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

Indigenous Lessons for Sustainable Food (Español)

26/07/2021

Este año, mientras se producía uno de los informes insignia de la FAO sobre seguridad alimentaria a nivel mundial, surgió una gran pregunta: ¿por qué hacer referencia a las buenas...

Thomson Reuters: COVID-19 Imperils Rural Areas But, with Help, Farmers Can Recover

09/07/2021

In a zeal to repair the pandemic's economic and social damage, governments have made dramatic spending pledges. And yet, a crucial segment of the population who have struggled the most...

iAgua Magazine: Water Shortage Threatens Food Security and Nutrition (Español)

08/07/2021

En diversas regiones del mundo, los retornos del riego hacia ríos y acuíferos contribuyen a la creación y conservación de humedales, áreas boscosas y otros ecosistemas que propor-cionan valiosos servicios...

China Investment: COVID-19 Has Shown Us Inequality and How to Treat It

20/01/2021

The coronavirus recession, the worst recession in four decades, will have lasting consequences of tremendous magnitude. It is not a normal recession, as it was caused by a health crisis,...

Project Syndicate: A Post-War Playbook for a Post-COVID Recovery

09/12/2020

The pandemic’s impact on major economies has so far been four times worse than that of the 2008 global financial crisis, while entire sections of many developing economies have been...