Economist
RECENT RESEARCH
My PhD dissertation 2013-2018
My PhD dissertation attempts to improve the addition of the time dimension in the analysis of economic wellbeing. This research expects to expand our knowledge on the empirics of long-run economic mobility, both intra and inter generational mobility, as most of the studies refer only to few years of income mobility or to a couple of generations when examining the influence of family background on educative outcomes. Furthermore, most of the empirical evidence available refers to Nordic and highly industrialized countries. Mexico is the canvas of this work but the approaches and principles followed here could be mimicked elsewhere. Below you can find a brief description of this research and a full list of publications.
ON SYNTHETIC INCOME PANELS
(With François Bourguignon and Hai-Anh Dang)
R&R Journal of Economic Inequality
In many developing countries, the increasing public interest in monitoring economic inequality and mobility is hindered by the scarce availability of longitudinal data. Synthetic panels based on matching individuals with the same time-invariant characteristics in consecutive cross-sections have been recently proposed as a substitute to such data. We extend the methodology to construct such synthetic panels in several directions by: a) explicitly assuming the unobserved or time variant determinants of (log) income are AR(1) and relying on pseudo-panel procedures to estimate the corresponding auto-regressive coefficient; b) abstracting from (log) normality assumptions; c) generating a close to perfect match of the terminal year income distribution and d) considering the whole income mobility matrix rather than mobility in and out of poverty. We exploit the cross-sectional dimension of a national-representative Mexican panel survey to evaluate the validity of this approach. With the median estimate of the AR coefficient, the income mobility matrix in the synthetic panel closely approximates that of the genuine matrix observed in the actual panel, except for out-lying values of the AR coefficient.
Income Mobility in a Changing Macroeconomic Environment
(solo author)
The analysis of income mobility is often constrained to short-term periods of survey panel data. This paper provides long-term income mobility trends through a continuum of short- term synthetic panels in Mexico. The examined period of analysis (1989–2018) is characterized by the lack of panel data and by a changing macroeconomic environment. The analysis builds on cross-sectional survey data using the methodology developed in Bourguignon and Moreno (2020) and employs several income mobility indicators from three complementary conceptions used in the literature: positional mobility, directional movement, and mobility as an equalizer of longer-term incomes. This research documents low levels of economic mobility over the course of three decades, except for the periods of rebound economic growth following the two deepest economic crises in modern times: one internal, in 1995, and one external – in 2009. These movements, however, seem to be only transitory deviations as income mobility indicators soon returned to their characteristic levels.
The Influence of Parental and Grandparental Education in the Transmission of Human Capital
(solo author)
This paper examines the influence of parental and grandparental education in the transmission of human capital. A natural experimental set-up, from a regional conflict that occurred in 1926 is exploited to instrument years of schooling of the grandparents' generation whereas local labour market indicators at adolescence serve as an instrument for the education of the parents' generation. Using a nationally representative Mexican survey that gathers detailed information on three generations, the paper shows that accounting for endogeneity reveals significantly more inter-generational mobility rather than ignoring it. The paper also documents greater persistence of family background in the older pair of parent-child links, i.e. grandparent-parent, than in the younger pair, i.e. parent-grandchildren. Results show that the direct influence of parental education on the grand-children's education is so dominant that the impact of grand-parental education fades away once accounting for parental education.
FULL LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
SELECTED PAPERS
On Synthetic Income Panels. With François Bourguignon and Hai-Anh Dang. IZA Discussion Papers No. 14236. 2021. R&R The Journal of Economic Inequality.
Income Mobility in a Changing Macroeconomic Environment. Solo author. OPHI Working Paper: 134.2020. Submitted to The Journal of Economic Inequality.
The Influence of Parental and Grandparental Education in the Transmission of Human Capital. Solo author. Submited to the Journal of Human Capital. Available at ECINEQ WP-588. August 2021.
Natural Disasters, Human Development and Poverty at the Municipal Level in Mexico. Journal of Development Studies. No 49, Issue 3. With Eduardo Rodríguez-Oreggia, Alejandro De la Fuenteand Rodolfo De la Torre. 2013.Has
Product -Market Competition Reshaped Returns to Schooling in Mexico? Econoquantum. Vol.5 No. 1, January 2008. With Eduardo Rodríguez-Oreggia and David Mulato. 2007.
