Hispanic Economic Issues
The Americas Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Friday, November 21, 2014
8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Program
| 8:30 – 8:45 a.m. | Welcome and Opening Remarks Myriam Quispe-Agnoli, University of Georgia Marie T. Mora, University of Texas – Pan American |
|
| 8:45 – 9:25 a.m. | Unauthorised Immigration and Electoral Outcomes Nicole Rae Baerg, University of Mannheim Julie Hotchkiss, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta & Georgia State University Myriam Quispe-Agnoli, University of Georgia Discussant: Sandra Orozco-Aleman, Mississippi State University |
|
| 9:25 – 10:05 a.m. | Access to Financial Services and Well Being of Middle Aged and Older African Americans and Hispanics Luisa Blanco, Pepperdine University and RAND Emma Aguila, University of Southern California and RAND Marco Angrisani, University of Southern California and RAND Mei Leng, University of California, Los Angeles Discussant: Barbara J. Robles, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System |
|
| 10:05 – 10:45 a.m. | Latino Youth Workforce: Trends and OutlookCatherine Singley Harvey, National Council of La Raza Enrique A. Lopezlira, National Council of La Raza Discussant: Rogelio Sáenz, University of Texas, San Antonio |
|
| 10:45 – 11:00 a.m. | Break | |
| 11:00 – 11:40 a.m. | Coping the Great Recession: Does Resiliency Really Matter? Edwin Meléndez, Hunter College, CUNY M. Anne Visser, University of California, Davis Kurt Birson, Hunter College, CUNY Discussant: Marie T. Mora, University of Texas – Pan American |
|
| 11:40 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. | Self-employment and Paid Employment Outcomes of Hispanic Populations between 2006 and 2011
Alberto Dávila, University of Texas – Pan American Marie T. Mora, University of Texas – Pan American Havidán Rodríguez, University of Texas – Pan American Discussant: Julie Hotchkiss, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta |
|
| 12:30 – 1:45 p.m. | Luncheon and Keynote AddressIntroduction: Karen Clayton, Assistant Vice President, Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Welcoming Remarks and Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Stephen Kay, Director, Americas Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta |
|
| 2:00 – 2:40 p.m. | Comparison of Expenditure Shares on Food Categories that Impact the Obesity of Mexican and Hispanic Consumers David J. Molina, University of North Texas Discussant: Andres Vargas, Purdue University |
|
| 2:40 – 3:20 p.m. | Impact of Medicaid Policy Environment on Prenatal Care Utilization and Birth Outcomes among Immigrants Tiffany Green, Virginia Commonwealth University Lindsay Sabik, Virginia Commonwealth University Stephanie Hochhalter, Virginia Commonwealth University Krystyna Dereszowska, Virginia Commonwealth University Discussant: Angelino Viceisza, Spelman College |
|
| 3:20 – 3:30 p.m. | Break | |
| 3:30 – 4:10 p.m | Immigration Enforcement, Child-Parent Separations and Recidivism by Central American Deportees Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, San Diego State University Susan Pozo, Western Michigan University Thitima Puttitanun, San Diego State University Discussant: Myriam Quispe-Agnoli, University of Georgia |
|
| 4:10 – 4:50 p.m. | The Effects of Degree Attainment on Crime: Evidence from a Random Social Experiment
Vikesh Amin, Central Michigan University Carlos A. Flores, Cal Poly—San Luis Obispo Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, Binghamton University, SUNY Daniel J. Parisian, Binghamton University, SUNY Discussant: Robynn Cox, Spelman College |
|
| 4:50 – 5:00 p.m. | Closing RemarksDavid J. Molina, University of North Texas Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, San Diego State University |
|
About the Keynote Speaker
Mark Hugo López, Director, Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends Project
Mark Hugo López is Director of Hispanic Research at the Pew Research Center. He studies the attitudes and opinions of Latinos, Hispanic views of identity, the political engagement of Latinos in the nation’s elections and Latino youth. López also coordinates the Hispanic Trends Project’s National Survey of Latinos, an annual nationwide survey of Latinos. He was the research director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) as well as a research assistant professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. He has also served as President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists. López received his doctorate in Economics from Princeton University, and his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California. He is the author of numerous reports about the Hispanic electorate, Hispanic identity and immigration. López frequently appears in national and international media in both Spanish and English.
About the Authors and Other Speakers
Emma Aguila, University of Southern California – Emma Aguila is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public of Policy. She was previously a Senior Economist and Director of the RAND Center for Latin American Social Policy. Aguila earned her Bachelor’s Degree at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico in Mexico City. She completed her master’s and Ph.D. in Economics at University College London in the United Kingdom. Her research interests include pension reform, saving for retirement, and social security coverage and labor dynamics of immigrants. Aguila has received several awards for her work on pension reform in Mexico.
