Last updated: February 11, 2023

I’m an economist interested in a wide range of topics related to development economics and mostly work on labor economics and crime. I’m currently a PhD candidate at the Paris School of Economics. Previously, I worked as an Economic Analyst at the United Nations Development Programme and as a Research Assistant at the World Bank’s Development Research Group.

<aside> 👋🏼 Say hello! ✉️  [email protected] 🐦  @algunamariaa

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Projects I’m working on

Working papers

• Singing to my drug lord: the effects of drug cartels on local employment structure. Abstract**:** This work analyzes the impact of drug trafficking organizations on the local structure of sectoral employment in Mexican municipalities for the period between 2008 and 2017. The empirical strategy relies on system-GMM to estimate a model including a lagged dependent variable as a regressor and instruments cartel presence with a measure of the popularity of drug-ballads or corridos using internet searches from Google Trends data. The results show that the effects of cartel presence are different from those expected from the creation of a legal firm in the tradable sector as predicted by economic theory. While cartel presence does not affect overall employment levels, it does affect the structure of local employment by reducing employment in sales and most services and specifically increasing employment in professional services and real estate, suggesting that criminal organizations need lawyers, accountants and real estate agents for the operation and money laundering activities. Also, the demographic decomposition of the changes in employment in construction and extractive industries are consistent with an effect driven by increased male labor demand from the drug industry.

Draft can be requested by e-mail 📬

Work in progress

Filling the Gaps: Childcare Laws for Women’s Economic Empowerment. With S Anukriti, Lelys Dinarte-Diaz, Marina Elefante and Alena Sakhonchik.

It’s raining kids! The labor market effects of unexpected school closures. With Lucile Dehouck and Romaine Loubes.

Launching a blog to learn in public

Coming soon ✨

This is a place to reconnect with that artistic and curious kid I was before starting this thing of becoming a social "scientist." There's a good deal of creativity in doing research. Still, I often struggle in a non-visual field, being an all-time sketchnoter and frustrated illustrator. Above everything, I struggle with boxes and labels in academia, little words that are supposed to define all your interests and the scope of what your work can be.

Developing a regular Ashtanga practice 🕉

Practice, the rest will follow.

I’m that cliché, yoga changed my life. I enjoy Ashtanga over any other workout. It is dynamic and intense and does way more than strengthening the body. Breathing (prana), postures (asanas) and its synchronized movement (vinyasa krama) allow for consciousness of body and mind.

I’m studying the traditional guide to Ashtanga Yoga and trying to develop a practice of 6 mornings per week with a day of rest on Saturdays.

GitHub and research workflows

Trying to develop a system to manage research projects to allow for smooth collaboration with other people.

• Previous projects (policy work)

Published work

Academic papers

Other pre-doctoral publications related to my policy work at UNDP

Temporary Basic Income in Times of Pandemic: Rationale, Costs and Poverty-Mitigation Potential. With Geroge Gray Molina, and Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez, Eduardo. Basic Income Studies, vol. 17, no. 2, 2022, pp. 125-154. https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2020-0029

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Policy reports

⭐️ **Protecting Women's Livelihoods in Times of Pandemic: Temporary Basic Income and the Road to Gender Equality.** With Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez and Aroa Santiago.

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**Mitigating Poverty: Global Estimates of the Impact of Income Support during the Pandemic.** With Johanna Fajardo-Gonzalez, George Gray Molina, and Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez R&R at Oxford Development Studies.

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Diverse ways to build social protection? Lessons from the breadth of emergency social policy responses around the world. With Santiago Soto.

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Learning about

Violence in Latin America

I attend the PEACELA Reading Group each week to discuss academic works to understand the multiple facets of violence in Latin America, its causes, manifestations and policies that have failed or succeeded in bringing peace and conflict resolution in the region. The group is an independent initiative by Professor Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero at Queen Mary University of London.

Knowledge Management & Metacognition

I’m deeply curious about one’s own thought processes and the building of our personal knowledge systems. I’m constantly searching for the best tools for thought and how to implement systems and workflows to learn more effectively and organize my thoughts.

Some interesting stuff: - How can we develop transformative tools for thought? by Andy Matuschak and Michael Nielsen

• Evergreen notes as a method to develop ideas over time

Now reading