Theresa K. Osborne

Theresa is GAO’s Chief Economist. She uses her empirical research skills and operational experience to enhance the policy relevance and rigor of GAO’s work; informs senior leadership of emerging or pressing economic issues, and contributes to the agency’s strategy for helping the US government achieve more effective policies in economic spheres.

Theresa joined GAO in July 2023.  Theresa previously served in senior economist roles at the World Bank, where she published novel empirical analyses on development topics and advised on poverty reduction policies. Until 2019, she served Deputy Chief Economist, Managing Director for Economic Analysis at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and prior to this as Lead Economist/Director at the MCC. Earlier, she conducted research and taught undergraduate and graduate courses as Assistant Professor of Economics at Hunter College, Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at Princeton University, and Research Fellow at the European University Institute. Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and as working papers, economic reports, policy notes, and blogs and has spanned topics in economic growth, poverty and inequality, labor economics, industrial organization, tax policy, agricultural economics, and infrastructure policy.

Theresa earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University; a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies; and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.