Vikesh Amin, Central Michigan University – Vikesh Amin received his Ph.D. in 2010 from Royal Holloway, University of London. His research thus far has used twins data to estimate causal effects of education on health, fertility and children’s education. He has published in Labour: Review of Economics and Industrial Relations, American Economic Review, Journal of Population Economics, and Economics of Education Review.
Marco Angrisani, University of Southern California – Marco Angrisani is an economist at the Center for Economic and Social Research at the University of Southern California. His Ph.D. is in Economics, from University College London. He has a strong background in applied microeconomics and microeconometrics, with a specific training in household finance and retirement planning. His research focuses on household consumption, saving and investment behavior, with emphasis on the effect of unexpected earnings variations, pension uncertainty, and adverse health shocks on wealth accumulation and portfolio choices. Another research strand examines different aspects of survey methodology, from sampling and weighting techniques to measurement properties of questions aiming at eliciting household income, wealth, and consumption.
Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, San Diego State University – Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes is an economics professor at San Diego State University, a Research Fellow at CReAM, FEDEA and IZA, an Advisory committee member of the Americas Center Advisory Council at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the 2013-2014 recipient of the Garcia-Robles Border Fulbright. She is also the current President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists (ASHE). Her areas of interest include labor economics, international migration and remittances. Her work has been funded by the Hewlett Foundation, the International Development Bank, the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among other agencies.
Nicole Baerg, University of Mannheim – Nicole Rae Baerg completed her Ph.D. in political science at Emory University in May 2013. She joined the University of Mannheim in March 2013 as a postdoctoral research in Quantitative Methods and was promoted to Assistant Professor of International Organizations at the University of Mannheim in 2014. Her research areas include the political economy of central banking, fiscal and monetary policies, public opinion, and immigration. She is also interested in political text analysis and she plays a key role in developing the Political Text Analysis Network component of the Z1 project.
Luisa Blanco, Pepperdine University- Luisa Blanco is an economist specializing in economic development and international economics, with a focus on the Latin American region. Blanco is an Associate Professor at Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy. Blanco is also an adjunct researcher at Center for Latin American Social Policy (CLASP) RAND Corporation, a scholar at the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research – Center for Health Improvement for Minority Elders (RCMAR-CHIME) at University of California Los Angeles, and a Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford University. Blanco’s research focuses on issues related to people in and from Latin America, such as institutions, crime, access to finance, and capital accumulation.
Karen Clayton, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta – Karen Clayton is an assistant vice president, equal employment officer, and deputy diversity officer in the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. She also has oversight responsibility for the Bank’s Cooperative Resolution function. In her current role, Clayton is responsible for ensuring the Bank’s equal employment opportunity (EEO) and workplace concerns programs are aligned with Bank policies, standards, and objectives and ensures compliance with current legal requirements. As deputy diversity officer, she works within the OMWI to help develop and implement integrated strategies to support the Bank’s diversity and inclusion programs. Clayton graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in journalism/advertising. She also completed executive education at Cornell University in the Advanced Diversity Management Program.
Robynn Cox, Spelman College – Robynn Cox is an Assistant Professor in the Economics Department at Spelman College. Her research interests include the Economics of Crime, Health Economics, and Labor Economics. More specifically, she is concerned with inmate reentry and the social consequences (economic, political, health, etc.) of mass incarceration. Cox has been awarded the UKCPR Young Investigator Development Grant, and a grant under the Research Program on Childhood Hunger (with Sally Wallace) to conduct her investigations. Her research has been published in the Review of Black Political Economy, and has been presented at numerous professional conferences. She has also been invited to discuss her area of expertise on various panels and nationally syndicated radio programs.
Kurt Birson, Hunter College – Kurt Birson is an Economic Researcher at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. He received his Master’s degree in Economics from the New School for Social Research, and holds a dual BA in International Political Economy and in Latino Studies from Fordham University. His focus is on economic development, and has researched issues of poverty, inequality, labor, and migration. Birson has authored several articles, brief reports and book chapters for Centro on a broad range of subjects affecting Puerto Ricans and Latinos in the United States, including the impact of the Great Recession, the socio-economic characteristics of Puerto Rican migrants, and the non-financial asset wealth of Latinos and non-Latinos in the United States. He has written for the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) and contributed to articles featured in Puerto Rico’s daily newspaper El Nuevo Dia.
Alberto Dávila, University of Texas – Pan American – Alberto Dávila is Professor of Economics, V.F. “Doc” and Gertrude M. Neuhaus Chair for Entrepreneurship, and the Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of Texas – Pan American. He is currently the President-Elect of the American Society of Hispanic Economists. His research focuses on Hispanic labor-market outcomes, entrepreneurship, and the economics of the U.S.-Mexico border. Dávila earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Economics from Iowa State University, and his B.A. degree in Economics from Pan American University. In addition to publishing numerous refereed journal articles and book chapters, he has a co-authored book, Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the 2000s: An Economic Profile and Policy Implications, and two co-edited volumes (The Economic Status of the Hispanic Population, and Labor Market Issues along the U.S.-Mexico Border), with Marie T. Mora.
