Maria C. Lo Bue is a Research Associate at UNU-WIDER. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Göttingen, Germany and a Master’s degree in Advanced Development Economics from the University of Florence, Italy. Her main field of research is in development economics, focusing on inequality and social mobility and on women economic empowerment. Her recent research has also dealt with several aspects related to health and education. Maria’s work has been published in specialised journals such as Economic Development and Cultural Change, Oxford Development Studies and Social Indicators Research.