PhD Project:
Supervisors: Tim Besley (Economics, LSE), Chris Minns (Economic History, LSE), Jean-Paul Faguet (Development, LSE)
My PhD project comprises three key areas:
-State capacity and Redistribution. This project examines the divergence in income inequality levels between the Global South and Global North by analysing institutional capacity to tax citizens and provide public goods. It draws on a novel dataset covering over 2,500 country-year observations of inequality and taxation from the 19th century to the present. The results suggest that state capacity mediates the relation between democracy and lower inequality, notably through a higher redistribution (mass income taxation, low informality, and universal provision of public goods).
-Constitutions and Development. This project studies how different political systems — various types of autocracy and democracy — shape economic outcomes. It introduces the first de jure measure of institutional “checks and balances,” coding 240 years of constitutional history (1783–2023) across 180 countries. It notably identifies a new category of “constrained” autocracies, which, even without free elections and an independent judiciary, have institutionalised party-based (“collective”) checks on the executive, as in Singapore, post-1982 China, and post-1992 Vietnam. These regimes operate in similar ways to “liberal democracies” in terms of credible commitments and economic development.
-Colonial legacies and Inequality. Revisiting the "colonial origins" literature (Engerman and Sokoloff 1993, Acemoglu et al. 2001), this project explores how colonial institutions continue to shape inequality. Using new historical data —including colonial censuses from over 100 countries— and a novel instrumental variable strategy exploiting historical variation in the conditions faced by colonisers —the types of climates and the presence of pre-colonial states—, it aims to better identify the causal mechanisms going from colonial rule to post-colonial institutions and present-day inequality. It also disentangles pre- and post-redistribution inequality to assess what specific institutions matter most for inequality.
Working Papers
[Forthcoming PhD Working Papers]
Irarrázaval, Andrés (2020) The fiscal origins of comparative inequality levels: an empirical and historical investigation. Economic History Working Papers (314). London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. [Msc Thesis*]
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.
Martin, N; Irarrazaval, 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
Presentations:
2025: September 2025, The III at 10: New Directions in Inequality Research, International Inequality Institute (III, LSE). June 2025, Trans-Atlantic Doctoral Conference, London Business School, London (UK); May 2025, Welfare and Policy Conference (WAP), Bordeaux School of Economics, Bordeaux (France); May 2025, LSE Economic History Work in Progress Seminar, LSE, London (UK); April 2025, Paris School of Economics (PSE)-LSE Economic History Workshop, PSE, Paris (France). April 2025 LSE Economic History Graduate Seminar, LSE, London (UK); March 2025, European Graduate Network PhD conference, Pompeu Fabra University (Spain).
2024: December 2024, The Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ)- Latin America Chapter, Colegio de Mexico, Mexico City (Mexico). November 2024. LSE International Inequality Institute Seminar (III). London (UK). May 2024, LSE´s Institutions and Political Economy in Historical Perspective Workshop, London, UK. May 2024 RIDGE-Latin American Economic Association (LACEA) Forum, Institute of Economy, Pontificia Universidad Católica (PUC), Santiago (Chile). February 2024, Seminar on Political Economy and Economic History (SPEECH), LSE Economics Department. London (UK). February 2024, International Inequality Institute Seminar (III). London (UK). January 2024 Economic History Sessions, Social Sciences Faculty, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez (UAI), Santiago (Chile).
Pre-2024 (before starting my PhD). December 2023, World Congress International Economic Association (IEA), Medellin (Colombia). July 2023, Tsinghua University´s International and Area Studies (IAS) Forum. Beijing (China). April 2023: University of Chile´s Economics Department (DECON) Seminar. Santiago (Chile). December 2022: Research Institute for Development, Growth, and Economics (RIDGE), University of Los Andes, Bogotá (Colombia). November 2022: Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES) International Conference. Diego Portales University. Santiago (Chile), October 2022: Economic History Sessions, History Department, University of Chile. Santiago (Chile); July 2022: World Economic History Congress (WEHC). Paris (France). November 2021 University of Chile´s Economics Department (DECON) Seminar. Santiago (Chile).