Alicia is an Associate Professor with appointments in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics at Northeastern University, where she also serves as the Research Director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy.

Her research focuses on labor market dynamics including changes in employer skill requirements, labor market mismatch, youth labor market attachment, and college and career pathways. Much of her work is done in partnership with city and state agencies to design and evaluate labor market interventions at the local level. She has published in leading peer-reviewed publications including Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Human Resources, Labour Economics, Health Affairs, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and Education Finance and Policy. Dr. Modestino’s research has been covered extensively in the print media including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Politico, and Vox. She has appeared on national tv and radio programs including MSNBC, PBS NewsHour, and NPR’s On Point.

Modestino received her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University where she was also a fellow in the Inequality and Social Policy Program. She is currently a Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and an Affiliated Researcher of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). Previously, she was a Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston where she conducted research on regional economic and policy issues for over a decade.

Alicia joined IZA as a Research Fellow in May 2023.