Alicia Menendez is a Principal Research Scientist in the International Projects department at NORC and Associate Professor/Research Associate in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies and the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago.
. Menendez is a development economist with extensive experience in managing fieldwork and data collection in developing countries. Before joining NORC, she was a lecturer in public and international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School and a researcher at the Research Program in Development Studies at Princeton University. She has also worked as an advisor to the United Nations Development Programme.
Her research focuses on investments in human capital, labor economics, and household behavior. Menendez is particularly interested in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. Her current work includes transitions to adulthood, individuals' health and economic status, youth unemployment, the costs associated with illness and death, and the impact of adult deaths on households and children's well-being in a series of household surveys in South Africa.
Her work has been published in American Economic Review, Population Studies, Economics and Human Biology, Economic Development and Cultural Change.