Miria PIGATO

Miria A. Pigato

4437 Brandywine Street, N.W. Washington, DC, 20016,  +1 202 352 1905 (cell) / mpigato@outlook.com, mpigato@gmail.com

Summary

30+ years of international experience serving in managerial, operational, and research positions at the World Bank, leading senior policy dialogue in middle and low-income countries on macroeconomic and fiscal reforms, climate economics, trade policies, poverty, and income redistribution.
A talented manager and mentor, with experience supervising large, multicultural teams and promoting a culture of high performance.
Technical experience in climate economics, macro and fiscal reforms, and trade. Publications include Technology Transfer and Innovation for Low-Carbon Development (M. Pigato et al.), Fiscal policies for Development and Climate Action (editor), and Strengthening China's and India's Trade and Investment ties to the Middle East and North Africa. 

Professional Experience

Visiting Professor, Ca’ Foscari, Department of Economics, March -June 2023.  Course: The economics of climate change (EM1501)

World Bank

Lead Economist and Climate Lead

·       Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment Global Practice (MTI), 2017- 2022). Building and leading a program of activities designed to integrate climate issues into macro, fiscal, and development strategies of client countries. Activities include country-specific advice on fiscal instruments to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change and implement the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) while raising revenues.

Practice Manager, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caribbean: senior level macroeconomic policy dialogue in Central Asia, South Caucasus, Russia, 2014-2016 and the Caribbean, 2016-17; supervised large policy support operations in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries.

Sector Manager:

- West Africa (2010-2014): oversaw staff and macroeconomic work in 13 West African nations, including several fragile and post-conflict countries, and delivered a large number of development policy operations. Managed the economic analysis of the impact of Ebola and the Bank’s operational response through budget support.
-South Asia, 2008-2010: Managed macroeconomic policy dialogue and supervised economists working with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan, and Afghanistan.
- Middle East and North Africa, 2005-2007: Responsible for staff working in 7 countries: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Djibouti, and Libya.

Country Program Coordinator.

· Pakistan 2003-2005: Responsible for strategy formulation and implementation as well as portfolio monitoring.

Lead and Senior Economist.

· Lead Economist (Kenya) and Senior Economist (Ethiopia and Tanzania) in the Africa Region, 1999 – 2003:  Led the first budget support operation after the end of the conflict with Eritrea; prepared the first country economic memorandum in Kenya after the fall of President Moi. Prepared the country assistance strategy for Tanzania.

· Senior Economist in the Development Prospects Group, 1996-1999: Supported preparation of South Asia’s Integration in the World Economy, World Bank Report, 1997.

· Senior Economist and Economist, Middle East and North Africa region, 1989-1996: Focused on poverty and gender (Morocco) and trade and investment (Tunisia).

Other Professional Experience

· Co-led the creation of the Climate Action Peer Exchange (CAPE), for Finance Ministries (2017) and the Secretariat of the Coalition of Finance Ministers (2018). The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action brings together fiscal and economic policymakers from over 80 countries to lead the global climate response.

·Lecturer in Macroeconomics and Finance at University College London, 1985– 1987.

· Senior Economist at Wefa-Ceis (the Italian office of Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates), with responsibility for macroeconomic forecasting and analysis of the Italian economy, 1988.

·  Researcher at the Italian Confederation of Industries, 1983

Education

Ph.D. in Economics: University College, London (UCL), 1985       

Master in Economics: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), 1981     

Laurea degree in Economics, magna cum Laude. Ca’ Foscari University, 1979

Other Learning

o   Climate Change Policy, Kennedy School, May 2021.

o   MTI Forum, 2015-2018.

o   Training on How to be a Board Member, 2017.

o   Practice Managers Leadership Forum, 2015.

o   Sustainable Development Leadership Program, Oxford, UK, 2008.

o   Lead Economist Course, April 2007.

o   The Harvard Kennedy School, Macroeconomics Executive Program, July 2002.

o   Executive Development Program Village immersion in Vietnam, 1999.

o   The Executive Development Program, Cohort V, 1998.

Languages: Italian (native), English (excellent), French (advanced).

Selected Publications and Contributions

o   Technology transfer and innovations for low-carbon development, Pigato et al. World Bank, March 2020: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/macroeconomics/publication/technology-transfer-and-innovation-for-low-carbon-development.

o   Fiscal Policies for Development and Climate Action (Pigato M., editor), World Bank, February 2019: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/macroeconomics/publication/fiscal-policies-for-development-and-climate-action.

o   China and Africa: expanding economic ties in an evolving global context” (with Wenxia Tang), World Bank Working Paper, March 2015: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/21788

o   Strengthening China’s and India’s Trade and Investment Ties to the Middle East and North Africa, a book published in the “Orientations in Development Series”, MENA, World Bank, DC. 2009:

o   https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/2626

o   Egypt After the end of the Multi-Fiber Agreement: a comparative regional analysis, ECES Working Paper n. 114 (with Ahmed Ghoneim), 2006.

