Welcome to my website!

I am a PhD candidate in Economics at American University, writing my dissertation on economic development in Latin America, and an economist at the Inter-American Development Bank. My research explores various topics related to development challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean. More specifically, I focus on issues related to trade, inequality, energy, and productive development.

I have professional experience in economic research and analysis in international organizations (The World Bank, IDB, OECD), central banking (Banco de España), and higher education institutions (AU, EHESS, UAM).

I am a person with a wide range of interests and a multidisciplinary educational background in economics, development studies, and psychology. I hold a MA in Economics from Université Paris VII Diderot, a MA in Development Studies from the University of the Basque Country, a BA in Economics from Autonomous University of Madrid, and a BA in Psychology from the National University of Distance Education.

You can find my CV here.

Working papers

The consumption side of trade shocks: Inequality dynamics and luxury imports (with Vinicius Curti Cícero). Revision requested in Journal of Development Economics

Green or growth? Understanding the relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions (with Lenin H. Balza, David Matias and Ariel Yépez-García). Submitted

Publications and Accepted

• The rise of the middle class and the pattern of consumption imports in Latin America. Forthcoming at Structural Change and Economic Dynamics

Works in progress

• Economic liberalization, industrial policy and manufacturing performance in Mexico.

• Import substitution industrialization in Mexico: An industry-level database of industrial policy measures.

• Energy transformation and local economic development: Evidence from renewable energy investments (with Lenin H. Balza and José Belmar).

Pre-doctoral publications

• Heras Recuero, L. and R. Pascual González (2019). Economic growth, institutional quality, and financial development in middle-income countries. Working Papers No. 1937, Banco de España.

• Sastre, T. and L. Heras Recuero (2019). Domestic and foreign investment in advanced economies. The role of industry integration. Working Papers No. 1933, Banco de España.

• Heras Recuero, L. and E. Olaberría (2018). Public spending in education and student performance in Colombia. OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 1460. OECD Publishing, Paris.

• Heras-Recuero, L., L’Hotellerie-Fallois, P. and S. Párraga Rodríguez (2019). La economía de EEUU, diez años después de la crisis. Boletín Económico del ICE, No. 3110. Secretaría de Estado de Comercio, Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo, Madrid.

Other publications

• Osca, A. and L. Heras-Recuero (2024). Actor-partner effects of coping strategies on emotional exhaustion in dual-earner couples. Family Relations, 73(2). 1219-1234.

• Heras Recuero, L. and A. Osca Segovia (2021). Work-family conflict, coping strategies, and burnout: A gender and couple analysis. Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 37(1). 21-28.