About

I am interested in the distribution of people and economic activity in space and its relationship with economic development. I am a pluralist when it comes to theory and empirics, as long as space is involved.

I work as Regional Inequalities and Demographic Change Programme Manager at the OECD. I am also an  Honorary Associate at the Geography and Planning Department at the University of Liverpool. For a full list of articles see my Google Scholar page.

On this site you can find resources, useful links and other posts related to my research interests. If you have trouble accessing a link please contact me.

Databases

Metropolitan Areas in the world a.k.a GHS-FUA (2020): Globan Human Settlements Functional Urban Areas (free geopackage download)

Journal Publications

1. Regional inequalities and contributions to aggregate growth in the 2000s: an EU vs US comparison based on functional regions. 2021. With E. Garcilazo and J. Oliveira-Martins. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 37:1, 70–96.  (doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/graa064)
2. Association between population distribution and urban GDP scaling. 2021. With  H.V. Ribeiro, M. Oehlers, J.P. Kropp, and D. Rybski. PLoS ONE, 16(1): e0245771.  (/doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245771)
3. The impact of public transport expansions on informality: the case of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region. 2020. With F. Ramos. Research in Transport Economics, forthcoming.  (doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2020.100928)
4. Metropolitan areas in the world. Delineation and population trends. 2020. With M. Schiavina and P. Veneri. Journal of Urban Economics, forthcoming.  (doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2020.103242)
5. Income segregation in monocentric and polycentric cities: Does urban form really matter? 2019. With M.À. Garcia López. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 71:62-79 (doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2018.05.003)
6. The effect of commuting costs and transport subsidies on informality rates, 2018. With H.M. Posada. Journal of Development Economics, 130: 99-112 (doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.09.004)
7. Agglomeration of creative industries: An intra-metropolitan analysis for Barcelona. 2017. With E. Coll-Martinez and J.M. Arauzo-Carod. Papers in Regional Science, 98(1):409-431 (doi: 10.1111/pirs.12330)
8. Public transport and school location impacts on educational inequalities: Insights from São Paulo, 2017. With R. Lovelace and F. Ramos. Journal of Transport Geography, forthcoming (doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.08.012)
9. Informality and accessibility to jobs by public transit: Evidence from the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, 2017. With G. Boisjoly and A. El-Geneidy. Journal of Transport Geography, 64: 89-96 (doi: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.08.005)
10. Informality, city structure and rural–urban migration in Latin America, 2017. With H.M. Posada. Annals of Regional Science, 59: 345-369 (doi: 10.1007/s00168-017-0834-5)
11. Intra-metropolitan Clustering of Formal and Informal Manufacturing Activity: Evidence from Cali, Colombia, 2016. With G. García. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 107 (4): 389-406 (doi: 10.1111/tesg.12163)
12. Urban Employment in Small Businesses and the Level of Economic Development: Evidence from Chinese Cities, 2016. With S. Yu and and V. Euse. Growth and Change, 47(1): 53-71 (doi: 10.1111/grow.12120)
13. Formal sector subcontracting and informal sector employment in Indian manufacturing, 2014. With J. Pieters and A. Erumban. IZA Journal of Labor & Development, 3:22 (doi:10.1186/s40175-014-0022-2). Highly accessed article
14. Informality in Space: Understanding agglomeration economies during economic development, 2012. Urban Studies, 49: 2019-2030  (doi: 10.1177/0042098012448554)
15. Informal sector and manufacturing location: in search of the missing links, 2012. With M. Gerritse. Spatial Economic Analysis, 7 (2): 179-201 (doi: 10.1080/17421772.2012.669493)
16. Social influence, agent heterogeneity and the emergence of the urban informal sector, 2012. With C. García-Díaz. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 391(4): 1563-1574 (doi:10.1016/j.physa.2011.08.057)
17. Market access and the heterogeneous effect of shocks on wages: evidence from Chinese cities, 2011. Papers in Regional Science,  90(1): 9-25 (doi: 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2010.00319.x)

Books and Book Chapters

• Informality in space : Understanding the nature, role and dynamics of the urban informal economy in developing countries, University of Groningen (PhD Dissertation)
• Income segregation in Brazilian cities: The role of vertical neighbourhoods. In: OECD (2018) Divided Cities: Understanding Intra-Urban Inequalities

Book Reviews, Commentaries and Policy Articles

• Comment – Income segregation in cities: A reflection on the gap between concept and measurement, Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, 497-498, 97-101, February 2018 (doi.org/10.24187/ecostat.2017.497d.1932)
• Unequal commutes: Job accessibility and employment in Accra. With N. Picarelli, P. Jaupart and Y. Chen. Final Report, International Growth Center (IGC), C-33401-GHA-1, July 2017.
• Access to public transport and labor informality. IZA World of Labor, 274, July 2016 (doi: 10.15185/izawol.274)
• Julio D Dávila (ed.). Urban Mobility and Poverty: Lessons from Medellín and Soacha, Colombia. Urban Studies, 52(5): 993-995 (doi: 10.1177/0042098014567619)

Working Papers and Reports

• Housing policies for sustainable and inclusive cities: How national governments can deliver affordable housing and compact urban development. 2020. With J. Gars, T. Matsumoto, A. Schumann, R. Ahrend, and J. Crook. Coalition for Urban Transitions and OECD
• GHSL-OECD Functional Urban Areas. Public release of GHS-FUA. 2019. With M. Schiavina M., L. Maffenini, and P. Veneri. JRC Technical Report, European Commission
• Classifying small (TL3) regions based on metropolitan population, low density and remoteness. 2019. With M. Fadic, J.E. Garcilazo, and P. Veneri. OECD Regional Development Working Papers N° 2019/06, OECD
• Indigenous economic development and well-being in a place-based context. 2019, With C. McDonald and L-S. Springare. OECD Regional Development Working Papers N° 2019/01, OECD
• Income segregation and urban spatial structure: Evidence from Brazil, 2016. With M.A. García-López. CAF – Working paper N° 2016/08, Development Bank of Latin America CAF
• The impact of public transport expansions on informality: the case of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, 2015. With F.R. Ramos. 55th Congress of the European Regional Science Association: European Regional Science Association (ERSA), Louvain-la-Neuve
• Structural Change in Space: Comparing the Spatial Distribution of Employment in Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries, 2013. Draft submission to the UNU-WIDER “Industrial Development and Policy in Africa”, UNU-WIDER
• Subcontracting and the Size and Composition of the Informal Sector: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing, 2012. With J. Pieters and A. Erumban. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6785, Institute for the Study of Labor

 (Selected) Publications in Spanish

• Evolución del Comercio Intraindustrial entre las regiones colombianas y la Comunidad Andina, 1990-2004: un análisis comparativo, 2007. With H.M. Posada. Lecturas de Economía 66: 83-118
• Apertura, cambio estructural y competitividad en una región de “antigua” industrialización: el caso de Antioquia, 2005. With J. Lotero. Lecturas de Economía 65:77-109