Ritva Reinikka, a Finnish national, is Professor of Practice at the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics, based at Aalto University School of Business in Helsinki. She is also a Special Adviser (education) to the European Union Commissioner for International Partnerships, Ms Urpilainen.
Ms Reinikka worked at the World Bank between 1993 and 2013. She joined the Bank as a Country Economist in East Africa and was a Research Manager in the Development Research Group. She was Co-Director of the 2004 World Development Report Making Services Work for Poor People. During her career at the World Bank, Ms Reinikka was also Country Director for South Africa, based in Pretoria; Director for Poverty Reduction, Economic Management, Private Sector and Finance in the Middle East and North Africa region; and Director for Human Development in the Africa region.
Her professional and research interests include public economics, service delivery, education, health care, and empirical microeconomics of growth. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and policy-oriented outlets.
Prior to joining the World Bank, she was a researcher at the Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford, and the Helsinki School of Economics. She has also held operational positions at UNICEF and with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. She holds a DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.
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