Juan E. Saavedra is a Lecturer in Public Policy at ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Dr. Saavedra currently teaches the economics sequence in the MPP core curriculum (API-101 in Fall and API-102 in Spring). In addition to his core teaching duties, Dr. Saavedra’s conducts research on various domains of education policy analysis. He has published on topics that include school vouchers, conditional cash transfers for education, the impacts of resources on educational attainment, collegiate value-added, teacher labor markets, vocational education, national reviews of educational policy and educational cost-effectiveness analysis. As a principal or co-principal investigator, he has led projects in Mexico, Peru and Colombia sponsored by the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the MIT Jameel Poverty Action Lab, the Agency Fund and private foundations, among others. In 2014 Dr. Saavedra published a book that became the education sector’s reform platform of Colombia’s outgoing president and the blueprint for a recent reform of national teacher evaluation policy. Dr. Saavedra is currently PI of two large-scale RCTs in partnership with Colombian government agencies, one aiming to improve agency by improving adolescent mental health, and one using chatbots to help high school seniors overcome college choice and financial aid informational barriers. In 2015, Dr. Saavedra and his co-authors were awarded the Juan Luis Londoño Prize for the best paper presented at the Latin-American Economic Association Annual Conference, for work examining the long-term benefits and costs of a large-scale private school scholarship program in Colombia. Dr. Saavedra has also served as Expert Advisor to the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills, and has consulted for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and USAID, among others.
Sponsored projects include research, training, convening, and other initiatives externally funded through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. Funding sources can include the US federal government, state and local agencies, private foundations, corporations, and foreign entities (public and private).
The below list includes all sponsored projects in progress or completed within the current and past 2 calendar years, administered at the Harvard Kennedy School under the direction of the named faculty member as Principal Investigator. Please note that this list includes only those activities supported by external sponsored funding; other sources of support are not included (e.g., philanthropy, ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø or Harvard internal resources).
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Outside Professional Activities For Juan Saavedra
| Organization | Relationship |
|---|---|
| University of Chicago | Consulting |
| US Agency for International Development | Membership on a scientific or other advisory board |