Current topics of research

I'm currently a first year student in the Dual Career Training Programme to obtain a PhD in Governance and Policy Analysis (GPAC²) offered by The United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT). My research interest is the formation and development of economic clusters in Mexico.

Mexico is a large federation with 32 states and a diverse economic structure from high-tech industry in the north through densely populated areas in the center to poorer southern states with a higher share of income from agriculture and lower complexity activities. Mexico presents an interesting opportunity to study a variety of conditions typical for developing countries and how those impact industrial development. My proposal is based on an innovative concept of clusters built from the firm level by identifying networks of establishments with high geographic and industry proximity, using a measure based on relatedness measures identified through the Product Space Network introduced by Hidalgo, Klinger, Barabási, and Hausmann.

PhD Proposal Presentation