Werner L. Hernani Limarino

Senior researcher

Werner is a budding applied microeconomist with a passion for driving knowledge and change where it is needed most. He was founding Director and distinguished researcher of Aru. He is currently linked as a Partnership Researcher for Economic Policy and as Associate Researcher at the Catholic University of Bolivia. He chairs the Inequality and Poverty Network of the Latin American and Caribbean Economists Association (LACEA) and is a Full Member of the Bolivian Academy of Economic Sciences. During his 10+ years as CEO at Aru, he recruited promising young economists and data scientists who are doing their Masters or PhDs at top universities in the US and Europe, or working at places like the World Bank, the Fund Monetary Commission, the International Institute for Food Policy Research, the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) and the Intelligence Units of the private sector. He has led +60 research projects, including +20 data collection initiatives, won more than 20 competitive research awards, including the Partnership ‘s Economic Policy Best Practices award for Economic Policy and seven rounds of the Latin American and Caribbean Research Network of the Inter-American Development Bank. An independent assessment, conducted during his tenure by our funders, estimated Aru ‘s return on investment at + $650 per dollar spent. Werner has regularly participated in various high-level academic events and international policy dialogue processes such as the annual meetings of the Association of Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Forum of the Countries of the Americas. Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development and the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Currently, her research agenda has been exploring the ability of machine learning to transition to personalized social policy and understand issues related to fragility, conflict, and violence in Bolivia. Visit his personal website at www.whl.ai.

Areas of interest:
Microeconomics, development, inequality and poverty.