Recent and ongoing work
Roads to Prosperity. Infrastructure and the Fate of Nations. Book in preparation for Chicago University Press.
"The Social Rate of Return of Infrastructure," with Manuel Garcia Santana, Yue Li, Jevgenijs Steinbuks, He He, Estefania Vergara Cobos, Xinxin Lyu.
A Worldwide Database of Infrastructure Capital Stocks and Construction Costs, with Yue Li, Jevgenijs Steinbuks, He He, Estefania Vergara Cobos, Xinxin Lyu, George Joseph, Hansol Yoon.
"Bridging the Investment Data gap," with Henri Blas, Manpreet Juneja, He He.
"The GHG emission dividend of digital technologies," with Chris Dann.
"Interoperability and Quality Provision in Digital Payments", with Milo Bianchi and David Martimort, TSE Working Paper 1587, October 2024.
Infrastructure and Poverty Reduction: Innovative Policies for Effective Access, Stéphane Straub , Tomás Serebrisky, Lisa Bagnoli and Claudio Rojas, Report for the G20 Brazilian Presidency, World Bank and Inter American Development Bank, 2025.
Blog: World Bank - Getting Infrastructure Finance Right
"The Impact of Infrastructure on Development Outcomes: A Qualitative Review of Four Decades of Literature." (with Vivien Foster, Nisan Gorgulu, and Maria Vagliasindi). Policy Research working paper WPS 10343 Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. March 2023.
“Decentralization in Indonesia and Local Outcomes. Estimating Spending Efficiency," with Jonas Gathen and Vitalijs Jascisens.
Articles published in Peer-Reviewed Journals
"The Impact of Infrastructure on Development Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis." (with Vivien Foster, Nisan Gorgulu, Dhruv Jain, and Maria Vagliasindi), Forthcoming World Bank Research Observer.
Policy Research working paper WPS 10350, March 2023.
Blog: World Bank - Data Blog
"The dark side of infrastructure: Roads, repression, and land in authoritarian Paraguay," with Josepa Miquel-Florensa, Felipe González, and Mounu Prem. 2024, The Economic Journal.
Blog: VoxDEV column
“The Impact of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Infrastructure, Health and Education.” (with Anaïs Fabre). Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 61, No. 2, June 2023 (pp. 655-715).
Podcast: World Bank Tell Me How Infrastructure Podcast Series
“Funding and financing infrastructure: the joint-use of public and private finance”, (with Marianne Fay and David Martimort) 2021, Journal of Development Economics, Vol 150, 102629.
“Pooled Procurement of Drugs in Low and Middle Income Countries”, (with Pierre Dubois and Yassine Lefouili) 2021, European Economic Review, Vol 132.
“Voting Corrupt Politicians Out of Office? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Paraguay,” (with Rumilda Cañete, Pepita Miquel-Florensa, and Karine Van Der Straeten), 2020, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 179, p. 223-239
Blog: The Global Anticorruption Blog
“The Brasilia Experiment: The Heterogeneous Impact of Road Access on Spatial Development in Brazil”, (with Julia Bird), 2020, World Development, Volume 127.
Coverage: El País
World Bank Policy Research working paper (2014).
“Social Promotion in Primary School: Effects on Grade Progression”, (with Margaret Leighton and Priscila Souza), 2019, Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Vol 39(1), 1-33.
“Rising incomes and inequality of access to infrastructure among Latin American Households”, (with Marianne Fay), 2019, Journal of Infrastructure Policy and Development Volume 3(1), Pages 76-99.
“Public Procurement and Rent-Seeking: The Case of Paraguay”, (with Emmanuelle Auriol and Thomas Flochel), January 2016, World Development Volume 77, Pages 395-407.
“How to Design Infrastructure Contracts in a Warming World: A Critical Appraisal of Public-Private Partnerships” (with David Martimort), International Economic Review. Volume 57, Issue 1, pages 61–88, February 2016.
“Informal Sector and Economic Growth: The Supply of Credit Channel”, (with Baptiste Massenot), 2016, Economic Inquiry. Volume 54, Issue 2, Pages 1046–1067.
“Regulation, Renegotiation and Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence from Latin American Transport Concessions” (with Alex Moore and Jean-Jacques Dethier), 2014, Journal of Regulatory Economics, Volume 45, Issue 2, pp 209-232.
“Firms Operating under Electricity Constraints in Developing Countries” (joint with Philippe Alby et Jean-Jacques Dethier), World Bank Economic Review. vol. 27, n°1, p. 109-132, 2013.
“Empirical evidence on satisfaction with privatization in Latin America" (with Celine Bonnet, Pierre Dubois, and David Martimort), World Bank Economic Review, vol. 25, n°3, 2011.
“Explaining Enterprise Performance in Developing Countries with Business Climate Survey Data (with Jean-Jacques Dethier and Maximilian Hirn)”, World Bank Research Observer, vol. 26, n°2, Aug 2011, p. 258-309.
“Infrastructure and Growth in Developing Asia”, (with Akiko Terada-Hagiwara), Asian Development Review, Vol 28(2), June 2011, 119-156.
