Participatory Budgeting in the Dominican Republic: Implications for Agency, Democracy, and Development

When: Wednesday, September 24, 12:15-1:20 p.m.
Where: University of Maryland, 1203 Van Munching Hall
Link: http://publicpolicy.umd.edu/events/development-circle-3
RSVP: Email vryan@umd.edu by Tuesday, September 23.
Description: Marie Claire Vasquez recently completed a PhD in Policy Studies specializing in International Development from the UMD School of Public Policy. Marie Claire is passionate about development and democracy and about connecting political, quantitative and normative analyses for these topics. With a regional concentration in Latin America, over the past four years her research has focused on issues related to participatory democracy and citizen participation and its impact on perceptions of agency/empowerment. In the past she has also looked at governance issues, such as corruption, tax evasion and the composition of governments’ public spending. She has worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, The Center for Strategic International Studies, among others. She has also worked as a research assistant to Dr. Carol Graham, at The Brookings Institution. In October 2014, she will start working at The International Republican Institute.

Marie Claire also holds a MA in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, with a concentration in International Political Economy. Prior to coming to the United States, she obtained a graduate degree in Corporate Finance and a Licenciatura in Economics both from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (Santo Domingo, DR). She worked for nearly two years at the Customs Administration of the DR as a Manager of Referential Values.