Sebastian Martinez

Sebastian Martinez is the Director of Evaluation at 3ie where he leads the generation of high-quality policy-relevant evidence through impact evaluations and applied research.

Sebastian has over 20 years of experience producing and using rigorous evidence to inform decision-making for more effective economic development. He has led more than 50 impact evaluations and conducted training on causal inference and applied research methods for hundreds of professionals in governments, development banks, NGOs and research institutions. Prior to joining 3ie, he served in several economist positions at the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), most recently as a Principal Economist at the IDB. In these roles, he conducted policy-oriented research on the impacts of development programs, provided technical support and economic analysis for Bank operations, and advised clients in a diverse set of low-and middle-income countries, primarily in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Sebastian’s work spans multiple sectors, including health, nutrition, social protection, pensions, labor markets, early childhood development, gender and diversity, water and sanitation, housing and urban development, and transportation. His research has been published in leading academic journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, AER Insights, AEJ Economic Policy, AEJ Applied Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Labour Economics, Economic Development and Cultural Change, PLOS One, The Lancet Global Health, and others. Sebastian is also co-author of the widely used book Impact Evaluation in Practice, now in its second edition and published in four languages.

Sebastian holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, with a specialization in economic development and applied microeconomics.