I am happy to announce that our latest research on family behaviour in the financial market has been published in Emerging Markets Finance and Trade. This work, which is co-authored with Piotr Bialowolski, uses latent class regression models to identify different behavioural patterns of families in Chile when participating (or not) in the financial market. We find very different results to what has been found for European economies. This highlights the importance to country/context specific studies. The article is available here
I am excited to announce that my latest paper has been published by Plos One. The article analysis the potential effects of conditional cash transfer programs on intergenerational educational mobility. The model shows that such programs have potentially large effect, but that the size of the effect critically depends on the definition of the target group and the type of conditioning of transfers. The article can be downloaded at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0205957
I am happy to announce that our article on public policy priorities has been published in the Journal of Economics Behavior and Organization! In the paper we use agent-based modelling and network theory to analyse the relationship among different development indicators. The model is able to reproduce a series of stylised facts and can inform policy makers where a particular country should invest. Link to the paper https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.07.017
I am thrilled to announce that I will be the head of the newly created unit within the National Laboratory for Public Policies dedicated to simulation models for the analysis of public policies. Our unit will develop and use computational models to participate in the scientific discussion through publications and to inform policy makers ex-ante about possible effects of policy measures in the specific context they are interested in. Our key approach are agent-based models but depending on the topic, we will also engage in other computational approaches.
Currently we are hiring research assistants for the new unit. Please find the job offers here in ENGLISH and SPANISH
Does inequality affect the life satisfaction of people? If yes, which type of inequality affects whom? We looked into these questions using European data in our newest article, which has just been published by Social Indicators Research. You can find the article at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-017-1623-3
Our main findings are that yes, inequality negatively affects life satisfaction, but the mechanisms are not easy. Poor people are particularly suffering when the level of inequality of opportunity is high, while the rich care substantially more about inequality in outcomes (income inequality).
This is a joint research project with Laura Ravazzini from the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland.
I recently participated in a TV discussion on social mobility in Mexico, which aired on Canal 11 two weeks ago. If you missed it, you can watch it on youtube at https://youtu.be/WezNRd2D8LE
I am excited to announce that I will be offering a brand new course on Programming and Agent Based Modelling at CIDE this semester. The course offers an introduction to programming in Java and to the ABM modelling approach.
My newest article about the use of Agent Based Models is now available on the website of the publisher: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rode.12264/abstract
I am delighted to announce that I will join the National Laboratory for Public Policy (LNPP) at CIDE in May 2016 in the position of assistant professor. The LNPP is the first national laboratory in social sciences and was inaugurated in autumn 2015. The mission of the LNPP includes the production of high quality research with a strong focus on policy relevance and forming human capital in quantitative social science. I would like to thank the economics division for my year as visiting professor. It was an exceptional experience. I am now looking very much forward to joining the LNPP and help achieve the mission goals.
I am happy to announce that my article 'Agent-based modelling techniques for development economics' has been accepted for publication in the 'Review of Development Economics'. The article deals with the potential benefits of an increased use of Agent Based Models in development economics. In particular, I stress the potentially beneficial interaction with other approaches such as experimental and behavioural economics.
The recently accepted article in the journal Social Indicators research is now available for download on the website of the journal: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11205-015-1148-6
I am very pleased to announce that my joint work with Jaya Krishnakumar (U Geneva) has been accepted for publication in the journal 'Social Indicators Research'. In this article we use agent-based simulation techniques to verify the capacity of latent variable models (MIMIC) in estimating capabilities. A working paper version of the article can be found in the list of publications of this website.
In October, I will attend the 2015 LACEA meeting in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, taking place from October 15 to 17, 2015. During the meeting I will present a joint work with Jaya Krishnakumar on the possibility to estimate capabilities by the means of latent variable models.
I will attend the ECINEQ conference in Luxembourg next week. During the 3-day conference, I will present a joint paper with Laura Ravazzini and of my papers. See details
I recently moved from the University of Geneva to the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Mexico City, where I will be working as professor at the economics division.
We just released a new working paper on the link between inequality and life satisfaction (happiness). We particularly focus on different definitions of inequality and find that several of them affect subjective well-being simultaneously in European Countries. We find strong regional differences. Find the abstract and the link to the paper here. This is joint work with Laura Ravazzini and Christian Suter from the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland).
My article Measuring Inequality of Opportunity with Latent Variables has now been published in the first number of the 2015 issue of the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities.
The Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM) is starting a new Summer School on Policy evaluation. I can strongly recommend this summer school where several top scholars from Geneva and abroad are teaching. Find all the information at: http://www.genevasummerschools.ch/courses-2015/evaluating-policy-interventions
After a complete revision and extension, I have now released the second draft of my article The credit behavior of households - a behavioral approach
My article Intergenerational transmission of education: the relative importance of transmission channels has been published in the Latin American Economic Review and is now available (OpenAccess).
I am happy to annouce that I will move from the University of Geneva to the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Mexico City by June of this year!
I will be participating and presenting a paper at the 2014 LACEA-LAMES conference to be held in São Paulo (Brazil) from November 20 to November 22.