Education
PhD Economics (2021) - University of Sussex
Thesis: Empirical Essays in Labour and Education Economics
MRes Economics (2017) - University College London (UCL)
Merit
MSc Economic Policy (2016) - University College London (UCL)
Distinction
MSc Economics & Philosophy (2015) - London School of Economics (LSE)
BS Economics (2012) - Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM)
Mención Especial
Employment
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Sussex (2021 -- Present).
Course Director BA Economics and International Development and BSc Economics and Sustainable Development.
School-wide Doctoral Tutor Lead.
Past employment (selected)
Lead Quantitative Researcher, BRiCE Consortium, IDS Brighton. Conducted data-driven research part of Institute of Development Studies-led consortium in partnership with Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Bukavu, Save the Children, and the European Commission. Collaborated with cross-disciplinary research teams and education stakeholders in DRC and Niger to produce evidence in conflict-affected settings (2021--2022).
Senior policy adviser to José Narro Robles, Vice-Chancellor of UNAM and Mexico's Health Minister. Contributed to national policy design on poverty, inequality, and public education, including co-authored publications (2012--2014).
Researcher in Economics, Centre for Economic Research, ITAM (2011--2012). Projects: (i) “Exporters During the Trade Collapse: The Resiliency of the Small Exporter.” and (ii) “Assortative Matching of Exporters and Importers.”
Research Appointments and Affiliations
Research Affiliate, IZA Institute of Labor Economics (2026 – Present).
Lead Quantitative Researcher, Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa (RTIA), at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) (2025 -- Present).
Research
De la Fuente Stevens, D. (2026). Remittance Income and Crime in Mexico. Review of Development Economics, 30(2), 1299-1316.
De La Fuente Stevens, Diego, Jean-Benoit Falisse, Christian Polepole Bazuzi, Samuel Matabishi, and Gauthier Marchais. "The mental health toll of conflict-induced violence on teachers: evidence from a longitudinal survey in DRC and Niger." BMJ Public Health 3, no. 2 (2025).
Marchais, Gauthier, De La Fuente Stevens, Diego Jean-Benoît Falisse, Cyril Brandt, Samuel Matabishi, Sweta Gupta, Pierre Marion et al. "Violence against teachers and the entanglement of schools in violent conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo." Comparative Education Review 69, no. 1 (2025): 39-61.
Fagernäs, S. De la Fuente Stevens, D., Del Pozo Segura, JM., Pelkonen, P. (2025). Public Gains, Private Strains: Public Investment and Private Schooling in Peru. IZA Discussion Paper No. 18189.
De la Fuente Stevens, D. (2025). Compulsory Schooling and Long-Term Outcomes: Evidence from a Nationwide Education Reform in Mexico. Sussex Working Paper
Marchais, Gauthier, Cyril Brandt, Diego de la Fuente Stevens, Jean-Benoît Falisse, Samuel Matabishi, Pierre Marion, Sweta Gupta et al. "Teachers’ well-being and resilience in the face of violence: lessons from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger." In Education and Resilience in Crisis, pp. 99-131. Bristol University Press, 2024.
de la Fuente Stevens, D, and Pelkonen, P. "Economics of minority groups: Labour-market returns and transmission of indigenous languages in Mexico." World Development 162 (2023): 106096. (Previewsly IZA Discussion Paper Series)
Gauthier Marchais, Cyril Brandt, Diego de la Fuente Stevens, Pierre Marion, Jean-Benoît Falisse, Samuel, Matabishi, Sweta Gupta, Patricia Justino, Deborah West, Patrick Mze Somora, Pacifique Nyabagaza, Christian Mutulani Bijavu, Issa Kiemtoré, Christian PolePole Bazuzi, Souleymane Tahirou (2022) - Teacher Wellbeing and Teaching Quality in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Contexts: BRiCE Project in DRC and Niger. Institute of Development Studies.
José Narro Robles, Diego de la Fuente Stevens, & David Moctezuma (2013). "Setbacks and Challenges of Social Policy in Mexico" Problemas del desarrollo, 44(174) pp. 9-34.
Javier de la Fuente Hernández. & Diego de la Fuente S. (2014). "Desarrollo económico en México: indicadores de pobreza, desigualdad y salud (Economic Development in Mexico: Poverty, Inequality and Health)" Los retos del desarrollo humano y territorial (Book chapter).
Diego de la Fuente Stevens (2014). Land Productivity Changes in a Trade Liberalization Environment: Mexico under NAFTA. Theoretical Economics Letters, 4(03), 221.
Working Papers
Staying against the odds: The drivers of teacher retention in Niger and the DRC.
Performance of the agricultural sector and crime in Mexico.
Assortative matching and intergenerational mobility.
Intergenerational dynamics of Illiteracy.
Research projects
Nicotine Parents: Intergenerational Dynamics of Smoking Behaviour in the United Kingdom
Education effects on Incarceration: Evidence from the Prison Census and a Policy Reform
Capturing the leader: violence effects of a criminal strategy in Mexico.
Agricultural Clusters, Land Productivity and International Trade
Conferences and Workshops
2024: European Association for Labour Economists, Bergen, Norway. 2021: Sussex University, United Kingdom (Festival of Research). 2020: Annual World Conference in Economics, Berlin, Germany, organised by EALE-SOLE-AASLE; Sussex University, United Kingdom (Economics Presentation Series, February and May); European Economic Association Annual Conference, Rotterdam, Netherlands (co-author). 2019: IZA Workshop on Labour Markets, St. Petersburg, Russia (Workshop/presentation). Royal Holloway (Presentation), United Kingdom; Cambridge University (Panellist Symposium of Mexican Studies), United Kingdom. 2018: London School of Economics (Mexico Week), Royal Economic Society Annual Symposium Junior Researchers (Discussant).