Máximo Torero

Title: Chief Economist

Biography

Mr. Maximo Torero Cullen is the Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He joined the Organization in January 2019 as Assistant Director-General for the Economic and Social Development Department. Prior to joining FAO, he was the World Bank Group Executive Director for Argentina, Bolivia, Chile Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay since November 2016 and before the Bank Mr. Torero led the Division of the Markets, Trade, and Institutions at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). His major research work lies mostly in analyzing poverty, inequality, importance of geography and assets (private or public) in explaining poverty, and in policies oriented towards poverty alleviation based on the role played by infrastructure, institutions, and on how technological breakthroughs (or discontinuities) can improve the welfare of households and small farmers. His experience encompasses Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia.

Mr. Torero, a national of Peru, holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of the Pacific, Lima, Peru. He is a professor on leave at the University of the Pacific, Perú, and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at University of Bonn, Germany, and has also published in top journals (QJE, Econometric Theory, AER-Applied Microeconomics, RSTAT, Labor Economics and many other top journals).

Mr. Torero has received in 2000 the Georg Foster Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, won the Award for Outstanding Research on Development given by the Global Development Network, twice, in 2000 and in 2002, and received the Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole in 2014.

For more information, visit: https://maximotorero.com/

Speeches/Writings

The Times of India: Recognizing Water's Value Will Help Us Use it Wisely

28/11/2020

“Water is the driving force of all nature.” So said Leonardo da Vinci, and the legendary genius was hardly the only person to notice its importance. We use water for...

Gaftaworld: Prepare Agriculture for the Next COVID-19

31/10/2020

The recession that’s sweeping the globe is the worst crisis since the Great Depression. In just six months, a decade of progress made in poverty reduction was wiped out, with...

EIU: Countries Must Offset the Soaring Cost of Healthy Food

01/09/2020

There is ample food for everyone—it is just that not everyone can afford it. To stave off lasting damage to health, governments can align incentives to subsidise more nutritious foods....

The Hill: Lockdown on the High Seas

22/07/2020

Away from the spotlight, some 1.2 million seafarers quietly toil without any adoration from the mainland, keeping trade flowing at the expense of their health and safety and preventing a...

Prepare Food Systems for a Long-Haul Fight Against COVID-19

02/07/2020

No modern economy has experienced anything like the combination of the Great Lockdown and the worst recession since the Great Depression. These could trigger a global food crisis—with Africa south...