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Michael Lokshin is Lead Economist with the Office of the Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank. Prior to that, Michael was a Lead Economist and Manager in the Development Data Group. He joined the research group at the World Bank as Young Economist after receiving his Ph.D. in Economics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999. His research focuses on the areas of poverty and inequality measurement, labor economics, and applied econometrics. 

James E. Foster is the Oliver T. Carr Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics at the George Washington University. Dr. Foster is also a Research Associate at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at Oxford University. His research focuses on welfare economics ¡ª using economic tools to evaluate and enhance the wellbeing of people.Professor Foster¡¯s work underlies many well-known social indices including the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published annually by the UNDP in the Human Development Report. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University and holds a Doctorate Honoris Causa from Universidad Aut¨®noma del Estado de Hidalgo (Mexico).

Benoit Decerf is a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. He is a theory-minded microeconomist whose research interests include poverty measurement, welfare economics and mechanism design. His current research on poverty measurement focuses on the design of poverty indicators aggregating different dimensions of deprivation, e.g. combining subsistence and social participation, or combining poverty and mortality. His current research in welfare economics focuses on the implications that equality of opportunity has for inheritance taxation. Benoit holds a PhD from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve. 

Ivailo Izvorski is the Chief Economist for the Europe and Central Asia region. He assumed this position on December 1, 2022. Since joining the World Bank in 2005 as a Senior Country Economist for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management sector Unit, he has held various positions ¡ª including Lead Economist and Practice Manager in Europe and Central Asia, and his most recent assignment as Practice Manager for the Global Macro, Growth and Debt unit in the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment (MTI) Global Practice. Ivailo holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.