Alejandro Estefán Dávila
Assistant Professor of Development Economics
- Office
- 4029 Jenkins Nanovic Halls
Notre Dame, IN 46556 - Phone
- (574) 631-3463
- mestefan@nd.edu
Expertise
Development economics; labor economics; public finance; macroeconomic policy
Biography & Research
Alejandro Estefan is assistant professor of development economics in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame and a core-affiliated faculty member of the Pulte Institute for Global Development.
The main focus of Estefan's research is to understand the causes of economic development to inform policy decision-making. He studies many essential topics in the field of development economics, including the factors lifting individuals out of poverty; the effects of public investments in schooling; female labor force participation and its impact on gender violence; and state capacity and tax revenue collection. Estefan's research approach relies on the application of rigorous econometric techniques to uncover the crucial causal mechanisms underlying economic development, through the analysis of longitudinal datasets and the use of structural theory. To this end, his research emphasizes multilateral collaboration between academic institutions, local authorities, and independent international research institutes to enable access to high-quality administrative records.
Before coming to Notre Dame, Estefan was a research scholar at the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London and the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago. His previous professional experience includes working as a policy analyst at the Presidency of the Republic of Mexico. He completed his Ph.D. at University College London in 2019, where the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom supported his doctoral research.
Honors & Awards
- Second Place, CitiBanamex Prize in Economics (2024) for the paper "Outsourcing Policy and Worker Outcomes: Causal Evidence from a Mexican Ban" (National Bureau of Economic Research)
- Second Place, CitiBanamex Prize in Economics (2023) for the paper "Taxing Property in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence from Mexico" (National Bureau of Economic Research)
- Innovative Policy Research Award, International Economic Association and the Asian Development Bank
Recent Work
- "Digital Training for Micro-Entrepreneurs: Experimental Evidence from Guatemala" (World Bank Economic Review)
Courses
- Principles of Economics (undergraduate course)
- Advanced Econometrics for Finance (elective for master of global affairs)