Julián Messina is lead research economist at the research department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Prior to joining the IDB, he worked at the World Bank and the European Central Bank, and he taught at the Universities of Barcelona GSE, Georgetown, Girona, Frankfurt and Mainz. He has co-authored the World Bank Latin American Flagship Reports “Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class” and "Latin American Entrepreneurs: Many Firms but Little Innovation”. His research focuses on labor markets dynamics, skills, wage determination and inequality. His work has been published in leading academic journals including the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, the Economic Journal, Journal of the European Economic Association, and Labour Economics, and is often featured in popular blogs and media outlets including the Economist. He has extensive experience advising governments in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Julian obtained his PhD. in economics at the European University Institute in 2002.

He joined IZA as a Research Affiliate in July 2000 and became a Research Fellow in April 2003.