Professor of Economics and Finance USM
Principal Economist SCL Econometrics
I am an applied economist with vast experience as an academic and consultant. I have led several research teams, and I have occupied several charges of great responsibility leading dozens of people. As a researcher, I have published dozens of papers in international refereed journal, and guided several PhD students, and dozens of master students, besides, I have conducted several research projects. As a consultant, I have a very valuable experience in the fields of applied economics, regulation (competition), and public policy for national and international companies. of hundreds of projects. Here is my CV. In the following lines my Bio is presented.
Academic and Research Experience
Marcelo is Professor of Economics and Finance at Santa Maria University (USM). He has been Visiting Scholar at the Department of Economics, New York University (2018), and Visiting Scholar at the Department of Economics, University of Calabria (2019).
He currently participates as Expert Commissioner in Economic Regulation of the Chilean Ministry of Education (part-time). A commission in charge of setting fees for all Chilean universities that participate in the public policy of not charging fees to the poorest 60% of Chilean students. In the past he also participated in the Ministerial Advisory Commission on Public Investment, created by the Ministry of Planning, now the Ministry of Social Development. Marcelo also was a member of the Economics and Administration Committee of the National Accreditation Commission (CNA), and of the Council of Experts in Technology of the Qualitas accrediting agency.
Marcelo research focuses on the development of mathematical and statistical models to address relevant problems in the fields of economics, finance and management I am also interested in different topics of economic policy, regulation, and competition.
His specific areas of interest include: i) Quantitative finance and time series analysis, ii) Industrial organization and game theory, iii) Circular economy, and resources and environmental economics, iv) Macroeconomic dynamic and productivity analysis.
As a researcher, Marcelo has published more than 30 papers in international refereed journals. Marcelo has won two Fondecyt projects as a Leading Researcher, and he has participated in several Fondef projects as a researcher.
As an academic, Marcelo has participated as professor of the Ph.D. in Complex Systems (he was a member of the academic committee), PhD in Operation Research and Industrial Engineering, and the Ph.D. in Finance (he is a member of the academic committee), the Master in Regulation (he was Program Director), Master in Economics, MBA, and the Master in Financial Engineering (he was Program Director), as well as various under and postgraduate programs at Adolfo Ibáñez University. In addition, he has guided more than one hundred Master theses and ten Ph.D. theses.
Marcelo has been awarded with the Distinguished Teaching Award in the MiSc Industrial Engineering (course Industrial Organization), Adolfo Ibáñez University — (2020), Distinguished Teaching Award in the Master of Economics and Public Policy at the School of Government (2009), Distinguished Teaching Award in the Master/Diploma in Regulation (2018), Best Researcher of the Faculty of Engineering and Sciences at Adolfo Ibáñez University (2019), and Best Researcher of the Adolfo Ibáñez University (2011). Recently one of his investigations received the award for Best paper, track Economics & Finance, at CLADEA's annual conference in California (2017).
Professional experience
Marcelo has more than 20 years of experience in consulting; during that time he has developed more than one hundred studies in the fields of applied economics and regulation, for national and international companies, and several public institutions. Among the companies and institutions that he has advised, the following stand out: the IDB, SERNAC, GLG, CNE, The Economist Intelligence Unit, UNDP, SCL, E-CL, SUBTEL, EPSA, ENAP, CMET, USAID, Ministry of Finance (Chile), Ministry of Economy (Chile), FOSIS, Albemarle, Metrogas, Port of Valparaiso, European Union, CODELCO, CPC, TVN, Aguas Andinas, LAN, JAC, SISS, Celulosa Arauco, Ministry of Economy (Bolivia), Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy (Ecuador ), SISS, Entel, Movistar, Storbox, CORFO, Socovesa, VTR, CONAMA, PASO, Ministry of Energy, Watts, CChC, OECD, DIPRES, JAC, SCJ, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Education, ALTA, Chilean Energy Efficiency Agency, among others.
In most of these studies, Marcelo has worked as Project Director, frequently leading multidisciplinary teams. He has also been an expert in economics and regulation issues and has presented reports to various courts, including the competition court (TDLC).
At the beginning of the 2000s, Marcelo advised the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the National Council for the Modernization of the State (CONAM) of Ecuador in its program of public infrastructure concessions. In this same line, recently, Marcelo developed (with Eduardo Bitran) a methodology for the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), for the calculation of its indicator of public programs of concessions: "Partnerships for progress? Evaluating the environment for public-private partnerships in Latin America and the Caribbean: Findings and methodology ". This indicator measures the capacity of countries to develop concession projects in infrastructure. This indicator has been applied to the region in recent years. It also became a global indicator of good practices in public policies on concessions, by expanding its use to Asia and Europe.
