Lourdes Benería (born 1937) is a Spanish-American economist. She is Professor Emerita at Cornell University's Department of City and Regional Planning. The author and editor of many books and articles, her work has concentrated on topics having to do with labor economics, women's work, the informal economy, Gender and Development, Latin American Development. and globalization. Before Cornell, she taught at Rutgers University and has given courses in other international centers. She worked at the ILO for two years and has collaborated with other UN organizations, such as UNIFEM and UNDP, and with a several NGOs. She obtained her PhD at Columbia University in 1975.