Carlos A. Flores, California Polytechnic State University, San Lujis Obispo – Carlos A. Flores is Associate Professor of Economics at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. His research focuses on the development and application of new econometric methods for program evaluation and causal inference to assess the effects of policies, programs, and interventions. His work has been published in journals such as the Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Human Resources, and American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings). Some of his work has been funded by the National Science Foundation. He received his Ph.D. in Economics and M.A. in Statistics from UC Berkeley.
Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, Syracuse University – Alfonso Flores-Lagunes is professor of economics at Syracuse University and SUNY-Binghamton. His expertise is in the development of causal inference methods and their application to the analysis of public programs. His work has appeared in Review of Economics and Statistics, The Economic Journal, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of Human Resources, Review of Financial Studies, among others. He has held faculty positions at Universities of Arizona and Florida; and visiting positions at Cornell, CEPS/INSTEAD, Princeton, and Ohio State. He holds an undergraduate degree from ITESM (Mexico) and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Ohio State.
Tiffany Green, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine – Tiffany Green is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007. Dr. Green investigates the effects of parental behaviors and public policies on disparities in child health and human capital. Her current research agenda is focused on understanding the intersections between Medicaid policy, immigrant access to care, health behaviors, and subsequent birth outcomes, with a particular focus on black immigrants
Julie Hotchkiss, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta – Julie Hotchkiss is a Research Economist and Senior Policy Adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Adjunct Professor at Georgia State University. Her major fields of study are earnings and employment differentials across different groups of workers, variations in employment and earnings across time, and policy implications of changes in labor supply. Prior to joining the Bank in 2003, she was Professor of Economics at GSU. A native of Los Angeles, Dr. Hotchkiss received her bachelor of arts degrees in Economics and French from Willamette University. She earned her master’s degree and doctorate in Economics at Cornell University.
Stephen Kay, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Stephen Kay is a senior economist and the director of the Atlanta Fed’s Americas Center. His research focuses on political economy and public policy in Latin America. His articles on pension reform in Latin America have appeared in the Journal of Comparative Politics, Foreign Policy Journal, Journal of Aging & Social Policy, Journal of European Social Policy, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, International Social Security Review, Latin American Politics and Society, Social Security Bulletin, and the Atlanta Fed’s Economic Review. Kay is a co-editor of Lessons from Pension Reform in the Americas (with Tapen Sinha, Oxford University Press) and an author of Social Security in Latin America: Pension Reform and the Challenge of Universal Coverage (with Carolina Felix and Tapen Sinha, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). Kay received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California and his doctorate in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Mei Leng, University of California, Los Angeles – Mei Leng, currently works in the Department of GIM & HSR, University of California, Los Angeles, as a senior statistician, has 16 years of experiences in data analysis and data management, a master’s degree in Biostatistics and 3 of years of practice in medicine in China. Leng is also working with the RCMAR and Clinical Scholar programs to support scholars with different studies and published papers.
Enrique A. Lopezlira, National Council of La Raza – Enrique Lopezlira is Senior Policy Advisor, Economic Policy, at the National Council of La Raza. His areas of expertise include economic policy issues affecting Latino families, workers, and children; labor economics and issues such as pension reform; wealth and asset-building issues such as tax reform; housing issues such as homeownership access and affordability; other economic issues such as banking reform. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Howard University, his master’s degree in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Economics from Arizona State University.
Edwin Meléndez, Hunter College – Edwin Meléndez is a Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College. He was appointed as the Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in 2008. An economist by training, he has conducted considerable research in the areas of Puerto Rican and Latino studies, economic development, labor markets, and poverty. In addition to numerous scientific papers and other publications, he is the author or editor of twelve books. Meléndez has an extensive record of community and public service, including numerous appointments to government and community boards, and has worked as a consultant to numerous government, community, and philanthropic foundations.
David J. Molina, University of North Texas – David J. Molina is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of North Texas. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Texas A&M University, and his BBA degree in Economics from St. Mary’s University. He is currently the Immediate Past President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists, and a former President of the Association of Borderland Scholars. Molina’s research expertise in the areas of the North American Free Trade Agreement, water resources, water conservation, Mexican economics, U.S.-Mexico border economics, U.S.-Mexico trade, and border air pollution.
