Biography
Dr. Vélez received her Ph.D in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2006. Her dissertation presents the results of a series of framed field experiments conducted in three regions of Colombia with direct users of natural resources. The research objectives are to develop an empirical characterization of how individual behavior deviates from purely self-interested Nash behavior and to further our understanding of the effects of alternative institutions to promote more conservative choices in common pool experiments.

While at Umass, she also worked with Professors John Stranlund and James Murphy, in the design and conduction of laboratory experiments to test compliance behavior and enforcement strategies for environmental policies.

As a postdoctoral researcher at CRED, María Alejandra Vélez will be working on decision making under uncertainty, with a focus on water management and climate variability in Ceara, Brazil.

CRED Projects
» Climate Information and Water Resource Management in Ceará, Brazil