Pedro José Martínez Alanis

Hi! welcome to my website. I am an economist with more than 12 years of experience performing empirical economic analysis for the Mexican federal government and international organizations (WBG, IDB, UNDP) in Mexico and Washington, DC.
My academic formation encompass two masters degrees in economics, from El Colegio de México and Western University, Canada, and also PhD studies in Economics from Western University and UC Davis.
I have an extensive experience doing research through the lens of firm-level data from administrative records, economic census and firm surveys in developing countries to estimate productivity, market power, monopsony power, and to quantify misallocation of resources.
My broad expertise is on the evaluation of industrial policies that lessens the misallocation of production factors, policies that promote innovation, technology adoption, productivity, digital inclusion, and firm’s resilience to supply disruptions. Specialized in the determinants of firm’s productivity, and their participation in Global Value Chains.

Mexican government work experience: 3 years and 8 months

Feb’21-May’23 : Chief economist, National Minimum Wage Commission. I coordinated a monthly economic outlook report on the Mexican economy to keep track on labor market dynamics, purchasing power of wages, impact of the minimum wage, GDP, industrial activity, inflation expectations, informality, monetary and fiscal policies, exchange rates, balance of payments, and perspectives on main trading partners. For annual reports 2021 and 2022 I contributed with empirical strategies to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 in the female labor participation in Mexico, to estimate the gender wage gap during the Covid-19 pandemic, to evaluate the employment program Jovenes construyendo el futuro in the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic, to evaluate the impact of the minimum wage increase in the gender wage gap in Mexico, analysis and estimation of monopsony power in manufacturing industries, and estimation of the pass-through of wages in production prices using confidential manufacturing firm-level data in a context of high inflation.

Aug’19-Nov’20 : Chief of Economic Advisors, Ministry of Economy, Mexico. I provided intellectual leadership contributing to the design, evaluation, coordination and implementation of main public policies in Mexico by Vice Minister of Industry, Commerce and Competitiveness, Ernesto Acevedo. For example, a New Industrial Policy; a new relocation strategy (nearshoring) of global value chains under the T-MEC; public policy recommendations to respond to the economic and health crisis in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreaks and coordinating the General Economic Incidence Group to monitor the Mexican economy with high-frequency data (persons, goods and financial markets).

WBG consultant experience: 3 years and 4 months

Jun’23-March’24 : Research Assistant for project Nearshoring in Latin America. Consultancy for LAC Creating Markets Advisory IFC, based in Mexico city. Under the team leadership of Mayra Alfaro de Morán, and vision of Carlos Zafra and Samuel Rosenow, I provided an analytical framework to estimate nearshoring opportunities in Mexico, Central American countries, Colombia and Peru. All results are presented in a dashboard: nearshoring/.

Feb’21-Feb’23 : Core team member of the Firm-level Adoption of Technology (FAT) project, consultant based in Mexico city. Under the vision and leadership of Xavier Cirera, Marcio Cruz and Diego Comin, I supported through the implementation of the Firm-level Adoption of Technology (FAT) survey in developing countries, preparation of the questionnaire, quality checks, data management and data analysis for the NBER WP paper “Anatomy of Technology in the Firm” and in the flagship report Bridging the Technological Divide: Technology Adoption by Firms in Developing Countries.

Jul’07-Feb’08: Research Assistant for the Enterprise Analysis Unit, IFC. Performing empirical research on enterprise analysis. Main research topics included International Trade and its impact on Productivity, Innovation and Technology on Indian firms, and country profile analysis for 14 African and 15 Latin American countries based on WB/IFC enterprise surveys. Databases: Compustat, WITS-Comtrade, WB/IFC enterprise surveys, WDI, USITC.

IDB consultant experience and research fellowship: 5 years and 3 months

Aug’13-Apr’14: Research Assistant for the Vice Presidency for Sector and Knowledge (VPS) based in Mexico city. Under the leadership of Santiago Levy, I performed empirical research for the project “Productividad, informalidad, ilegalidad y tamaño de los establecimientos” using micro data from Mexican Economic Census 1998, 2003 and 2008. This consultancy contributed to the IDB flagship report Under-Rewarded Efforts: The Elusive Quest for Prosperity in Mexico

Sep’11-Jun’12: Research Assistant for CID/CME based in Mexico city. Under the direction of J. Ernesto López-Córdova, we analyze the effects of financial access in manufacturing, retail and services sectors in Mexico, and its impact on aggregate productivity. Using establishment level data from the economic census and with emphasis on the regional allocation of the factors, we seek to contribute to the IDB’s policy dialogue with federal states in Mexico. Empirical research project: “Productividad, cambio estructural y acceso al financiamiento en México”.

Feb’10-Aug’11: Research Assistant for VPS based in Mexico city. Under the leadership of Santiago Levy and the direction of Chang-tai Hsieh, I was a research assistant to understand to what extent Mexico is poor because resources are used inefficiently within the country using establishment level data from the Mexican Economic Census (1999-2004-2009). Applying the Hsieh-Klenow (QJE, 2009) model to the Mexican economy, we seek to answer how the misallocation of inputs across firms and industries is related to informality and aggregate total factor productivity.