Marcelo has solid experience in regulatory matters, both in terms of competition and sectoral rate processes. In particular, he has participated in various tariff regulations processes in the Water and Sewer utilities, Electricity utilities, and Telecommunications sector. In addition, Marcelo has conducted several studies on issues of energy demand, issues of regulation of the electricity market, and project impact assessment.
Among the most relevant impact evaluations are the evaluation of the DL600 for the promotion of foreign direct investment, carried out for the Foreign Investment Committee in 2013, the impact evaluation of the JUNAEB's Food Programs for the Ministry of Finance. He also participated in the evaluation of the free trade agreement between Chile and Europe, in the economic evaluation developed by the European Union. In particular, a general equilibrium model was developed to analyze the economic, social and environmental impact of the treaty. The results were presented at the European Congress in Belgium in 2004.
In 2012, Marcelo participated in the development of a calculation methodology for Total Factor Productivity (TFP) for various sectors of the Chilean economy for CORFO and the UAI. This indicator was published periodically in quarterly bulletins by the UAI and CORFO, and without a doubt, laid the foundations for the permanent calculation of this important variable in the country.
In Telecommunications issues, in 2013 he served as an economic expert of the SUBTEL in the Tariff Process of Mobile Telephony companies. In addition, he was previously an economic expert of the SUBTEL, in the analysis of the Economic Technical Bases (BTE) of the same process. Access charges decreased by around 75%, which resulted in higher levels of competition in the sector, and hence lower prices. In terms of university management,
My experience in University Administration posts
Marcelo was Vice Dean in the Faculty of Engineering & Sciences at Adolfo Ibáñez University (UAI) for more than eight years, before being Director of the School of Engineering of the same university. Previously he was Director of the Department of Industries - Campus Santiago of the Federico Santa María Technical University (USM).
As Vice Dean, Marcelo participates actively in the Strategic Planning of the Faculty, being in charge of evaluating and directing almost 100 full time professors, besides leading most of the changes within the Faculty, as requested by the dean, as have been the national and international accreditation processes, and the important curricular changes of the engineering curricula in the last years. The mission of the Faculty has been to become a relevant player in the teaching and research of engineering, both nationally and internationally, thus contributing to the development of the country and the construction of an ethical and sustainable world. Marcelo participated actively in the design and implementation of this view, helping in the process of hiring the great majority of the current faculty members, the development of the more than 20 postgraduates programs and the design and implementation of the more than 20 engineering laboratories currently operating.
As director of the faculty's postgraduate committee, he has actively participated in the strategy of generating and marketing programs, which has been very successful in terms of demand and diversification of programs. In his first years at the university, Marcelo designed various curricula for engineering studies, among which is the industrial engineering plan recently accredited at ABET, in the US. This curriculum was the first five-year civil engineering in the country, and the first to consider learning by doing experiences, focusing on the learning process on the students and not the lecturers.
Marcelo also developed the COMPITE program, which promotes innovation in small businesses. Currently, this program has served more than 1000 SMEs, being one of the first spin-offs of the Faculty. In the same vein, Marcelo conceived and designed the accelerator of innovative undertakings for engineering students, an initiative called Garage. In addition, Marcelo participated in the creation, definition, and accreditation of the PhD program in Management, the first of the university, and the PhD program of Complex Systems Engineering, where he participated as a member of the committee until very recently. Finally, he participated in the design and creation of several master's programs, such as Master in Economics and Public Policies, Economic Regulation, and Financial Engineering.
My university days
At the University of Cambridge Marcelo worked two years as Research Assistant in the Department of Applied Economics, and as Assistant Professor of the M.Phil Program of the Center for Latin American Studies, as well as being an Examiner of the same program in the Chair of Economic Issues in Contemporary Latin America He also worked for two years as an international consultant at Cambridge Econometrics, on topics related to Economic Modeling, Econometrics and Energy Economics.
Before going to the United Kingdom to study his PhD, he worked as an Investment Analyst in the Investment Department of the Ministry of Planning (MIDEPLAN), now Investment Division of the Ministry of Social Development, institution in charge of the social evaluation of the project in the country. Its main tasks included the economic analysis of public investments in infrastructure projects, in particular, Urban Road projects.
During his time in the public administration, Marcelo identified a new type of investment projects in transport, called "Intermediate Roads". Marcelo also developed the economic methodology and computational program in order to evaluate economically and socially these projects. This type of projects and methodology are still applied today, after more than 20 years of its design and implementation, is very important in national public investment.
Marcelo holds the degrees of Doctor (Ph.D.) and Master (M.Phil.) of the University of Cambridge, England, and of Master of Arts (MA) from the Business School of the University of Leeds, England, all in the field of economics. Marcelo is an Industrial Civil Engineer from University of La Frontera, where he obtained the second best-weighted score (768 points) on his admission to the Faculty of Engineering, being favored with a scholarship in his enrollment. Recently, in 2019, Marcelo was distinguished alumni awards, from Industrial Engineering School, University of La Frontera.