Andrés Velasco is a Chilean economist and professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. As a teenager, he and his family were forced into exile by Pinochet’s military dictatorship. Once the regime fell, he entered the country’s democratic government, and eventually served as Finance Minister of Chile under President Michelle Bachelet. Dr. Velasco holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Yale University and a doctorate in economics from Columbia University, and has worked as a consultant for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and several Central American governments.