Claudio A. Mora-García

Claudio is research economist at the Central Bank of Costa Rica, lecturer for the Economics Department and Researcher for the Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias Económicas at the University of Costa Rica. His research is on Health, Labor and Development Economics focusing on experimental situations in Latin America. Through his work, he analyzed malaria eradication and primary care attention in Costa Rica, participation in an employment subsidy in Chile and nutrition labelling in Colombia. He is also an international consultant for United Nations and IADB. He received his PhD in Economics from PUC Chile.

Here is my Google Scholar.

Contact:

Departamento de Investigaciones Económicas

Banco Central de Costa Rica

San José, Costa Rica.

Phone: +506 2443 3333

Email: MORAGL [at] bccr.fi.cr

Publications

10. Health workforce reallocation in the aftermath of conflict: Evidence from Colombia (with Mounu Prem, Paul Rodríguez-Lesmes, and Juan F. Vargas)

Labour Economics, Vol. 94, June 2025 [Accepted Manuscript]

9. Maintaining Essential Health Services During COVID-19: Cross-country Lessons of Health System Resilience from Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America (with Jennifer Nuzzo and other).

BMJ Global Health, 2025 [Open Acccess]

8. The role of demographic and epidemiologic transitions on growing health expenditures in Latin America and the Caribbean: a descriptive study (with Yvonne N Flores and others).

The Lancet Regional Health - Americas, 2024 [Open Access]

7. Three-Layer Health Sector Investment in Costa Rica (with Sara Bennett, Jennifer Nuzzo, Andrea M. Prado and others).

Book Chapter. Prepared for "Strategic Investment for Health System Resilience. A Three-Layer Framework." World Bank Group. 2024. [Open Access]

6. Future health expenditures and its determinants in Latin America and the Caribbean: A multi-country projection study (with Krishna D. Rao and others)

The Lancet Regional Health - Americas, 2024 [Open Access]

5. Maintaining essential health services during a pandemic: lessons from Costa Rica’s COVID-19 response (with Andy Pearson and Andrea M. Prado)

BMJ Global Health, 2024 [Open Access]

4. Primary Health Care and Mortality: Evidence from Costa Rica (with Madeline Pesec and Andrea M. Prado)

Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 93, Jan 2024 [Accepted Manuscript]

Featured in: En la Academia

3. Peer Effects in the Adoption of a Youth Employment Subsidy (with Tomás Rau)

The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 105, No. 3, 2023.

Working Paper

Featured in: Diario Financiero, La Tercera

2. The effect of randomly providing Nutri-Score information on actual purchases in Colombia (with Jeremy Chi-Ying and Luisa Tovar)

Nutrients, Vol. 11, No. 3, February 2019.

Featured in: FoodNavigator

1. Can Benefits from Malaria Eradication be Increased? Evidence from Costa Rica

Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 66, No. 3, pp. 585-628, April 2018.

Working paper

Working Papers

Productivity and Allocative Efficiency in Costa Rica: A Firm-Level Analysis (with Melissa Vega)
Preventing human trafficking in Latin America: Results from a randomized experiment in girls and teenagers (with Paul Rodríguez-Lesmes)

Research Projects

Product differentiation and buyer-supplier relationships: Evidence from coffee trade (with Octavio Martínez)

Policy Projects

2023

Preventing human trafficking in Latin America: Results from a randomized experiment in girls and teenagers

Donor: Interamerican Development Bank. Partner: Fundación Paniamaor. Participating countries: Costa Rica.

2022

Understanding the antibiotics market and policy environment to address antimicrobial resistance

Donor: Wellcome Trust. Partner: Center for Global Development. Participating countries: Brazil, India, Nigeria.

2021

Identifying best practices, challenges, and lessons learned in the response to COVID-19 and ability to maintain EHS during the pandemic

Donors: Gates Ventures, Rockefeller Foundation. Partners: John Hopkins U., Brown U. Participating countries: Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uganda.

Design and analysis of price protection alternatives for coffee growers

Donor: BID Invest. Partner: MERCON. Participating countries: Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua.

2020

Determinantes of green coffee prices in Latin America

Donor: FairTrade. Partners: FairTrade, United Nations CEPAL.

Policy papers:

Speculation and price volatility in the coffee market

The main drivers of arabica coffee prices in Latin America

Future Health Spending and Treatment Patterns in Latin America and the Caribbean

Donor: Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Partner: John Hopkins. Participating countries: Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago.

[Policy Paper] [webinar]

Evaluating the preparedness for technological change of SMEs

Donor: IADB, MICITT. Participating countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua.

Determination of the optimal interest rate, identification of promising professional careers in the labor market, and coverage analysis

Donor: National Commission of Loans for Education (CONAPE). Participating countries: Costa Rica.

[Webinar] [Webinar] [Interactive Graph]

Featured in: La Nacion, Seminario Universidad (one, two), Teletica, Diario Extra, Monumental, Desayunos Radio Universidad, Rumbo Economico, ElPais.cr.

2019

Design and implementation of a impact evaluation methodology for the Programa Crecimiento Verde

Donor: IADB. Partner: PROCOMER. Participating countries: Costa Rica.