“Infrastructure and Development: A Critical Appraisal of the Macro-level Literature“, Journal of Development Studies, Vol 47(5), May 2011, 683-708.
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper.
“The Emergence of Institutions” (with Santiago Sánchez-Pagés). The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy: Vol. 10 : Iss. 1 (Contributions), Article 84, 2010.
“Privatization and Changes in Corruption Patterns: The Roots of Public Discontent” (Joint with David Martimort). Journal of Development Economics, vol. 90, n°1, September 2009, 69-84.
“Regulatory Intervention, Corruption and Competition”, Review of Industrial Organization. vol. 35, n°1-2, September 2009, 123-148.
Corruption and concession renegotiations: Evidence from the water and transport sectors in Latin America (joint with Luis Guasch). Utilities Policy, vol. 19, n°2, June 2009, 185-190.
“Opportunism, Corruption, and the Multinational Firm’s Mode of Entry“. Journal of International Economics, Volume 74, Issue 2, March 2008, Pages 245-26.
“Renegotiation of Concession Contracts in Latin America“. (Joint with Jean-Jacques Laffont and J.Luis Guasch). International Journal of Industrial Organization. Volume 26, Issue 2, March 2008, Pages 421-442.
“Concessions of Infrastructure in Latin America: Government-led Renegotiation“. (Joint with Jean-Jacques Laffont and J.Luis Guasch) Journal of Applied Econometrics. Volume 22, Issue 7, Date: December 2007, Pages: 1267-1294.
“Renegotiation of Concession Contracts: An Overview” (Joint with J.Luis Guasch). Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 77(4), 479-493, December 2006
“Renegotiation of Concession Contracts: A Theoretical Framework“. (Joint with Jean-Jacques Laffont and J.Luis Guasch) Review of Industrial Organization. Volume 29, Numbers 1-2 / September, 2006
“Informal Sector: The Credit Market Channel“. Journal of Development Economics, Vol.78, pages 299-321 , December 2005.
“Evolución Macroeconómica del Paraguay 1989-1997: Burbuja de Consumo y Crisis Financiera“. Revista de la CEPAL. No.65, Pages 119-132. Santiago, Chile. 1998.
Working Papers
“The Value of Revolving Doors in Public Procurement”, TSE Working Paper, n° 17-873, décembre 2017, revision May 2020. (with Klenio Barbosa). Revise & resubmit at Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization
“Political Firms, Public Procurement and the Democratization Process”, IDEI Working Paper, n°817, 29 janvier 2014. (Revise & resubmit at Economic Development and Cultural Change)
“Infrastructure and economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa” (avec Paul Noumba Um et Charles Vellutini), World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, WPS5105, October 2009.
“Governance in Water Supply”, Global Development Network Working Paper 11, September 2009.
“Infrastructure and Growth in Developing Countries : Recent Advances and Research Challenges“, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, WPS4460, January 2008.
“Infrastructure and economic growth in East Asia“, (joint with Vellutini, Charles and Warlters, Michael), World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, WPS4589, April 2008.
“Renegotiation of Concession Contracts in Latin America“. (Joint with Jean-Jacques Laffont and J.Luis Guasch). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3011, April 2003.
Book
“Rethinking Infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean : Spending Better to Achieve More”. Directions in Development—Infrastructure. World Bank, Washington, DC. (with Fay, Marianne; Andres, Luis Alberto; Fox, Charles; Narloch, Ulf; Slawson, Michael). 2017
Book Chapters
“Infrastructure and Policies to Connect the Portfolio of Places”, Chapter 6: in Time to ACT. Realizing Indonesia’s Urban Potential, Mark Roberts, Frederico Gil Sander, and Sailesh Tiwari, Editors, World Bank, Oct. 2019.
“Policy Lessons from the Recent Literature on Transport Infrastructure Development” in The Economics of Infrastructure Provisioning: The (Changing) Role of the State”, MIT Press-CESifo Volume, 2016.
“The Story of Paraguayan Dams. The Long Term Consequences of Wrongdoing in Procurement” in Greed, Corruption and the Modern State, Susan Rose-Ackerman and Paul Lagunes, eds. Edward Elgar Publishing., 2015.
“Privatization and Corruption” (with Emmanuelle Auriol), in International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, Volume 2, edited by Susan Rose-Ackerman and Tina Søreide, Edward Elgar Publishing. Dec 2011.
“Does Institutional and Regulatory Design Matter for Infrastructure Sector and Firm Performance?” (Joint with Luis Andres and J.Luis Guasch). In Corruption, Development and Institutional Design, János Kornai, László Mátyás and Gérard Roland (eds.), Palgrave Macmillan, International Economic Association Congress volumes, 2009.
“Ensuring Willingness to Repay in Paraguay” (Joint with Horacio Sosa) in Marco Pagano (ed.), Defusing Default, Incentives and Institutions, Inter-American Development Bank, and OECD, John Hopkins University Press, 2002.