Vanessa Carrión-Yaguana

Vanessa Carrión-Yaguana Ecuador 2014 Grantee  US - Canada Program PhD in Economics from Virginia Tech - US

Vanessa Carrión-Yaguana is an agricultural economist who is deeply committed to reducing poverty and making a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged groups in the global south. She is also passionate  about advancing gender equality and promoting the rights of women and girls. Vanessa holds a M.Sc. in Agricultural and Applied Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics from Virginia Tech in the US. Upon her return to Ecuador, she started working for the Electoral Council of Ecuador. There, she contributed to the development and implementation of research projects on political inclusion of minorities (the elderly, indigenous nationalities, and LGBTI) to increase public awareness of the barriers and challenges faced by these communities. After serving as an Adviser to the Electoral Council for two years, Vanessa returned to academia. 

Vanessa currently serves as Assistant Professor of Economics at Universidad de Las Américas Ecuador. She  has consulted for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment and for several NGOs.   She works on development projects funded by several NGOs and her research focuses on policies to alleviate poverty in rural areas and the assessment of impacts of technologies, policies, and programs on rural residents. Her research interests also include political behavior. She has two projects currently in progress. The first seeks to identify the factors that explain different levels of blank and spoiled ballots across parishes in Ecuador. The second is an experiment to evaluate the role of candidates’ attractiveness on electoral outcomes in low-information environments. 

Publications:         

Peer-reviewed journal articles

  • Carrión, V., K. Meneses, S. Cruz (2021) Gender preferences in child labor in Ecuador Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

  • Carrión, V., J. Alwang, V. Barrera (2020). Promoting behavioral change using text messages: A case study of blackberry farmers in Ecuador. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

  • Carrión, V., M. Vargas, A. Paredes (2016). Party system nationalization in Ecuador: Presidential elections 1952-2013. Democracias. 4 (4). 3 - 24.

  • Carrión, V., J. Alwang, G. Norton, V. Barrera (2016). Does IPM Have Staying Power? Revisiting a Potato-producing Area Years After Formal Training Ended. Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Peer-reviewed journal articles (under review)

  • Carrión, V., Carroll, R. Evaluating the Effects of Policy Stringency on COVID-19 Case Patterns Using Cluster Analysis (Under review).

  • Carrión, V., G. Velastegui, M. Vargas. Congressional Elections in Ecuador: Is there a Gender Penalty? (Under review).

Book chapters

  • Carrión, V., P. Gallegos, V. Barrera, G. Norton, J. Alwang (2016). IPM for potato producers in highland Ecuador. In Rangaswamy Muniappan (Ed.), IPM packages for tropical vegetables.