Tim Gindling is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and has been a Fulbright scholar and visiting faculty member at the University of Costa Rica and the National Autonomous University of Costa Rica. He has also served as a consultant to Central American governments and international development institutions such as the World Bank.  His primary research interests are studies of labor markets, social policy, poverty, and income inequality in Central America.  Professor Gindling ‘s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as World Development, Economic Development and  Cultural Change, Journal of Development Studies, Economics of Education Review, Latin American Research Review,  CEPAL Review, Mesoamerican, IIZA Journal of Labor Studies, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, and Labour Economics.  Recent peer-reviewed publications include “The Distribution of Income in Central America,”  “South-South Migration: the Impact of Nicaraguan Immigrants on Earnings, Inequality and Poverty in Costa Rica,”  “Self Employment in the Developing World,” “The Consequences of Increased Enforcement of Legal Minimum Wages in a Costa Rica” and six other articles on the impact of legal minimum wages on employment, earnings, poverty and income inequality in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.  Mr. Gindling holds a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.  He has been a Research Fellow of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) since 2007.