Fernando Rios-Avila

Contact Information

64 Oak Street • Rensselaer, NY, 12144 • (404) 924-5176 • friosa@gmail.com

Summary

PhD economist with over a decade of research experience at the Levy Economics Institute, specializing in labor economics, applied econometrics, and applied microeconomics. Expertise in poverty and inequality analysis, data-driven policy evaluation, econometric modeling, with experience teaching graduate-level courses. Key contributor to the Levy Institute Measure of Income and Wealth (LIMEW) and the Levy Institute Measure of Time and Income Poverty (LIMTIP).

Research Interests

  • Applied Econometrics: Causal inference, decomposition methods, non-parametric methods.
  • Applied Microeconomics: Policy evaluation, consumer behavior.
  • Labor Economics: Wage dynamics, union impacts, labor market institutions.
  • Poverty and Inequality: Measurement techniques, intersectionality.

Education

PhD in Economics | Georgia State University | 2008–2013 - Dissertation: “Essays on Unions, Wages, and Performance: Evidence from Latin America”

Advanced Studies (M.Sc) International Economics | Kiel University - Germany | 2007–2008

Licenciatura en Economía (5 yr program, BS equivalent) | Universidad Católica Boliviana | 2000–2004

Professional Experience

Research Scholar | Levy Economics Institute of Bard College | August 2013–Present

  • Worked on research projects on labor market dynamics, inequality, and time and income poverty.
  • Developed and applied econometric models for the analysis of time use and consumption data.
  • Maintained and updated the Levy Institute Measure of Income and Wealth (LIMEW) and the Levy Institute Measure of Time and Income Poverty (LIMTIP).
  • Primary instructor for econometric courses at the Levy Institute’s Master of Science in Economic Theory and Policy program.

Consultant | World Bank | 2022–Present

  • Conducted analysis in labor and development economics topics in Latin America.
  • Developed and applied econometric models for analysis of income and consumption data.

Research Assistant | Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta | August 2010–June 2013

Graduate Research Assistant | Georgia State University | August 2008–December 2013

Consultant (UNICEF Project) | Economic and Social Policy Analysis Unit (UDAPE) | July 2005–June 2007

Internship | Superintendence of Hydrocarbon, Financial and Economic Analysis-Department | January 2004–July 2004

Teaching Experience

Levy Economics Institute

  • Econometrics of Poverty, Inequality and Social Science Research | 2015–2021
  • Research Methods I: Econometrics | 2018–Present
  • Applied Econometric Methods for Empirical Research & Policy Evaluation | 2023–Present
  • Research Methods II: Applied Methods in Microeconomics (Shared Course) | 2024–Present
  • Intersecting Inequalities (Shared Course): Labor Market Institutions | 2018
  • Intersecting Inequalities (Shared Course): Decompositions Methods in Economics | 2017

