José Morales Arilla returned to Harvard's Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2022. He is also a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University's Department of Politics. He will join Texas A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service as an Assistant Professor in the Fall of 2023.

His fields of research are Political Economy and Development Economics. His work leverages advanced quantitative methods to study the political causes and consequences of some of today’s most pressing development issues - inequality, violence, trade and growth.

José first joined the Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2013, and later as a Doctoral Fellow in 2020. Previously, José served as policy advisor to Henrique Capriles’ Presidential Campaign, and as researcher and consultant for the Interamerican Development Bank, IESA, Transparency International, the Revenue Watch Institute, the International Budget Partnership and Venezuela’s Central Bank.

José holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University; a Master's Degree in Public Administration and International Development (MPAID, 2012), and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas, Venezuela.

He loves playing the drums, watching movies and reading political chronicles.