Gustavo Yamada is Ph.D. in Economics at Columbia University, New York, and Economist, Professor and Principal Researcher at Universidad del Pacífico, Lima, Perú. Currently, he is Dean of the Economics and Finance Faculty, Member of the Board of Directors at the Central Bank of Peru, and Counselor at the Peruvian National Education Council. He also writes a monthly opinion column in the Financial Section of El Comercio, the main Peruvian newspaper. He has been Viceminister at the Peruvian Labor Ministry, Consultant for the World Bank and UNDP, Senior Economist at Inter-American Development Bank, and Fiscal Economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. He has written extensively on labor, poverty and social issues in Peru and abroad, including books, book chapters, and papers in World Development, Economic Development and Cultural Change, International Journal of Manpower, Información Comercial Española, Review of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Policy Reform, El Trimestre Económico, and Apuntes.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in September 2014.