Research Statement

I am an economist with wide research interests in macro, growth, development, international and labor economics. The common denominator of my research agenda is human capital.  In my published and ongoing work, I have examined college choices and the related financing and repayment decisions. I also have examined how human capital decisions and outcomes shape up the aggregate income of countries and its income distribution, as well as the occupation choices of individuals and households. I have also studied how human capital drives the structural transformation and the urban development of countries as well as the international reallocation of factors in the world economy.

Currently, I have a very active working agenda on various topics: (1) education opportunities, intergenerational mobility and the development path of countries; (2) technological changes and the dynamic implications for occupation choices, aggregate income,  and income distribution; (3) industrial revolutions and the emerge of global imbalances; and (4) optimal policies for developing countries for the atraction of foreign know-how.   

Bio

I am a Professor of Economics and Head of Department at the Department of Economics at the European University Institute. I am also a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and at the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis.

Previous to my arrival to Florence, I was a Research Officer and Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis and a Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, Washington University in St Louis. During my years in St. Louis, I have also been a visiting professor at Goethe University in Frankfurt and at the University of Tokyo. Beforehand, I had tenure track positions at the economics departments of Northwestern University and Penn State University. In between, during two years in Costa Rica, I had visiting positions at INCAE Business School, Universidad de Costa Rica. I also visited the Universidad de Chile.

I am married to Silvia Vindas. We have two children, Gabriel and Julia.