Michela Carlana is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

She is an applied microeconomist with a strong interest in labor and education economics. Her research is focused on gender and race discrimination: she studies whether stereotypes affect accumulation of human capital and she evaluates public policies aimed at offering equality of opportunities in education.

Michela Carlana joined IZA as a Research Affiliate in February 2018 and became a Research Fellow in December 2023.