Marie T. Mora, University of Texas – Pan American – Marie T. Mora is Professor of Economics and Vice Provost Fellow for Faculty Affairs at The University of Texas – Pan American. She is also the Director of the AEA’s Mentoring Program (funded by the NSF), and she served two consecutive terms as President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists. Mora earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Texas A&M University, and B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics from the University of New Mexico in her hometown of Albuquerque. In addition to publishing over 40 refereed journal articles and book chapters on the socioeconomic outcomes of Hispanics, she has a co-authored book, Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the 2000s: An Economic Profile and Policy Implications, and two co-edited volumes (The Economic Status of the Hispanic Population, and Labor Market Issues along the U.S.-Mexico Border), with Alberto Dávila.
Sandra Orozco-Aleman, Mississippi State University – Sandra Orozco-Aleman is an Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University. Previously, she worked as an Economist and Researcher in the Economic Studies Division and the Financial Stability Division of the Mexican Central Bank. She holds a M.A. and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research fields are labor economics and applied econometrics. Her research topics include the effect of drug violence on the flows of migrants between Mexico and the U.S., the deterrence effect of state immigration laws, and the effect of immigration policies on the labor market outcomes of documented and undocumented workers.
Daniel J. Parisian, Binghamton University. – Daniel J. Parisian is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Economics at Binghamton University, State University of New York. His research interests primarily lie in the areas of labor economics and public program and policy evaluation. His current research concerns the impacts of degree attainment on the labor market outcomes of at-risk youth.
Myriam Quispe-Agnoli, University of Georgia – Myriam Quispe-Agnoli is an economist who joined the Economics Department at the University of Georgia in Athens in Fall 2014. She was previously a research economist and assistant policy adviser in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Her fields of specialization are international economics, trade and finance, open macroeconomics, and economic development. Her current research interests include economic impact of immigration, small business financing, unemployment and underemployment, and the impact of financial architecture on community and economic development. Quispe-Agnoli earned her bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. She earned her master’s degree in Economics from Vanderbilt University and her doctorate in Economics from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.
Barbara J. Robles, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System – Barbara J. Robles is currently Senior Community Affairs Research Liaison at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She also serves as a research fellow at the Filene Research Institute. Robles was previously an Associate Professor of Economics at the School of Social Work and Center for Community Development and Civil Rights at Arizona State University. Robles has presented her work at conferences around the world, and has published extensively. Her most recent co-authored book is The Color Wealth: The Story Behind the Racial Wealth Divide. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland-College Park and her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Havidán Rodríguez, University of Texas – Pan American – Havidán Rodríguez is President Ad Interim and Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas – Pan American (UTPA), and Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, FEMA, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others, for a number of research projects focusing on the social science aspects of disasters and for projects aimed at providing hands-on research training and mentoring for undergraduate and graduate students. He is co-editor of the Handbook of Disaster Research, and Latinas/os in the United States: Changing the Face of América. Rodríguez earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin.
Rogelio Sáenz, University of Texas at San Antonio – Rogelio Sáenz is Dean of the College of Public Policy and Peter Flawn Professor of Demography at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has written extensively in the areas of demography, Latina/os, race and ethnic relations, inequality, immigration, and human rights. Sáenz is co-editor of Latina/os in the United States: Changing the Face of América, co-author of Latino Issues: A Reference Handbook, and author of the Population Reference Bureau’s Population Bulletin Update titled Latinos in the United States 2010. He is President of the Southwestern Social Science Association and is Past Chair of the Council of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan.
Andres J. Vargas, Purdue University – Andres J. Vargas joined Purdue University in Fall 2014. He was previously an economist at Texas Tech University. His main fields of expertise are labor and health economics, with research interests in the areas of health, immigration, and time use. In these areas, he addresses two broad questions from a time use perspective: the economic impact of immigrants and the assimilation of immigrants to the U.S. Vargas holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Economics from Los Andes University in Colombia, a master’s degree in Natural Resources and Agricultural Economics from the Toulouse School of Economics in France, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin.
Angelino C. G. Viceisza, Spelman College – Angelino C. G. Viceisza joined the department of economics of Spelman College as an assistant professor in fall 2012. Previously, he was a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C. Viceisza’s fields of expertise are experimental, behavioral, and development economics. His work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Agricultural Economics, Economic Inquiry, Experimental Economics, and Journal of Development Economics. Viceisza obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from Georgia State University in 2008. He is a national of Curaçao and is fluent in English, Spanish, Dutch and Papiamento.
Anne Visser, University of California, Davis – Anne Visser is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Community and Regional Development in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California, Davis. Her scholarship focuses on the informalization of employment, low-wage labor markets, and economic integration and inclusion across emerging, transitioning, and advanced capitalist economies. She earned her Ph.D. in Public and Urban Policy in 2011 from the New School University and previously worked as a Research Associate at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (2009-2012). She has also worked as a consultant to numerous government agencies, community organizations and foundations.
