Maria Cruz-Saco

An expert on economic development and Latin American economies, María Amparo Cruz-Saco's extensive research and consulting brings a practical experience to her courses on economic growth and development in Latin America (Eco 237), open macroeconomics in developing countries (Eco 332), and her seminar on globalization and development in Latin America. 

She teaches introduction to microeconomics and intermediate macroeconomic theory, and together with Prof. John Tian, the political economy of Asia and Latin America in comparative perspective.

She was the Director of SATA Peru in Fall 2016.

Cruz-Saco returned to teaching economics at Connecticut College in 2008-2009, after spending the 2007-2008 academic year researching in Peru as a Fulbright scholar, leading a United Nations study on aging, equity and income security at the Universidad del Pacifico’s Research Center in Lima. This research resulted in publication of “In Opposite Directions: Demographic Transition and Old-Age Pensions in Peru,” Apuntes, Revista de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad del Pacífico.

Previously, Professor Cruz-Saco served as dean of the college at Wesleyan University. At Connecticut College, she also served as Interim Dean of the College from 2003 to 2005, as Chair of the Presidential Commission on a Pluralistic Community for 2002-2003, and formerly held the Lenore Tingle Howard '42 Chair in Economics.

She has taught at Universidad del Pacífico (undergraduate and master's programs), Mount Holyoke College (visiting), Wesleyan University (visiting), and Peru's Central Bank (visiting).

Cruz-Saco has acted as a consultant on numerous national projects in Paraguay, Guatemala, El Salvador and Peru; served during a sabbatical year as senior social affairs officer (P-5) at the Division of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations-New York, to support in the edition of the 2001 Report on the World Social Situation; and held senior staff positions at COFIDE in Lima, Peru, where she served during a sabbatical year as vice-president for development. Recently, she has staffed expert group meetings organized by the UN on issues of social protection and social integration. (View Policies to Advance Social Integration.)

Cruz-Saco has written five books, many journal articles and consulting reports. Her latest book, Intergenerational Solidarity: Promoting Economic and Social Ties, co-edited, was published by Palgrave/McMillan in January 2011. This book focuses on the implications of intergenerational exchanges at home, in the workplace and in social security systems in a context of rapid aging everywhere. (View Chapter One, Intergenerational Solidarity.)

Cruz-Saco is currently working on the complex role of microfinance in development with a focus on women entrepreneurship, and on migration and remittances among the Hispanic population of New London.

A former recipient of the USA Government Award from the United States Information Agency and a Fulbright Scholarship, Cruz-Saco is on the Board of Economists of Lima, Peru, is listed in Who's Who in the World, and is a contributing editor to the Library of Congress, Handbook of Latin American Studies.

Visit the economics department website.

Majoring in Economics.