Michelle Carolina Ordoñez Luna, M.Sc.

Michelle is originally from Ecuador, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from the Pontifical Catholic University in Quito. She gained several years of research experience in her home country, notably at the Centre of Fiscal Studies (CEF), an independent research institute attached to the Ecuadorian Tax Administration. There, she worked on projects related to tax havens and conducted impact evaluations and benchmarking analyses of (potential) fiscal reforms using large administrative microdata. She later moved to Germany to pursue a master’s degree in International Economics and Economic Policy at Goethe University Frankfurt. During and following her studies, Michelle has accumulated over six years of relevant professional experience. She currently works as a transfer pricing consultant at WTS Germany and previously spent four years at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), where she served as an advisor to the Secretariat of the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI), a global multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at strengthening domestic revenue mobilisation in lower-income countries. Michelle’s research interests lie at the intersection of international corporate taxation and environmental issues, tax and development, and the taxation of high-net-worth individuals. She is convinced of the potential of international taxation as a policy instrument to address global challenges such as climate change and inequality. Outside her professional work, Michelle enjoys aerial arts, cooking, and spending time with her family and friends. 
Core discipline: Economics