Adriana Kugler

Adriana Debora Kugler
Born	(1969-10-23) October 23, 1969 United States
Occupation	Economist
Years active	1991–present
Known for	Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank; Chief Economist at U.S. Department of Labor

Adriana Debora Kugler (born October 23, 1969) is an economist from the United States and currently serves on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She was appointed as the U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank following a nomination by President Joe Biden and subsequent confirmation by the U.S. Senate in April 2022. Kugler holds a tenured professorship in public policy at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, though she is presently on leave. Between September 2011 and January 2013, she acted as Chief Economist for U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis.

Early life and education

Of both Jewish and Hispanic heritage, Kugler obtained her Bachelor of Arts with first-class joint honors in economics and political science from McGill University in 1991. She earned her doctorate in 1997 from the University of California, Berkeley, where her advisors included Nobel Prize winner George Akerlof.

Academic and research career

From 2013 to 2016, Kugler held the position of Vice-Provost for Faculty at Georgetown University. She is a full professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy and was the founder and co-director of the International Summer Institute on Policy Evaluation between 2010 and 2013. During her tenure as Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor (2011–2013), she influenced policies related to unemployment insurance, workforce training initiatives, retirement programs, overtime regulations, minimum wage laws, immigration, disability insurance, and workplace safety. Her previous academic appointments include faculty roles at the University of Houston and Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University.

Kugler is affiliated as a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research Labor Studies program. She also holds research fellowships at several institutions: the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London, the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn, the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM) in London, as well as Stanford University's Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality. Additionally, she is recognized as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Her editorial experience includes service on boards of prominent journals such as the Industrial and Labor Relations Review, The Journal of Labor and Development, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Labour Economics, Applied Economics Quarterly, and Economia.

Kugler’s scholarly work centers on labor market dynamics and policy assessment within both advanced and emerging economies. Key areas include youth employment challenges, labor mobility, job quality standards, and public policy instruments like payroll taxation, employment protection legislation, occupational licensing frameworks, unemployment insurance schemes, labor market fluctuations, and immigration effects.

Among her honors is the 2007 John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association, recognizing her significant contributions to labor and industrial relations research. In 2010, she received first prize from the Global Development Network for her paper "Trade Reforms and Market Selection: Evidence from Manufacturing Firms in Colombia," awarded under the category "Globalization, Regulations and Development."

Her research endeavors have been supported by multiple grants aimed at investigating how public policies influence labor markets across diverse economic contexts.

Political appointments

On August 4, 2021, President Joe Biden put forward Kugler as the U.S. Executive Director for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Her initial nomination was retracted on September 20, 2021, due to a typographical error in her name but was immediately resubmitted on the same day. Subsequently, she was nominated once more on January 4, 2022, to be reviewed during the new Congressional session. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported her nomination favorably on December 15, 2021, and again on March 8, 2022. The Senate approved her appointment by voice vote on April 7, 2022.

Federal Reserve

In May 2023, President Biden nominated Kugler to join the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, marking her as the first Hispanic individual appointed to the Fed board. The Senate confirmed her nomination on September 7, 2023, and she officially took office on September 13.

On August 1, 2025, Kugler declared her intention to resign early from the Board effective the following week, citing a planned return to academia for the upcoming fall semester without providing additional details.

Selected publications

Kugler’s scholarly contributions have been published in premier journals within Economics and Public Policy such as the American Economic Review, Review of Economic & Statistics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Economic Journal, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Development Economics, and Journal of Policy Reform. Her research has also informed key reports including the World Bank’s World Development Report and annual development publications by the Inter-American Development Bank and OECD.

• "Trade and Market Selection: Evidence from Manufacturing Plants in Colombia," co-authored with Marcela Eslava, John Haltiwanger, and Maurice Kugler, appeared in Review of Economic Dynamics, volume 16 issue 1 (2013), pages 135–158.
• "Katrina's Children: Evidence on the Structure of Peer Effects from Hurricane Evacuees," with Scott Imberman and Bruce Sacerdote, published in American Economic Review, volume 102(5), pages 2048–82, August 2012.

Covered by Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express News, Houston Business Journal (2009).

• "Employment Consequences of Restrictive Permanent Contracts: Evidence from Spanish Labor Market Reforms," co-authored with Juan F. Jimeno and Virginia Hernanz; CEPR Working Paper No. 3724 (2003), later revised for Journal of the European Economic Association.

Featured in World Development Reports for 2006 and 2007.

