Tomás E. Monarrez

Tomás E. Monarrez is a labor economist and senior research fellow in the Consumer Finance Institute, where he conducts research on the economics of education and the broader policy implications of developments in credit and labor markets. His work focuses on higher education finance and local public school systems. His current research provides empirical examinations of the state of the federal student loan program and the structure of higher education markets. Tomás has also done research on the impact of local government policies on U.S. public education and urban spaces.

His research has been featured in the Philadelphia Fed’s working paper series, academic conferences, and policy reports and has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Journal of Economic Literature, and National Tax Journal. In addition to his research, Tomás contributes to internal policy analysis of higher education market conditions.

Prior to joining the Bank in 2023, Tomás was a senior advisor in the Office of the Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Education and a senior research associate at the Urban Institute. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. in economics and mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.