Democracy, State Capacity, and Inequality Cross-National Dataset
Replication data for EJPS Inclusive Institutions, Unequal Outcomes: Democracy, State Infrastructural Power and Inequality 1970-2015, with Hector Bahamonde, European Journal of Political Economy (2021), 70, 1-21.
This project investigates whether the redistributive effects of democracy depend on levels of state capacity. Conducted in collaboration with Hector Bahamonde (University of Turku), the study combines longitudinal cross-national data from 126 industrialized and developing countries between 1970 and 2013.
The dataset integrates information on regime type, fiscal and administrative state capacity, income inequality, economic development, taxation, and social spending from multiple international sources. Variables were harmonized across countries and years to enable panel econometric analysis of the interaction between democracy and state capacity.
Protests, Public Goods, and Municipal Responsiveness in Mexico Dataset
Replication data for Informal Customary Institutions, Collective Action, and Submunicipal Public Goods Provision in Mexico , Latin American Politics and Society (2021)
This dataset was constructed to examine how protests and collective action affect distributive politics and public goods provision at the municipal and submunicipal levels in Mexico. The database combines original protest event data with information on municipal public spending, informal institutions, electoral outcomes, demographic characteristics, and locality-level socioeconomic indicators. A central objective of the project is to analyze whether communities that engage in protests demanding public services receive greater allocations of municipal development resources, particularly through the Fondo de Infraestructura Social Municipal (FISM).
The dataset integrates multiple survey, administrative and electoral sources. Protest events and presence of informal institutions is captured through an original survey with community leaders in Puebla and Tlaxcala. They were then merged with administrative data on FISM allocations and municipal investment projects, electoral data from the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE), and census information from INEGI. In addition, the project incorporates measures of submunicipal governance institutions, particularly usos y costumbres arrangements, allowing analysis of how local institutional capacity shapes mobilization and policy responsiveness.
Municipal Political Elites Survey and Elite Experiment Dataset
This original dataset was developed to examine how municipal politicians and public officials respond to protest, community organization, and distributive demands. The project involved the construction of a database containing nearly 10,000 municipal-level political actors in Mexico, including municipal presidents, regidores, síndicos, municipal secretaries, and other local public officials across multiple states.
The database was compiled through extensive data collection from municipal government websites, electoral records, transparency portals, and direct administrative sources. The project required standardizing information across municipalities with highly uneven institutional capacity and varying levels of public information availability.
Using this infrastructure, I implemented original surveys and survey experiments with municipal political elites. The experimental component evaluates how local officials respond to hypothetical distributive scenarios involving protesting communities, organized localities, and varying levels of collective action capacity. Respondents were presented with randomized vignettes describing community demands, protest activity, institutional organization, and electoral conditions, allowing identification of the factors that shape distributive preferences and political responsiveness.
Energy Vulnerability and Poverty in Mexico Survey Project: CLIMAS HUB
This ongoing project examines energy vulnerability and energy poverty in Mexico, with particular emphasis on gender inequality and unequal access to basic energy services. The research is conducted through a collaborative grant-funded initiative involving Tecnológico de Monterrey, CLIMAS HUB at Universidad Javeriana, and Canadian development cooperation partners.
The project involves the design and implementation of a large-scale original survey measuring household energy vulnerability, energy insecurity, access to energy services, coping strategies, housing conditions, gendered dimensions of energy use, and socioeconomic inequality. One of the main objectives is to improve the measurement of energy poverty in Mexico and contribute evidence that can inform future strategies by institutions such as INEGI and SENER.
The survey instrument incorporates questions on household expenditures, energy reliability, access to cooling and heating technologies, environmental vulnerability, health impacts, and gendered labor burdens associated with energy deprivation. The project also seeks to identify regional and social inequalities in energy access and vulnerability.