o   http://www.eces.org.eg/PublicationsDetails?Lang=EN&C=12&T=1&ID=896&Egypt-After-the-End-of-the-Multi-Fiber-Agreement:-A-Comparative-Regional-Analysis

o   Kenya: Country Economic Memorandum, 2002 – 2003.

o   Ethiopia: Developing Exports to Promote Growth, Report No. 23294-ET, April 2002.

o   The environment for FDI in Africa, Africa Region Working Paper number 15, April 2001.

o   Information and Communication Technology, Poverty and Development in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; Africa Region Working Paper number 20, August 2001. Presented at the Economists’ Forum, 2001.

o   FDI in Africa: Old tales and new evidence, Africa Region Working Paper Number 8, November 2000

o   FDI through privatization in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000, in the 2000 UNCTAD World Investment Report.

o   South Asia’s Integration in the World Economy, World Bank Report, 1997.

o   Senegal - The challenge of international integration, 1997.

o   Issues in Civil Service Reform, Mimeo, Republic of Tunisia, 1995.

o   Export growth: Determinants and prospects, in Morocco and Tunisia, Report n. 12947-MNA, 1994.

o   Poverty, Adjustment and growth, Kingdom of Morocco, Report n. 11918-MOR, 1994.

o   Towards the increased participation of women in society, Kingdom of Morocco, Report n. 8536-Mor, 1990.

o   Changing the structure of incentives, the Republic of Tunisia, Report n. 9620-Tun, 1991.

o   The economics of the foreign exchange risk. Theory and practical solutions in the Maghreb countries, Discussion Paper n.IDP-0076, 1990.

o   Shifting from direct to indirect monetary control, Kingdom of Morocco, 1990.

o   The consistency of Government deficits with macroeconomic adjustment, an application to Kenya and Ghana, PPR WPS 287, 1989 (with T. Catsambas).

o   Lavoro produttivo e improduttivo: note storiche e problemi, Ricerche Economiche, n.1-2, 1980.

o   Liability management, politica monetaria e controllo del credito, with C. Cottarelli, Rassegna Economica,n.5, 1985.

o   Il Big Bang al London Stock Exchange, Il Risparmio, n.2, 1987.

o   Mergers and Takeovers. Theory and empirical estimates, Economic Perspectives, n.5, 1987.

o   Working Papers, Department of Economics, University College London: On monetary Control: a critique of monetary base control in the U.K., n.86.03, 1986; and Monetary Control in the context of a banking system practicing liability management: the case of the United Kingdom 1971-1981, n.86.04, 1986.

Selected Seminars/conferences

o   Contributions to the Secretariat, Sherpas meetings, and Principle 3 workshops of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action in Sweden and London (2019), Ivory Coast, and Paris (2020).

o   Speaker and organizer of Climate Action Peer Exchange workshops on 'Environmental fiscal policies for climate action (Shanghai, September 2017, Arusha, January 2018, Marseille, October 2018); High-level workshop on Environmental Fiscal Reforms for Low-Carbon Growth, Bogota, Colombia, September; 2017; technical workshop on the ‘Macroeconomics of Climate Change’, Washington D.C. February 2018.

o   Participation in the Debt Management Forum, Vienna May 22-23, 2017, Session on Leveraging Climate Finance; and in the Third Annual Conference of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform on "Fiscal Policies and the Green Economy Transition: Generating Knowledge, Creating Impact."

o   Presentation of a Paper on China and Africa: expanding economic ties in an evolving global context”, at a conference on “China’s Impact on African Employment’ in Johannesburg (December 2014) and in Beijing, at a technical workshop sponsored by the China Development Bank for the Investing in Africa Forum, March 2015.

o   Organization of a World Bank conference on Green Growth: Desirable and Possible? to discuss green growth as a new vision of economic development, 2012.

o   Sustainable Development Network Forum: Speaker on Engaging the Client on Green Growth issues, February 2013.

o   Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars Africa Program: Speaker on the political and economic crisis in Mali, Jan. 2013.

o   Speaker at the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town on Green Growth, Wealth Accounting and Governance (February 2012) and at JPMorgan Africa Frontier Markets seminar, September 2011.

o   Speaker at a seminar on Who pays and who benefits from financial crises, March 1998.

o   The annual conference of the Overseas Development Institute in London and the Forum on Debt and the Developing countries, speaking on Regionalism in South Asia, November 1997.

Lending/Supervisory Activities

·       Supervised approximately 50 development policy operations in Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, North Africa, and the Caribbean, 2005-2017.

·       Led the first Economic Rehabilitation Support Credit for Ethiopia in 2001 and the Ethiopia Structural Adjustment Credit, two operations to fund the recovery of the post-conflict economy after the peace agreement with Eritrea.

·       Led the Country Assistance Strategy for Tanzania, following extensive consultations with civil society, donors, and Government, 1999 – 2000.

·       Led all Poverty Reduction Strategy activities in support of the Government of Tanzania. Organized seminars, and prepared the Joint Staff Assessment (with IMF staff) for both the Interim and full PRSP, 1999.

·       Led the Economic Competitiveness Adjustment Loan for Tunisia, 1996.