Maria Puolakkainen

I am driven by my curiosity for how the state shapes development outcomes through macroeconomic, tax, and social policies, and the upholding of the rule of law— not to forget my addiction to salsa dancing. After discovering my passion for development economics during my Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree at Warwick, I pursued this in my econometric investigation on the impact of the natural resource curse on state capacities across Latin American countries, where I discovered high levels of variation across oil, gas, and mineral-dependent states.

I spent 2018-2019 travelling and working across Latin America. Following my experience as a consultant in serving healthcare and humanitarian aid to Venezuelan migrants in a Medellín-based NGO, I feel compelled to continue working in the development sector in the future. I have also worked in the private sector in a Mergers and Acquisitions team in London, learning a great deal about corporate governance, enterprise growth strategies, and reflecting on approaches for generating economic dynamism.

My first year at the Latin American Centre inspired me to question intra-state regional development inequalities in particular. In my MPhil research I am investigating the role of violent non-state actors on the provision of education and healthcare services in Colombian municipalities.