Research

Published papers:

• Agrarian Reform and Child Stunting: Evidence from Two Land Allocation Strategies (link). Economics & Human Biology. (2026).Vol 62 :101622.Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2026.101622

[AI generated podcast]  [Media coverage: Primicias] [Slides]

• • Short abstract: Stunting remains a major policy concern in Ecuador. This paper explores the 1960s–70s agrarian reform as a potential cause. Land was allocated through public transfers and expropriations. Findings show lower stunting rates in regions with public land transfers but no impact from expropriations. The likely mechanism is human capital accumulation—mothers exposed to public land transfers in childhood attain higher education and are less likely to have stunted children.

Working papers:

• Unbundling Property Rights: Evidence from Ecuador’s Agrarian Reform  (link) [AI generated podcast ] [slides] [Under review] [Updated!!!]

  • Short abstract: This paper compares two land-reform regimes in Ecuador to show how property rights shape long-run agricultural adaptation. Flexible public land transfers broadened crop choice, while expropriation sustained specialization in rice and bananas, showing how aggregate productivity measures can obscure gains from diversification.

• The Distributive Politics of Electoral Outsiders(link) [Revise and Resubmit at Constitutional Political Economy--2nd Round--] [to be updated soon]

[AI generated podcast] 

• • Short abstract: An outsider government in Ecuador used early electoral support to consolidate its initial political coalition. Municipalities that provided greater first-time support experienced larger expansions in public sector employment, consistent with the use of bureaucracy as a durable distributive tool.

• Victory, Institutions, and State Formation in Latin America (With Daniel Baquero)(link) [Revise and Resubmit at the Journal of Latin American Studies] [Updated!]

[AI generated podcast] [Slides]

• • Short abstract: Do military victories strengthen states? We show that the answer depends on inherited institutions. Using cross-national and subnational data from Latin America, we find that war outcomes boost fiscal capacity mainly where colonial legacies were less extractive, while infrastructure shows no consistent postwar gains. War strengthens states—but not equally, and not everywhere. We discuss the potential errors of treating colonial institutional legacies as country fixed effects.