Susan was a visiting fellow at the Center for Health and Wellbeing during the 2016-2017 academic year. Susan W. Parker is Professor of Economics at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City. Her research focuses principally on education and health in developing countries and in particular on the evaluation of programs and public policies.  She has particular expertise in the areas of conditional cash transfer programs and targeting.  Her current projects include obesity in Mexico, health impacts of health insurance, cheating in standardized tests, and mobile banking in poor populations.  

Recent publications include “Conditional Cash Transfers:  The case of Progresa/Oportunidades,” Journal of Economic Literature, forthcoming (with P Todd); “Aligning Learning Incentives of Students and Teachers: Results from a Social Experiment in Mexican High Schools,” Journal of Political Economy, 2015 (with J Behrman, K Wolpin and P Todd);  and "Information and Participation in a Social Program,” World Bank Economic Review, 2013 (with D Coady and C Martinelli).

She holds a PhD and M.A. in Economics from Yale University and a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Franklin and Marshall College. She is currently a Research Affiliate at the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania and at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). She edits the journal Latin American Economic Review (LAER).