Mariana Zerpa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Leuven.

Zerpa is an applied microeconomist, working primarily in the intersection of labor and public economics, with applications in health, education and development economics.

Her research focuses on human capital accumulation during childhood, analyzing how parental decisions interact with family economic circumstances and welfare and social insurance programs to shape the production of human capital and health during childhood. She also studies responses to welfare programs and social insurance in developing countries.
She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Arizona.

Mariana Zerpa joined IZA as a Research Affiliate in February 2019.