Wealth Distribution in the Last Decade of the XXth century in Mexico (In Spanish: La dis-tribución de la riqueza en México: Estimación al nivel de los hogares para la última década del sigloXX). Gaceta de Economia.Núm. 20, Año 10. Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).Mexico. 2005
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2015 “On the construction of synthetic panels”. With François Bourguignon. Mimeo. NEUDC:
https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=NEUDC2015&paper_id=301
2013 “The Impact of Natural Disasters in Mexico”. Journal of Development Studies. With Rodríguez-Oreggia, De la Fuente & De la Torre.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220388.2012.700398
2010 "Advances in sub national measurement of the Human Development Index: The case of Mexico". HDRO Human Development Research Papers. 2010/23. With Rodolfo De la Torre.
http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/advances-sub-national-measurement-human-development-index
2010 “The Impact of Natural Disasters on Human Development and Poverty at Municipal Level in Mexico”. 2010 Working Papers #43. Center for International Development. Harvard University. With Eduardo Rodríguez-Oreggia, De la Fuente & De la Torre
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/index.php/content/download/69424/1250506/version/1/file/043.pdf
2007 “Has product market competition reshaped returns to schooling in Mexico?”ECONOQUANTUM vol.5 no.1 Ene. 2008 . With Eduardo Rodríguez-Oreggia.
http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1870-66222008000200004
BOOK CHAPTERS
2017 “The equity of public spending from a Human Development Perspective”. In Soloaga, Isidro, Rodriguez-Oreggia, Eduardo and De la Torre, Rodolfo (Coords.) “Política Social 2000-2012”. México. Centro de Investigación y Docencia en México (CIDE). Mexico
2012 “Wealth and ageing in Mexico”. Book chapter. In García Ramírez (Coord.) “Envejecimiento mundial y desafío regional. Nuevos paradigmas para la investigación, la salud pública y los derechos humanos”. México. Plaza y Valdez Editores.
2005 “Wealth and Factorial Income Distribution in Mexico”; Book chapter. In Garcia Alba, Pascual, Gutierréz & Torres (Coords.) With Rodolfo de la Torre. Tomo 4. NUEVO MILENIO MEXICANO; Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM). Ed. EON. México.
REPORTS
2021 A Locally-disaggregated Multidimensional Vulnerability Index for Bhutan. Published in 2021 by GrossNational Happiness Commission (GNHC) & UNICEF Bhutan Country Office & OPHI. With Sabina Alkire. March.
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2021 Multidimensional Poverty and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean. Oxford Poverty &Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Briefing 57. With Monica Pinilla. February 2021
2013 “Human Development Index at the household and individual level 2000-2010. United Nations Development Program. Mexico. Co-author.
2012 “Human Development Index: Methodological Changes and estimation at state level in Mexico”. United Nations Development Program. Mexico. Co-author.
2011 “Human Development Report Mexico 2011: The equity of public expenditure”. National HDR. United Nations Development Program. Mexico. Co-author and co-editor
2011 “Human Development Report: Public expenditure and Social Policy”. State level HDR: Estado de México. United Nations Development Program. Mexico. Co-author
2011 “Human Development Index at household and individual level. UNDP Mexico. Mexico”. United Nations Development Program. Mexico. Co-author.
2010 “Human Development Report of Indigenous peoples”. United Nations Development Program. Mexico. Editor
2008 “Human Development Index at municipality level in México?”. National HDR. United Nations Development Program. Mexico. Co-author.
OTHER ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS (IN SPANISH)
2007 “Macro Assessment of Social Policy in Mexico”. With Rodolfo de la Torre. Mimeo. Consejo Nacional para la Evaluación de la Política Social (CONEVAL). Mexico
2006 “Wealth and Household Well-being in México”. COMERCIO EXTERIOR; Vol. 56, Num. 2. Febrero 2006. Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior. México.
2005 “Estimating the Wealth of Households in Mexico”; GACETA DE ECONOMÍA. Núm. 20, Año 10. Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). Mexico
2005 “Wealth and Well-being Measurement”; Cuadernos de Desarrollo Humano No. 4. Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA). Mexico
2005 “Measuring Monetary Inequality in Land Wealth in Mexico”. AGRO-NUEVO. Año 1 #7. SAGARPA (Ministry of agricultural resources). Mexico
2004 “Financial Assets of the Poor”. Documentos de Investigación en Microfinanzas. Universidad Iberoamericana. Mexico
2004 “Public Policy and Social Capital”. Editor of Robert Putnam’s Lecture at Universidad Iberoamericana. IIDSES. Mexico