My main research interests focus on macroeconomics, international economics, and household heterogeneity. I am particularly interested in the development of macroeconomic models that are consistent with microeconomic heterogeneity, both by identifying and incorporating different types of micro-frictions, as well as introducing micro-foundations for frictions already examined in the literature.
“Do Capital Inflows Spur Technology Diffusion? Evidence from a New Technology Adoption Index” joint with Andrea Manera (IMF) [March 2024, IMF WP version]
We construct a novel measure of technology adoption, the Embodied Technology Imports Indicator (ETI), available for 181 countries over the period 1970-2020. The ETI measures the technological intensity of imports of each country by leveraging patent data from PATSTAT and product-level trade data from COMTRADE. We use this index to assess the link between capital flows and the diffusion of new technologies across emerging economies and low-income countries. Through a local projection difference-in-differences approach, we establish that variations in statutory capital flow regulations increase technological intensity by 7-9 percentage points over 5 to 10 years. This increase is accompanied by a significant 28-33 pp rise in the volume of gross capital inflows, driven primarily by foreign direct investment (21 pp increase), and a 9 to 12 percentage points shift in the level of Real GDP per capita in PPP terms.
Non-technical summary at IMF Research Perspectives, May 2024 issue.
“Emerging markets, household heterogeneity, and exchange rate policy” [September 2026] Accepted @ Journal of International Economics
I argue that household heterogeneity plays a key role in the transmission of aggregate shocks in emerging market economies. Using Mexico's 1995 crisis as a case study, I document that whether a household works in the tradable or non-tradable sector is a crucial determinant of income and consumption losses: households tied to the non-tradable sector suffered substantially larger losses, regardless of other characteristics. To account for this fact, I build a New Keynesian small open economy model featuring two dimensions of household heterogeneity: uninsurable sector-specific income and limited participation in financial markets. Both dimensions shape how shocks propagate, typically amplifying their effects in the non-tradable sector while dampening them in the tradable sector. On the policy side, the welfare cost associated with lack of exchange rate flexibility is higher when households are heterogeneous, though sectoral preferences over such flexibility diverge when policy is restricted to simple interest rate rules.
Non-technical summary in Spanish: Efectos distributivos de los sudden stops (Foco Económico)
"A Macroeconomic Framework of Climate Adaptation" joint with Vu Chau (IMF) and Filiz Unsal (IMF, OECD)
We build a small open economy model to analyze climate adaptation in developing economies. We model slow-onset climate risks as the slow-moving depletion of land. Our model features endogenous entry and adaptation choice in the land-intensive agricultural sector, while firms are neoclassical in the manufacturing and services sectors. We find that the aggregate and distributional benefits of adaptation depend on the financial frictions faced by firms, and the interaction with mitigation policies can hinder adaptation choice.
"Geopolitical risk and firm financing: evidence from Colombia's administrative data" joint with Andrea Manera (IMF) and Miguel Sarmiento (BanRep)
“Optimal policy and the underground economy: a transactions-based approach”
I use a transactions-based approach, as in Lagos and Wright (2005), to study the role of inflation as a revenue instrument in an environment where not all transactions are observable by the government and money is used as a payment instrument. Since consumers can choose the type of transaction they participate in, the government faces a trade-off between using distortive taxes on observable transactions and taxing unobservable transactions using inflation in order to finance government spending.
“Macroprudential policies with heterogeneous households”