery, economics of education, poverty analysis, and applied macroeconomics. He has published several articles and book chapters on the determinants of success for peasant cooperatives, rural land markets, macroeconomics and poverty, the political economy of the policymaking process, and social capital. His publications have appeared in World Development, the Political Science Journal, Economía y Sociedad,  Coyuntura Economica, the ECLAC Desarrollo Productivo Series, and as book chapters published by Edward Elgar Press, EUDEBA, Mundi-Prensa, Editorial Alfaomega, and the IADB.

 

His research has been funded by the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), the Organization of American States, the Kellogg Institute, UNDP, IADB, the World Bank, ECLAC, ILO, FAO, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), USAID, IDRC-Canada, GDN, PREAL, among other agencies.

 

José was also the technical coordinator of two national initiatives (the National Anti-corruption Plan and the Poverty Reduction Strategy for Paraguay) that searched for consensus building among government officials and civil society representatives.

 

Under his leadership, Institute Desarrollo founded in December 2001, has become one of the leading Paraguayan Institutions for research, training and provision of technical assistance for municipal development. Institute Desarrollo has participated in internationally recognize research programs. It has also provided consulting services to international organizations, government agencies, and several leading private firms. Many consulting assignments were provided abroad in countries such as Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, USA, Dominican Republic, India, Cameroon, and Albania. In cooperation with the University of San Andres (Argentina) and the George Washington University (USA), the Institute has organized several graduate training programs in economics, finance, international business, education and social management. In 2005, Institute Desarrollo was awarded a competitive grant (The Japan Social Development Fund of the World Bank) to implement a comprehensive development strategy in two Paraguayan Municipalities attempting to reach the MDGs.