Speaker's Profile

John Baffes is a Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Prospects Group, where he leads the commodity price forecasting process and oversees the management of the commodity price database for the Commodity Markets Outlook publication. He has served in various World Bank units, including Latin America, South Asia, East Africa, Evaluation, and Research, bringing a broad and diverse perspective to his work. His contributions extend beyond the World Bank, with numerous chapters and articles published in academic journals on economic development, agricultural economics, resource economics, and applied econometrics. He has also taught an executive MBA course on Applied Econometrics for Commodity Markets. Before his academic career, John gained practical experience managing a commodity trading company, strengthening his applied understanding of commodity market dynamics. He holds degrees in Economics from the University of Athens, Greece (BS), Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia, U.S. (MS), and Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland, U.S. (Ph.D.).

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