Working Papers
“Strategic Complementarities in a Dynamic Model of Technology Adoption: P2P Digital Payments”
with Fernando Alvarez, David Argente, Francesco Lippi, & Diana Van Patten
American Economic Review, revise and resubmit
This paper develops a dynamic model of technology adoption featuring strategic complementarities: the benefits of usage increase with the number of adopters. We study the diffusion of new means of payments, where such complementarities are pervasive. We show that complementarities give rise to multiple equilibria, suboptimal allocations, and study the planner’s problem. The model generates gradualism in adoption, as individuals optimally wait for others to adopt before doing so. We apply the theory to the adoption of SINPE Móvil, an electronic peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app developed by the Central Bank of Costa Rica. Transaction-level data on the use of SINPE Móvil and several administrative data sets on the network structure allow us to exploit plausibly exogenous variation and to document sizable complementarities. A calibrated version of the model shows that the optimal subsidy pushes the economy to universal adoption.
Media Coverage: Yale Economic Growth Center
Work in Progress
“Cross-Border Product Adoption: Individual Imports, Migrant Networks, and Domestic Retailers”
with David Argente & Diana Van Patten
“Enrooted Corporate Culture: The Long-Run Impact of Exposure to Multinationals on Local Trade Policy and Political Identity”
with Diana Van Patten
“Selecting Between Public and Private Healthcare”
Journal Articles
“Voting on a Trade Agreement: Firm Networks and Attitudes Towards Openness”
with Diana Van Patten
The Review of Economic Studies, 2025
“Multinationals, Monopsony and Local Development: Evidence from the United Fruit Company”
with Diana Van Patten
Econometrica, Vol. 90, No. 6 (November, 2022), 2685–2721
Media Coverage: Marginal Revolution, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Cato Institute, VoxDev, 7-minute summary video by Econimate, Podcast by Trade Talks, ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America.
“Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions in Costa Rica: a Local Approach” Chapter in “Macroeconomic Policy Responses to COVID-19” 2021 Joint Research Program. XXVI Meeting of the Central Bank Researchers Network. Editors: Nelson Ramírez Rondán and Benjamín Tello Bravo.
with José Pablo Barquero Romero & Carlos Segura-Rodriguez
with Jorge León Murillo
Revista de Ciencias Económicas, 2016, 34(2): 103-132
“El acceso al crédito para microempresas en Alajuela, Cartago y Heredia”
with Rodrigo Villalta Díaz
Revista de Ciencias Económicas, 2012, 30(2): 247-271
with Rodrigo Villalta Díaz
Revista de Ciencias Económicas, 2012, 30(1): 293-304
Book Chapter
“Global Firms and Local Development”
with Diana Van Patten
Prepared for “Roots of Underdevelopment: A New Economic (and Political) History of Latin America and the Caribbean"
Editor: Felipe Valencia Caicedo. Palgrave, Macmillan. 2023
Policy Work
“Indicador para el seguimiento del saldo de reservas internacionales netas (RIN) para Costa Rica” Nota Técnica No. 02-2023, Departamento de Investigación Económica, Banco Central de Costa Rica.
“Modelos de pronóstico de la demanda de numerario para Costa Rica” Documento de Trabajo No. 01-2023, Departamento de Investigación Económica, Banco Central de Costa Rica.
“Reservas internacionales netas adecuadas y óptimas en Costa Rica” Documento de Trabajo No. 02-2021, Departamento de Investigación Económica, Banco Central de Costa Rica.
“Implicaciones sobre la inflación de no acuñar la moneda de 5 colones” Nota Técnica No. 02-2021, Departamento de Investigación Económica, Banco Central de Costa Rica.