The Development Research Center Our Mission Development Research Center is a private, non-profit, independent research organization dedicated to increasing the understanding of how societies develop, focusing on how individuals, organizations, markets and institutions work. The purpose is to help build strategies and solutions embodied in public and private actions to advance individual freedoms and international cooperation that, ultimately, improve the human condition. Our Work Development Research Center benefits the public good by bringing synchronized energy to three distinct functions that, together, have the potential to profoundly impact social and economic progress and development. It is intended that these functions will drive, inspire, and inform one another.
Our Research Agenda The Center is particularly excited about its inaugural project. Reforming Education Systems: An Analytical Text is a ground-breaking endeavor by Drs. George Psacharopoulos and Jorge Sanguinetty to support policy makers and field practitioners. Specifically, it will provide them with practical tools from the theory and practice of economics of education, at a level suitable for the non-economist and in an easy to use way. The text will provide a framework and guidelines for tackling common problems faced by most education policy makers and systems by contextualizing them both within society at large and within the economic system in two main aspects: the resources needed to produce education, and the education needed by the economy and society. In essence, this work will provide the missing link to aid policy makers in utilizing the now-rich field of economics of education to establish the feasibility of educational development projects and help improve their success rate. Our Experience The Center has staff capabilities and experience in all aspects of social and economic development, such as economics, education, environment, gender, and governance. Our technical abilities include economic policy and market analysis, statistical and applied research, program design and implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. The Center is dedicated to developing best practices in these areas. Further, it is deeply committed to working with donor organizations to both disseminate and deepen understanding around the efficacy of development programs. Additionally, the Center benefits from a close relationship with DevTech Systems, Inc. (DevTech). Established in 1984, DevTech is a consulting firm dedicated to international development. It specializes in providing advisory services and technical assistance to government, private sector, and civil society stakeholders around the world. The services function to stimulate growth and combat poverty. DevTech works effectively across a wide spectrum of cultural and political conditions, and from the highest levels of government to field operations. The Center’s experience is largely embodied in the professional and academic experience of its Board of Directors, which provides ongoing and extensive support. Board of Directors Jorge Sanguinetty, President: Dr. Sanguinetty holds a Ph.D. in economics and is an expert in development and human capital strategies. He has published numerous articles and chapters on education reform and economics in developing countries, especially in Latin America. His most recent book (2004) is Cuba: The Present and Future of the Cuban Economy and Society (Cuba: Realidad y Destino). Dr. Sanguinetty is also an expert on the political economy of policy reform in developing and transitional economies. As a former economic planner in Cuba, he has first-hand knowledge of centrally planned economies and how they can transition to more open, market-based systems. Dr. Sanguinetty has worked for the National Bureau of Economic Research and for the Brookings Institution, and on projects in more than 20 countries, including the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Jordan, Russia, and South Africa. He is the Founder, President, and CEO of DevTech Systems, Inc. and a founder and active member of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy. Mercedes Sanguinetty, Secretary: Ms. Sanguinetty has over 25 years of experience in human resources, management, training, project support, recruiting, proposal coordination, and corporate governance. Currently, she serves as Senior Vice President of DevTech Systems, Inc. Ms. Sanguinetty is a certified educator and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. George Psacharopoulos: Dr. Psacharopoulos has over 30 years of academic and operational experience in educational planning, manpower training, cost-benefit analysis of investments in education, school financing, poverty assessments, and education project design and evaluation. He has contributed to the theoretical and empirical international literature in these fields by means of over 300 publications, many of which appear in reading lists for courses in economics, education, and sociology. Dr. Psacharopoulos has conducted policy-dialogue at the highest level with the governments of several countries and served as consultant to international organizations on matters of educational policy and project preparation. Roger Betancourt: Dr. Betancourt received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1970 and joined the faculty at the University of Maryland in 1969 where he continues to teach economics. His general fields of interest are applied microeconomics and economic development. His current research interests are in the economics of the distribution sector, the economics of production, the new institutional economics and the study of the Cuban economy. He has been a Visiting Professor on several occasions at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, and held the Kermit O. Hanson Visiting Chair at the University of Washington Graduate School of Business in 1996. Dr. Betancourt is a founder and former President of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy and a recipient of two Fulbright Senior Specialist awards. Publications include: Capital Utilization: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. (With C. Clague) Cambridge University Press, 1981; “The Allocation of Publicly-Provided Goods to Rural Households: On Some Consequences of Caste, Religion, and Democracy,” World Development, 2000; The Economics of Retailing and Distribution, Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd., 2004; The Role of the State During a DemocraticTransition: Cuba, Cuba Transition Project. Institute of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. University of Miami, 2004 (translated into Spanish, 2005). James W. Fox: Mr. Fox has been a development economist working on global poverty and economic growth issues for 35 years, mostly at USAID, but with shorter assignments with the State and Treasury Departments, and with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has worked in some 30 countries, including long-term assignments in El Salvador, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Colombia. At USAID, he spent ten years as chief economist for Latin America, as well as five years as chief of economic growth evaluation. He is currently a consultant to the World Bank and USAID. He studied economics at the University of North Carolina.
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