Ernesto Schargrodsky received his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. He had been previously awarded the degrees of Masters of Arts in Economics from Harvard University, Graduate Program in Economics from IDES, and Licenciatura in Economics (Honors) from the University of Buenos Aires.

He is Full Professor and Director of the Crime Lab at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. Previously, he was Director of Socioeconomic Research at CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (2020-2024), President of Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (2011-2019), and Dean of Di Tella Business School (2006-2011). He has been Visiting Professor at Stanford University and Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. He is also a fellow of the Econometric Society, associate researcher of J-PAL LAC, member of the National Academy of Economic Sciences of Argentina, and researcher of CONICET.

His research has been published at the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Comparative Economics, Criminology & Public Policy, Economics and Human Biology, Economia (LACEA), Economica, Man & the Economy, American Law and Economics Review and Emerging Markets Review, inter alia, and includes studies of the impact of police deployment on crime, the effect of the privatization of water companies on child mortality, the analysis of popular support for privatizations, the relationship between bureaucratic wages and corruption, the effect of mandatory military service on crime, the impact on recidivism of the use of electronic monitoring devices instead of incarceration, the effects of awarding land titles to squatters, the relationship between inequality and crime, the impact of the access to social networks on political polarization, and the relationship between dishonest behavior and public employment.

He has received the 2009 Houssay Award for Researcher in the Social Sciences of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Argentina, the 2005 Houssay Award for Young Researcher in the Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education of Argentina, and the 2008 Premio Consagración from the National Academy of Economic Sciences of Argentina. He has been awarded fellowships, grants and prizes from Harvard University, Stanford University, Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, United Nations, Tinker Foundation, International Finance Corporation, Financial Times, Facebook, PREAL, CONICET of Argentina, CAF, Ronald Coase Institute, Lincoln Institute, FONCYT and the Global Development Network.

He has worked as a consultant for Telefónica de Argentina, Movicom, Münchener Ruck, CICOMRA, NERA, Banco Río, CIPPEC, Procuradoría General del Estado de Ecuador, Procuración General del Tesoro de la Nación, Ministerio de Economía y Comisión Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia.