Dr. Alejandro Ponce, Ph.D.

Dr. Alejandro Ponce, Ph.D.
Chief Research Officer, World Justice Project Twitter: @AlejandroWJP and @TheWJP

Environmental Governance Indicators for Latin America & the Caribbean

The World Justice Project’s Chief Research Officer, Dr. Alejandro Ponce, will present the Environmental Governance Indicators for Latin America and the Caribbean, which was published in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in September 2020. This report represents the first-ever cross-country assessment measuring how environmental governance functions in practice in ten countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Peru, and Uruguay. The report draws from surveys to in-country practitioners, building on the Qualified Respondents Questionnaire (QRQ) methodology developed by the WJP for its flagship WJP Rule of Law Index ®. It gathers timely information on a range of topics—such as the strength of regulatory enforcement, transparency in environmental decision-making, and the institutional capacity of environmental authorities—from experts who frequently interact with state institutions and environmental agencies.

Dr. Alejandro Ponce is the Chief Research Officer of the World Justice Project. He joined the WJP as Senior Economist and is one of the original designers and a lead author of the WJP Rule of Law Index. Dr. Ponce leads the research and data collection initiatives of the World Justice Project, from the administration of the WJP Rule of Law Index to the design and implementation of nationwide surveys in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the EU, and Mexico. Prior to joining the World Justice Project, Dr. Ponce worked as a researcher at Yale University and as an economist at the World Bank and the Mexican Banking and Securities Commission. Dr. Ponce has conducted research in the areas of behavioral economics, financial inclusion, justice indicators, and the rule of law, and has been published in collected volumes as well as top academic journals such as the ​ American Economic Review​ and the ​Journal of Law and Economics​. He is a frequent speaker in international conferences and policy forums in the area of rule of law. He holds a B.A. in Economics from ITAM in Mexico, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.

Check out the full report on Environmental Governance Indicators for Latin America and the Caribbean, which is available to read in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, here.

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