About

R. Andrés Castañeda Aguilar · Senior Economist & Data Scientist

R. Andrés Castañeda Aguilar
Economics and data science for development.

Research & practice

Understanding poverty.
Informing better policy.

I’m a Senior Economist and Data Scientist in the Data Analytics Unit, part of the Data Group in the World Bank’s Development Economics Department.

My work is driven by a commitment to reducing poverty and inequality through better measurement and a deeper understanding of people’s socioeconomic circumstances. I use data to understand the lives of people who are less well-off, inform public debate, and help improve the quality of public policy.

I develop packages and analytical tools in R, Python, and Stata to make socioeconomic research more accessible and reproducible.

Read my CV Get in touch →

Philosophy & evidence

Knowledge and evidence.

I’m passionate about philosophy, especially epistemology: how we form beliefs, justify what we know, and connect empirical evidence with our understanding of the world.

Responsible AI

Keeping judgment accountable.

I’m increasingly focused on developing practices, protocols, guidelines, and tools for responsible AI. I’m concerned about the epistemic gap it can create: a growing distance between the answers people receive and the evidence needed to understand and evaluate them.

Missing provenance and the delegation of important decisions to AI are particular concerns. Responsible use should help people trace claims back to their sources and retain the judgment needed to make informed decisions.

What I explore

Interests

  • Development economics
  • Poverty, inequality, and socioeconomic measurement
  • Data and evidence for public policy
  • Packages and workflows in R, Python, and Stata
  • Epistemology and empirical evidence
  • Responsible AI, provenance, and decision-making

Background

Education

M.A. in Apologetics
Biola University · 2019
M.Sc. in Economics
Universidad del Rosario · Bogotá, Colombia · 2010
B.Sc. in Economics
Universidad del Rosario · Bogotá, Colombia · 2009
B.Sc. in Finance and International Trade
Universidad del Rosario · Bogotá, Colombia · 2012

My contributions also include analytical resources such as the LAC Equity Lab and the South Asia Region MicroData user manual, alongside the tools and infrastructure collected in this portfolio.