Valentina Paredes received her B.S. and Master in Economics from the University of Chile, and obtained her PhD in Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. In November 2012, she joined the Department of Economics at the University of Chile as an Assistant Professor. She is also an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES) and an Associate Researcher at the Millennium Nucleus in Social Development (DESOC).

Her main research areas are Economics of Education, Economics of Gender, Applied Econometrics and Applied Micro. She uses applied micro econometric techniques to study the determinants of gender gaps in education and public policies to reduce them, and the effect of teachers on student achievement.

She joined IZA as a Research Affiliate in June 2020.