Research
(For old entries see Research 2018/2020; Research 2020/2022)
On-going research (2022/2024):
I continue to work on several topics related to economic geography and development. My current research receives funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grants: PID 2019-104723RB-100 and PID2020-118800GB-100 ), and includes collaborations with researchers and institutions in Spain and abroad.
I. Global threats: inequalities and the socioeconomic impacts of climate change:
Building on previous research, I am currently studying several global threats, in particular, the parallel challenges of increasing inequalities and climate change. My research in these topics is part of a joint project with colleagues at UAB and other universities on "Institutions and the new socioeconomic challenges" as well as a work with the United Nations University - World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER).
1.“Climate change and inequality within countries”:
Along with Tom McDermott (from Galway University), and building on previous research of our own, we continue to explore socioeconomic impacts of climate change. We are currently looking at how changes in climatic patterns can affect the within-countries distribution of income. We do so by exploring a global panel of countries, combing our global climatic data with data on income distribution within countries over the last decades.
See working paper here.
2. “Global warming and spatial disparities ”
Complementing our research on (inter-personal) inequalities, I am also exploring how rising temperatures can affect the spatial distribution of economic activity, and by doing so, alter spatial inequalities. I am doing so by building measures of spatial inequality at country level for a global sample of countries, as well as exploring subnational inequalities and inequalities within cities. All relying on several data sources and methodological techniques.
3. “Inequality human development: the role of different parts of the income distribution”
With Vicente Royuela (from University of Barcelona) and Carlos Gradin (form UNU-WIDER), we reassess the relationship between inequality and human development, focusing on the differential effect associated with the concentration of national income at different parts of the income distribution. To do so, we rely on a large global panel of countries over the last decades which includes information on economic and human development as well as detailed information on the distribution of income within countries. We take advantage of detailed distributive data consistent across countries and over time (World Income Inequality Database companion datasets).
See UNU-WIDER working paper here.
4. "Energy transition in post-Fukushima Japan"
With Alvaro Dominguez, at the Asian Growth Research Institute, and Felipe Santos-Marquez, at Technische Universität Dresden, we study the spatial spread of energy transitions from nuclear to wind sources in post-Fukushima Japan using detailed data on nuclear plants and wind farms.
II. Global cities:
As part of my research interests, and given my background as urban economist, I study urbanisation and cities in a global context. Research on this line is part of a joing project with colleagues at University of Barcelona (UB) on "Cities and sustainable urbanisation", as well as international collaborations.
5. “Within-city inequalities and unequal access to urban amenities”
With colleagues at Leipzig University (Melanie Krause and Konstantin Reiner) we are currently studing inequalities within cities and unequal access to urban amenities like green spaces. We doing this for hundreds of cities worlwide over the last decades and relying on several data sources. Our aim is to understand how cities grow, and when they do, how this affect social coehison and equal access to amenities.
6. “Cities and urban pollution ”
With Elisa Dienesch (from Sciences Po, Aix) and Melanie Krause, we have studies population density and different types of air pollution, using i) a large panel of countries with data from 1960 to 2010, and ii) a unique and large sample of more than 1200 (big) cities around the world combining pollution data with satellite data on built-up areas, population, and light intensity at night at the grid-cell level for the last two decades. We now want to delve into specific countries and cities to better understand within-city dynamics and urban emissions and exposure to air pollution.
7. “Unequal response to mobility restrictions ”
With Paula Herrera-Idarraga and Guillermo Sinisterra (Javeriana University in Bogotá) and Luis Quintero (John Hopkins), we explore the efficacy of government-mandated mobility restrictions on curbing urban mobility, and estimate the spatial heterogeneity in lockdown compliance. We explore the role of cash subsidies disbursed during lockdown as well as socioeconomic differences across neighborhoods in explaining their unequal response to mobility restrictions. To do so, we use novel data showing changes in movements at highly disaggregated spatial units in Bogotá, before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, matched with data on socioeconomic characteristics as well as data on Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) implemented in the period of analysis.
See working paper here.
III. Regional Sport Economics:
8. "Club-football performance and economic dynamism: A regional analysis for Europe"
With Roberto Gasquez, from UB, we look at the potential connection between sporting success and economic development. We focus on club football performance and economic dynamism in European regions. To do so, we build a unique dataset with information for 395 football clubs, matched with economic information for 295 NUTS3 European regions, for the 2000-2020 period.