CV

Profile: Andrés Irarrázaval (Santiago de Chile, 1995) has been trained as an economist at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Chile (FEN) and at the London School of Economics (LSE), where he obtained a Masters in Economic History. He is currently doing a PhD in Economic History at LSE and is part of the "Analysing and Challenging Inequalities" Doctoral Program of the International Inequality Institute (III). His main research interests are development, political economy, and income distribution (including redistribution), focusing on its institutional and historical determinants.

Andrés is also a patrocinated researcher by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES), a research collaborator at the Economics Faculty of the University of Chile (FEN), and a research fellow at the Chilean Economic History Association (AChhe). Previously, he was a full-time researcher and lecturer of Macroeconomics and Economic History at the Economics Department of the University of Chile, -between 2021 and 2023. Before this, he worked in policy design, advice, and implementation in the Structural Policy Advice Unit at the OECD´s Economics Department in Paris.

Education

2023-today: PhD Candidate, Economic History, London School of Economics.
 [+International Inequalities Institute (III)´s Doctoral program]

2019-20: MSc Economic History, London School of Economics.
 [Distinction + Best Dissertation Prize]

2017-18: Exchange Program in Political Science, Sciences Po (IEP, Paris campus)
 [Distinction in all subjects taken]

2014-18: BSc Economics, University of Chile
 [First Distinction at Graduation + Top 1% Entry Exam]

Positions

2023–today: Class Teacher, Economic History, LSE
 [“Latin America in the International Economy” + “Stata Workshops”]

2021–today: Research Fellow, Economics Faculty (FEN), University of Chile
 [Project on development and inequality in Latin America]

2021–today: Research Fellow, Centre on Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES)
 [Project on a new inequality measure capturing “elite extraction”]

2021–2023: Lecturer, Economics Faculty (FEN), University of Chile,
 [Lecturer of “Macroeconomics IV” [development] and “Economic History of Chile”
 + “Economic History of Latin America: Institutions, Development, and Inequality”]

2018-19 & 2020–21: Policy Consultant, Economics Department, OECD, Paris
 [Advice and Research, - Structural Reforms Policy Unit & Inclusive Growth Unit]

2017–2018: RA and Class Teacher, Economics Faculty (FEN), University of Chile.
 [Teacher of “Macroeconomics I” and “Communication Skills”]

2016: Professor of Civil and Political Rights, Aula Cívica (non-profit organization, Chile).
 [Volunteer lecturer at disadvantaged public schools].


Working Papers

Irarrázaval (2023). “The Pillars of Shared Prosperity: Insights from Elite versus State Extraction and From a New Instrument” [Forthcoming]. University of Chile´s Economics Department Working Papers 

Irarrázaval (2023). The Fiscal Origins of Comparative Inequality Levels: an Empirical and Historical Investigation”. University of Chile´s Economics Department Working Papers.

Martin, N; Irarrázaval, A; Williamson (2019), “Recognition – An OECD Perspective: Policy report contributing to the challenge paper on inequality and exclusion” Pathfinders/New York University Center on International Cooperation Publishing, New York

Policy Reports

Co-author - OECD (2021), Enhancing economic performance and well-being in Chile (2021). Please see Policy Action Reports on: pharmaceuticals, food, ports & labour conditions and telecommunications. OECD Publishing, Paris. 

Co-author - OECD (2019), Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development 2019: Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Honours and Awards

2023: PhD Scholarship on 'Analysing and Challenging Inequalities' – Awarded by the London School of Economics (LSE) International Inequalities Institute. 

2020: Prize for the Best Dissertation, LSE MSc Economic History – Awarded by the London School of Economics (LSE) Economic History Department. 

2019: Becas Chile Postgraduate Scholarship – Awarded by the Chilean National Agency for Research and Development.

2018: First Distinction, Best Graduation Exam among Economics students – Awarded by the University of Chile

2014: Merit Scholarship, Top 1% Results at University Entry Exam– Awarded by the University of Chile.