Jul’09-Oct’09: Research Assistant for EDU/SCL based in Mexico city. As part of the project Aligning Learning Incentives, I was in charge of following up each one of 50 thousand students in the program across 88 schools in Mexico. For each student, I computed her corresponding incentive based on a standardized test on mathematics. Along this consultancy was developed an ado-file in STATA: pmatch.ado. This program identifies two full names under misspelling and estimates the likelihood of matching.

Sep’08-May’09: Research Assistant for RES/VPS based in Mexico city. Research assistant for the project “Social security and resource misallocation in Mexico” under the direction of Chang-Tai Hsieh. As part of the project “Understanding productivity levels, dispersion and growth in Latin America and Caribbean industries” I analyzed regional resource misallocation in Mexico following the Hsieh-Klenow model. Databases: Micro level data from the Mexican Economic Census 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2004, INEGI.

Apr’08-Jul’08: Research Assistant for RES/VPS based in Washington, DC. Under the direction of Carmen Pagés-Serra and using Mexican Economic Census 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2004, INEGI, I estimated productivity measures (growth accounting) by firm size, state and selected sectors; and its decomposition by shift & share analysis. Under the leadership of Santiago Levy Algazi I explored the relationship between social programs, informality and economic growth in Mexico.

Sep’05-Jun’07: Research Fellow for the Integration and Trade Department, based in Washington, DC. Performing empirical research in trade and economic integration. Research topics include Trade and Cooperation Agreements, China’s impact and policy implications for the Mexican economy, and sectorial notes on trade for Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico. Participation in main IDB initiatives: Trade diversification and Building Opportunities for the Majority. All research activities include econometric estimation and database handling through STATA programming. Databases: Broad expertise working with large datasets (WITS-Comtrade, WDI, DOT/IMF) and familiarized with national household surveys in Latin America (MECOVI, EQxIS). Specialist in the Economic Census and National Household Surveys of Mexico.

UNDP Experience

Winter’09: Consultancy for RBLAC. Research Assistant on the empirical application of the Human Development Index adjusted by inequality under the leadership of Luis Felipe López-Calva, Sabina Alkire and James E. Foster. Applying the methodology developed Foster, López-Calva, Szekely (J Hum Dev, 2005) and using Demographic and Health Surveys for selected countries (Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan), I contributed to the technical report on multidimensional poverty and inequality for the Human Development Report 2010.

Academic Experience: 1 year and 6 months

Jan’16-Mar’17: Research Assistant for the research project “on the identification of production functions and productivity estimation with David Rivers & Salvador Navarro”. Western University, Ontario, Canada.
Summer’11: National Bureau of Economic Research. Research Assistant based in Mexico for Chang-Tai Hsieh. I provided empirical inputs (data tabulations, graphs, and other statistical output) using firm-level data from Mexican economic censuses 1998, 2003, and 2008. Reference: Hsieh, Chang-Tai, and Peter J. Klenow. “The life cycle of plants in India and Mexico.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 129.3 (2014): 1035-1084.

Academic formation

2018: Master in Economics, Western University, London Ontario, Canada
2014-2018: PhD studies in Economics, Western University, London Ontario, Canada. Specialized in empirical industrial organization, international trade and labor markets.
2012-2013: PhD studies in Economics, University of California in Davis, USA.
2002-2004: Master in Economics, El Colegio de México, Mexico City, Mexico. Specialized in quantitative and econometric methods.
1998-2002: B.A. in Economics, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.

Publications and work in progress

2023: Martínez Alanis, P.J., Samuel Rosenow, and Carlos Zafra “Nearshoring Opportunities in Latin America”, Mimeo. This note lays out the analytical framework used to identify nearshoring potential in Mexico, Central American countries , Colombia and Peru.
2021: El Efecto del Programa “Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro (JCF)” durante la Pandemia, Conasami This paper evaluates the employment program JCF. On average, program graduates have twice as likely to find a job compared to those not in the program (46.2% vs 23.6%) during the Covid-19 pandemic.
2020: Martínez Alanis, P.J. “Growth constraints in the Mexican manufacturing establishments”, Mimeo. Establishments over 20 years of age in Mexico stop growing and their productivity stagnates compared to younger establishments (Hsieh-Klenow, 2014). What are the factors that limit the growth of manufacturing establishments in Mexico? This paper analyzes the effect of distortions or frictions in the allocation of capital on the growth profile of Mexican manufacturing establishments.
2012: Martínez Alanis, P.J.”Distorsiones regionales en la asignación de recursos y productividad de las manufacturas en México”, Estudios Económicos 2012. This paper decomposes the regional effects of resource misallocation on aggregate total factor productivity (TFP), as a variant of the Hsieh-Klenow (2009) model. Using establishment level data from the 2004 Mexican Economic Census, I calculate the potential regional TFP gains in Manufacturing. The results suggest that: (i) capital misallocation is the primary source of regional misallocation in the sector; and (ii) resource misallocation within regions is the most important component in manufacturing TFP gains.

Computer skills: STATA, Jupyter, R, Julia, Python.

Language skills: Spanish, English, intermediate French.