Jorge A. Alvarez


Economist - International Monetary Fund

Jorge A. Alvarez

I am a Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a Resident Advisor at the IMF's Technical Assistance Center for Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (CAPTAC-DR). I am currently on an external assignment from the IMF's Research Department and one of the contributors to the World Economic Outlook (WEO). Prior to this, I was part of the World Economic Studies and Development Macroeconomics divisions at the Research Department, and covered Canada, Mexico and Colombia at the Western Hemisphere Department.  I received a B.A. in economics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.

This website contains my academic and policy publications, blogs, and other policy contributions.  All views on this site are my own.

Email: jalvarez@imf.org

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IMF papers

Geoeconomic Fragmentation and Commodity Markets, with Mehdi Benatiya, Chiara Maggi, Alexandre Sollaci, Matin Stuermer and Petia Topalova.  IMF Working Paper No. 2023/201, October, 2023.

How Costly Will Reining in Inflation Be? It Depends on How Rational We Are,  with Allan Dizioli. IMF Working Paper No. 2023/021, February, 2023.

Regional Spillovers from the Venezuelan Crisis: Migration Flows and Their Impact on Latin America and the Caribbean, with Marco Arena, Alain Brousseau, Hamid Faruqee, Emilio Fernandez Corugedo, Jaime Guajardo, Gerardo Peraza, and Juan Yepez.  IMF Departmental Paper No. 2022/020, December,  2022.

Wage-Price Spirals: What is the Historical Evidence?, with John Bluedorn, Youyou Huang, Evgenia Pugacheva, and Alexandre Sollaci. IMF Working Paper No. 22/221, November,  2022.

COVID-19 and the Informality-driven Recovery: The Case of Colombia's Labor Market, with Carlo Pizzinelli. IMF Working Paper No. 21/235, September, 2021.

Informality and Aggregate Productivity: The Case of Mexico, with Cian Ruane. IMF Working Paper no. 19/257, November, 2019. 

Crop Selection and International Differences in Aggregate Agricultural Productivity, with Claudia Berg.  IMF Working Paper No. 19/179, August, 2019.

Internal Trade in Canada: Case for Liberalization, with Ivo Krznar. IMF Working Paper No. 19/158, July, 2019.

Economic Gains From Gender Inclusion : New Mechanisms, New Evidence, with Jonathan Ostry, Raphael Espinoza and Chris Papageorgiou. IMF Staff Discussion Notes No. 18/06, October, 2018.

Structural Transformation and the Agricultural Wage Gap, IMF Working Paper No. 17/289, December 22, 2017.

Firms and the Decline in Earnings Inequality in Brazil, with Felipe Benguria, Christian Moser and Niklas Engbom. IMF Working Paper No. 17/278, December, 2017.

Made in Mexico: Energy Reform and Manufacturing Growth, with Fabian Valencia. IMF Working Paper No. 15/45, February, 2015.

Other policy contributions

Colombia: Financial System Stability Assessment and Technical Note on Risk Analysis, IMF, 2022.

Labor Market Impact from COVID-19 and the Ongoing Recovery, Colombia Special Issues Paper, Ch. 2, IMF, 2021.

Potential Output: Reassessment and Pandemic Impact, Colombia Special Issues Paper, Ch. 3, IMF, 2021.

Colombia: 2021 Article IV Staff Report, IMF, 2021.

Venezuelan Migration and the Labor Market, Colombia Special Issues Paper, Ch. 1, IMF, 2020.

Colombia: 2020 Article IV Staff Report, IMF, 2020.

Mexico: 2019 Article IV Staff Report, IMF, 2019.

Internal Trade in Canada: Case for Liberalization , Canada Selected Issues Paper Ch. 3, IMF, 2019.

Canada: 2019 Article IV Staff Report, IMF, 2019.

Formality and Equity: Labor Market Challenges in Mexico, Mexico Special Issues Paper, Ch. 1, IMF, 2018.

Mexico 2018: Article IV Staff Report, IMF, 2018.

Economic Gains From Gender Inclusion : New Mechanisms, New Evidence, Staff Discussion Notes No. 18/06, IMF, 2018.

A Closer Look at Productivity in Canada, Selected Issues Paper, Ch. 3, IMF, 2018.

Canada: 2018 Article IV Staff Report, IMF, 2018.

Made in Mexico: Energy Reform and Manufacturing Output , chapter in Power Play: Energy and Manufacturing in North America. Edited by Roberto Cardarelli and Lusinyan, Lusine, IMF, 2016.