Overview   |   Meet the Team   |   Contributors   |   Data   |   Methodology   |   Research 

Tolga Cebeci
Tolga Cebeci joined the Exporter Dynamics Database project in December 2010. He has been constructing and managing the firm-level input database of the project, using the country datasets gathered by the Team. He has also generated the software codes that produced the Exporter Dynamics Database output datasets by computing 100+ statistics at all levels. His research interest lies in private sector development, particularly in exploring competitiveness dynamics through analyzing firm-level export, import and relevant domestic data sources such as industry censuses. Based on his experience with micro data, he has contributed to policy documents of various units of the Bank on topics such as Transportation in Africa, Export Diversification in Pakistan and Senegal, and Country Economic Memorandum of Turkey on Trade. Before joining the Bank, he worked at the Ministry of Economy of Turkey, where he was involved in operational projects on trade facilitation and integration with MENA and East Asia regions. Tolga holds a Master’s degree in International Development from Harvard University.

Ana Margarida Fernandes
Ana Margarida Fernandes, a senior economist in the Trade and International Integration Unit of the Development Research Group at the World Bank, joined the Exporter Dynamics Database project in March 2011. She joined the World Bank in 2002 and her research has focused on the consequences of openness to trade and FDI as well as the role of the business environment for firm-level outcomes such as productivity, innovation, and quality upgrading in manufacturing and services sectors in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. More recently she has examined issues relating to professional services in Africa and to the role of trade and industrial policies for agglomeration of manufacturing industries in India. She holds a PhD in Economics from Yale University.

Caroline Freund
Caroline Freund is the Chief Economist in the Middle East and North Africa Region of the World Bank. She co-created the Exporter Dynamics Database project in September 2009. Before moving to the MENA region, she was a Lead Economist in the Trade and International Integration Unit of the Development Research Group. She has also worked at the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Board. She has worked on economic growth, international trade, and international finance.  Her work covers the developing world and transition countries. She is the author of numerous academic and policy papers on international trade, development, and current account adjustment. Her work has appeared in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Journal of International Economics. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University.

 

Mario Gutierrez-Rocha
Mario Gutierrez-Rocha joined the Exporter Dynamics Database team in August 2011 to support the development of regional and country-level studies using firm-level data. His research interest encompasses topics related to impact evaluation, entrepreneurship, trade facilitation and the analysis determinants for exports survival. Additionally, he supports the Exporter Dynamics Database team in the negotiation of data with government institutions from Asia and Latin America. Before joining the World Bank he worked at the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. He obtained an undergraduate degree in Engineering from the Military School of Engineering in Bolivia, a Master Degree in International Development and Economics from Brandeis University and a degree in Impact Evaluation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT-JPAL.

Jamal Ibrahim Haidar
Jamal Ibrahim Haidar is a PhD student at the Paris School of Economics. He joined the Exporter Dynamics Database project in May 2011. Previously, he worked at the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, Institute of International Finance, Deloitte, United Nations Development Program, and UNESCO in more than 10 countries in different geographic regions. His research has focused on three sectors: (i) private sector development, particularly on the implementation and impact of business regulatory reforms around the world as well as on infrastructure privatization in the Middle East and North Africa; (ii) trade, particularly on trade facilitation in developing countries as well as the connection between trade and productivity in India before and after firms' participation in export market; and (iii) finance, particularly on currency crisis transmission as well as sovereign credit risk in the Euro zone. He holds a master degree in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University and a master degree in international finance from Cass Business School.

Martha Denisse Pierola
Martha Denisse Pierola, an economist in the Trade and International Integration Unit of the Development Research Group at the World Bank, co-created the Exporter Dynamics Database project in September 2009. She joined the World Bank in 2005 and her research has focused on the study of the micro foundations and determinants of export growth in developing countries. Her current research evaluates the origin of large exporters and their importance driving export growth in developing countries. Before joining the World Bank, she worked as an economist for the Peruvian Government (INDECOPI) and also consulted for the private sector and other international organizations. She has a PhD in Economics from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland and a Master of International Law and Economics from the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland.