Vijaya Ramachandran is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. She works on the impact of the business environment on the productivity of firms in developing countries, and is the coauthor of an essay titled "Development as Diffusion: Manufacturing Productivity and Africa's Missing Middle,” published in the Oxford Handbook on Economics and Africa. Vijaya is also studying the unintended consequences of rich countries’ anti-money laundering policies on financial inclusion in poor countries. She has published her research in journals such as World Development, Development Policy Review, Governance, Prism, and AIDS and is the author of a CGD book, Africa’s Private Sector: What’s Wrong with the Business Environment and What to Do About It. Prior to joining CGD, Vijaya worked at the World Bank and in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. She also served on the faculties of Georgetown University and Duke University. Her work has appeared in several media outlets including the Economist, Financial Times, Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times, National Public Radio, and Vox.

Alvaro González is the Principal Economist for the Jobs Group at the World Bank. He has worked in Africa, East and Central Europe, South Asia and Latin America.  Most recently, he was based in Istanbul, Turkey and led one of the largest Bank engagements with the Government of Turkey.  Alvaro is a Ph.D. microeconomist specializing in competition and regulatory issues. His research is focused on identifying business environment factors that affect the performance and productivity growth of firms in developing economies. Alvaro did graduate work in economics at MIT and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).  He focused on industrial organization, game theory, and development economics.