Javier E. Baez is a Senior Economist in the Poverty Global Practice at the World Bank for the Africa Region. Javier received his Ph.D. in Economics at the Maxwell School of Public Affairs of Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY) and holds a Masters degree in Public Administration and Development Economics from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Javier also holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics from Universidad de los Andes (Bogota, Colombia).

His areas of interest are development economics, labor economics, applied program evaluation, applied microeconomics and public economics. In particular, his research investigates the effects of shocks, either natural (hurricanes, floods earthquakes) or man-made (civil conflicts), on children's contemporaneous outcomes such as infant mortality, nutrition, morbidity and child labor as well as their long-term impacts on human capital and labor market outcomes. Other work explores the long-term effects of safety net programs and the interactions between anti-poverty policy and political participation. He has published his research in the Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Development Studies and the World Bank Research Observer, as well as in books and edited volumes.

He joined IZA as a Research Affiliate in November 2007 and became a Research Fellow in April 2010.