• "Factor Adjustments after Deregulation: Panel Evidence from Colombian Plants," alongside Marcela Eslava, John Haltiwanger, and Maurice Kugler; published in Review of Economics and Statistics, May 2010 issue (92(2)).
• "Employment and Social Security: An Alternative View," included in Bjorn Lomborg’s edited volume Latin American Development Priorities: Costs and Benefits (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
• "Market Reforms, Factor Reallocation, and Productivity Growth in Latin America," with Marcela Eslava, John Haltiwanger, and Maurice Kugler; featured in Norman Loayza and Luis Serven’s Business Regulation and Economic Performance (World Bank and Stanford University Press, 2010).
• "Labor Market Effects of Payroll Taxes in Developing Countries: Evidence from Colombia," co-authored with Maurice Kugler; published in Economic Development and Cultural Change (January 2009), volume 57(2).
• "Rural Windfall or Resource Curse? Coca, Income and Civil Conflict in Colombia," with Joshua Angrist,

Lead Article in Review of Economics and Statistics (May 2008).

• "Do Employment Protections Reduce Productivity? Evidence from U.S. States," written with David Autor and Bill Kerr; appeared in Economic Journal (June 2007), volume 117.
• "The Effects of Employment Protection in Europe and the U.S.," Opuscle publication by CREI (2007).
• "Plant Turnover and Structural Reforms in Colombia," co-authored with Marcela Eslava, John Haltiwanger, and Maurice Kugler; IMF Staff Papers (2006), volume 53.
• "Effects of Employment Protection and Product Market Regulations on the Italian Labor Market," with Giovanni Pica; included in Julian Messina et al.'s Labour Market Adjustments in Europe (Edward Elgar, 2006).

Featured in World Development Report 2005.

• "Doctors without Borders? Relicensing Requirements and Negative Selection in the Market for Physicians," co-written with Robert Sauer; Journal of Labor Economics (July 2005), volume 23(3).
• "Wage-Shifting Effects of Severance Payments Savings Accounts in Colombia," published in Journal of Public Economics (February 2005), volume 89(2–3).

Highlighted in World Development Report 2005; IDB's Economic and Social Progress Report Latin America 2004; OECD Employment Outlook 2004.

• "The Effect of Structural Reforms on Productivity and Profitability Enhancing Reallocation: Evidence from Colombia," with Marcela Eslava et al.; Journal of Development Economics (December 2004).

Featured within World Development Report 2005.

• "Effects of Trade on Job Reallocation: Evidence from Latin America," co-authored with John Haltiwanger, Maurice Kugler et al.; published in Journal of Policy Reform (December 2004).
• "The Effect of Job Security Regulations on Labor Market Flexibility: Evidence from the Colombian Labor Market Reform," included in James J. Heckman and Carmen Pagés’ edited volume Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America (University of Chicago Press, 2004).

Featured in World Development Reports for 2006-07; IDB's Economic and Social Progress Report Latin America 2004.

• "The Reversal of Inequality in Colombia, 1978-95: A Combination of Persistent and Fluctuating Forces," co-written with Cesar Bouillón et al.; part of François Bourguignon et al.’s The Microeconomics of Income Distribution Dynamics (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Featured within World Development Report 2004.

• "Protective or Counter-Productive? Labor Market Institutions and the Effect of Immigration on EU Natives," co-authored with Joshua Angrist; Economic Journal (June 2003).

Reprinted in Andrew Morris & Samuel Estreicher Eds., Cross-Border Human Resources (Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2005).

Featured Economist's Economics Focus July 7th, 2005; World Development Report 2007; UN Expert Report on Migration & Development (2008).

• "The Impact of Firing Costs on Turnover and Unemployment: Evidence from Colombian Labor Market Reform," International Tax and Public Finance Journal (August 1999).

Reprinted in Enrique Bour et al., Latin American Economic Crisis (Palgrave MacMillan UK., 2004).

Featured Presidential Address Society of Labor Economists (2001).

• "What Factors Contributed to Changes in Employment During and After the Great Recession," co-authored with Ammar Farooq; Journal of Labor Policy (February 2015).
• "Beyond Job Lock: Impacts of Public Health Insurance on Occupational Mobility," with Ammar Farooq (January 2016).
• "The Effect of Providing Breakfast on Student Performance: Evidence from an In-Class Breakfast Program," co-written with Scott Imberman; Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (Summer 2014).
• "Labor Market Analysis and Labor Policy Making in the Nation's Capital," Industrial and Labor Relations Review (Spring 2014).

For a detailed compilation including direct links to her research outputs consult Kugler’s profiles at University of Houston and Georgetown Public Policy Institute.