Professor Manuel Lara Caballero holds a Bachelor's Degree in Administration from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), a Master's Degree in Social Economics from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) Iztapalapa Campus and a Ph.D. in Public Policy, concentration in Public Economics, from the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus, where he completed a research stay at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

He is a National System of Researchers member at Level I and has a desirable PRODEP profile. His research interests are: social inclusion; analysis, design, and evaluation of public policies, and economic measurement.