Lara is a senior research fellow at CEPR. She has previously worked at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center and as an advisor for the International Trade Union Confederation, which represents over 200 million workers worldwide. Her past projects include co-founding and managing Economic Questions, a pluralist economics blog where she was both an editor and contributor.

Lara is a dual citizen of the US and Romania, holds a BA in mathematics from Bard College and an MS in economic policy and theory from the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, and is now finishing her PhD dissertation at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE Bucuresti). Lara’s research interests include issues around sovereign debt, industrial policy, sustainable development, and policies that can support a just transition to a net-zero economy. Her work frequently engages with the devastating social and economic effects of austerity policies and the logical fallacies that underpin these policies. Her work has been featured by media outlets such as Reuters, BBC, NPR, Al Jazeera, The Intercept, openDemocracy, Vox, and The Hill.