2013: Excellence Prize, Best grades of my cohort at graduation – Awarded by the Alliance Française school “Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry”

2013: Honorable mention prize, “Microrrelato” literature contest – Awarded by the Spanish Cultural Center of Chile.

Presentations

May 2024 [Forthcoming]: RIDGE-LACEA  May Forum "Inequality and Poverty" Workshop, Institute of Economy, Universidad Católica. Santiago, Chile.

April 2024 [Forthcoming]: Economic History Sessions. Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile.  

February 2024, Seminar of Political Economy and Economic History (SPEECH), London School of Economics (LSE), Economics Department. London (UK).

February 2024, International Inequality Institute (III) Doctoral Seminar, LSE III. London, UK. 

January 2023: Economic History Sessions. Universidad Adolfo Ibañez [UAI], Santiago, Chile. 

December 2023: IEA World Congress. International Economic Association (IEA). Medellin, Colombia.

July  2023: IIAS Forum: Developing Countries in the Age of Uncertainties. Tsinghua University. Beijing, China 

April 2023: University of Chile´s Economics Department (DECON) Seminar. Santiago de Chile.

December 2022: Research Institute for Development, Growth, and Economics (RIDGE) Forum, University of Los Andes. Bogotá, Colombia. 

November 2022: Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES) International Conference IX. Diego Portales University. Santiago de Chile.
[Please see slides here]

October 2022: Economic History Sessions, Department of History, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, University of Chile. Santiago de Chile.
[Please see Slides in Spanish] 

July 2022: World Economic History Congress (WEHC), Session “Politics and Inequality in Latin America”. Paris, France
[Please see slides here]

November 2021: Universidad de Chile´s Economics Department (DECON) Seminar. Santiago de Chile.
 [Please see slides here]

Language Skills.
Fluent in written and spoken Spanish, French, and English.  Fluent in spoken Italian.

References
Dr. José De Gregorio, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Chile and former Governor of the Chilean Central Bank.
Contact: jdegregorio@fen.uchile.cl   

Dr. Jeremiah Dittmar, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE).
Contact: j.e.dittmar@lse.ac.uk  

Dr. Dante Contreras, Deputy Director of the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES)  and Professor of Economics at the University of Chile.
Contact: dcontrer@fen.uchile.cl    

Dr. Alejandra Irigoin, Associate Professor at the Department of Economic History, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
 Contact: m.a.irigoin@lse.ac.uk  


Some quotes

“The true birthplace is that wherein for the first time one looks intelligently upon oneself; my first homelands have been books, and to a lesser degree schools.”  

― Marguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian 

"The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events. [....] The conventional wisdom accommodates itself not to the world it is meant to interpret, but to the audience´s view of the world".


― John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society


"The produce of the earth (...) is divided among three classes of the community; namely, the proprietor of the land, the owner of the stock or capital necessary for its cultivation, and the labourers by whose industry it is cultivated" [...]

"To determine the laws which regulate this distribution, is the principal problem in Political Economy"


― David Ricardo, On The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation


"Nothing appears more surprizing to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers"


―David Hume, On The First Principles of Government


"For the taxes that are imposed to the people by the sovereign power are nothing but the wages that are due to those who hold the public sword to defend private men in their exercise of various trades and professions. So, the benefit that everyone receives from taxes is the enjoyment of life."

― Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan 



Additional quotes


Why I am a prisoner of this tragic search?

What is it that calls me and hides

That follows me and shouts my name 

And when I turn around and reach out of the hands of my eyes

Throws a fog over me as impenetrable as a night of dead stars? 


(...)


Don’t you see you´re still falling?
 Clear your head of prejudice and morals
 And if in trying to soar you´ve gotten nowhere
 Let yourself fall endlessly fearlessly fall to the depths of darkness
 Unafraid of the mystery of yourself
 And perhaps you´ll find a darkles light
 Lost in the cracks of the cliffs

(...)

Here begins the unexplored territory 


― Vicente Huidobro, Altazor  (1919-31)