Publications

Refereed Publications

1. Rios-Avila, F., Özeki, A., & Komuryakan, F. (Forthcoming). Glass ceiling, sticky floor, or both? Public and private sector differences in türkiye. Metroeconomica.
2. Canavire-Bacarreza, G. J., Gomez-Aliaga, Guillermo., Britton, chevanne, Rios-Avila, F., Jimenez-Pozo, W., Granados Ibarra, S., & Li, R. (2024). Fiscal incidence on the island: Grenada’s fiscal system and its incidence. Social and Economic Studies.
3. Hotchkiss, J. L., Moore, R. E., & Rios-Avila, F. (2024). Impact of the 2017 tax cuts and jobs act on household labor supply and welfare across the income distribution. National Tax Journal, 77(2), 313–348.
4. Mundra, K., & Rios-Avila, F. (2024). Education-occupation mismatch and social networks for hispanics in the u.s.: Role of citizenship. Education Economics, 23(2), 185–209.
5. Rios-Avila, F., Canavire-Bacarreza, G. J., & Sacco-Capurro, F. (2024). Recovering income distribution in the presence of interval-censored data. Journal of Economic Inequality. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-023-09617-2
6. Jenkins, S. P., & Rios-Avila, F. (2023). Finite mixture model for linked survey and administrative data: Estimation and post estimation. The Stata Journal, 23(1), 53–85.
7. Jenkins, S. P., & Rios-Avila, F. (2023). Reconciling reports: Modeling employment earnings and measurement errors using linked survey and administrative data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A: Statistics in Society, 186(1), 110–136. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrsssa/qnac003
8. Rios-Avila, F., & Maroto, M. L. (2022). Moving beyond linear regression: Implementing and interpreting quantile regression models with fixed effects. Sociological Methods and Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124121103616
9. Jenkins, S. P., & Rios-Avila, F. (2021). Measurement error in earnings data: Replication of meijer, rohwedder, and wansbeek’s mixture model approach to combining survey and register data. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 1–10.
10. Morrar, R., & Rios-Avila, F. (2021). Discrimination against refugees in the palestinian labor market. International Journal of Manpower, 42(2), 1002–1024.
11. Mundra, K., & Rios-Avila, F. (2021). Using repeated cross-sectional data to examine the role of immigrant birth-country networks on unemployment duration: An application of guell and hu (2006) approach. Empirical Economics, 61, 389–415.
12. Rios-Avila, F. (2021). Estimation of marginal effects for models with alternative variable transformations. The Stata Journal, 21(1), 81–96.
13. Canavire-Bacarreza, G. J., Chong, A., Rios-Avila, F., & Yanez-Pagans, M. (2020). Will elders provide for their grandchildren? Unconditional cash transfers and educational expenditures in bolivia. Review of Development Economics, 24(2), 424–447.
14. Hotchkiss, J. L., Moore, R. E., & Rios-Avila, F. (2020). Cost of policy choices: A microsimulation analysis of the impact on family welfare of unemployment and price changes. Journal of Macroeconomics, 63, 103167.
15. Jenkins, S. P., & Rios-Avila, F. (2020). Modelling errors in survey and administrative data on employment earnings: Sensitivity to the fraction assumed to have error-free earnings. Economics Letters, 192, 109253.
16. Rios-Avila, F. (2020). Recentered influence functions (RIF) in stata: RIF regression and RIF decomposition. Stata Journal, 20(1), 51–94.
17. Rios-Avila, F. (2020). Smooth varying coefficient models in stata. The Stata Journal, 20(3), 647–679.
18. Rios-Avila, F., & Canavire-Bacarreza, G. J. (2020). The effect of immigration on labor market transitions of native-born unemployed in the united states. Journal of Labor Research, 41, 295–331.
19. Masterson, T., Rios-Avila, F., Zacharias, A., & Wolf, E. N. (2019). The great recession and racial inequality: Evidence from measures of economic well-being. Journal of Economic Issues, 53(4), 1048–1069.
20. Rios-Avila, F. (2019). A semi-parametric approach to the oaxaca–blinder decomposition with continuous group variable and self-selection. Econometrics, 7(2), 28.
21. Rios-Avila, F., & Canavire-Bacarreza, G. J. (2018). Standard error correction in two-stage optimization models: A quasi-maximum likelihood estimation approach. The Stata Journal, 18(1), 206–222.
22. Canavire-Bacarreza, G. J., & Rios-Avila, F. (2017). On the determinants of wage inequality changes in urban bolivia. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 18(4), 464–496.
23. Hotchkiss, J. L., Moore, R. E., Rios-Avila, F., & Trussel, M. (2017). A tale of two decades: Relative intra-family earning capacity and changes in family welfare over time. Review of Economics of the Household, 15(3), 707–737.
24. Rioja, F. K., Rios-Avila, F., & Valev, N. T. (2017). Productivity during recessions with banking crises: Inter-industry evidence. Economics Letters, 152, 50–53.
25. Rios-Avila, F. (2017). Unions and economic performance in developing countries: Case studies from latin america. Ecos de Economia: A Latin American Journal of Applied Economics, 21(44), 4–36.
26. Saravia, A., Canavire-Bacarreza, G. J., & Rios-Avila, F. (2017). Intellectual property rights, foreign direct investment and economic freedom. Global Economy Journal, 23(2), 20170017.
27. Canavire-Bacarreza, G. J., & Rios-Avila, F. (2016). The effect of intimate partner violence on labor market decisions: Evidence from a multi-ethnic country. International Journal of Social Economics, 44(1), 75–92.
28. Aristizabal-Ramirez, M., Canavire-Bacarreza, G. J., & Rios-Avila, F. (2015). Revisiting the effects of innovation on growth: A threshold analysis. Applied Economics Letters, 22(18), 1474–1479.
29. Hotchkiss, J. L., Moore, R. E., & Rios-Avila, F. (2015). Reevaluation of the employment impact of the 1996 summer olympic games. Southern Economic Journal, 81(3), 619–632.
30. Hotchkiss, J. L., Quispe-Agnoli, M., & Rios-Avila, F. (2015). The wage impact of undocumented workers: Evidence from administrative data. Southern Economic Journal, 81(4), 874–906.
31. Rios-Avila, F. (2015). Feasible estimation of linear models with n-fixed effects. Stata Journal, 15(3), 881–898.
32. Hotchkiss, J. L., Pitts, M., & Rios-Avila, F. (2014). A search for evidence of skill mismatch in the aftermath of the great recession. Applied Economics Letters, 21(9), 587–592.
33. Rioja, F. K., Rios-Avila, F., & Valev, N. T. (2014). Serial banking crises and capital investment. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 50(6), 193–208.
34. Rioja, F. K., Rios-Avila, F., & Valev, N. T. (2014). The persistent effect of banking crises on investment and the role of financial markets. Journal of Financial Economic Policy, 6(1), 64–77.
35. Rios-Avila, F., & Hirsch, B. (2014). Unions, wage gaps, and wage dispersion: New evidence from the americas. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 53(1), 1–27.
36. Hotchkiss, J. L., & Rios-Avila, F. (2013). Identifying factors behind the decline in the u.s. Labor force participation rate. Business and Economic Research, 3(1).
37. Searing, E. A. M., Rios-Avila, F., & Lecy, J. D. (2013). Mental health and labor market outcomes in bosnia-herzegovina. Social Science & Medicine, 96(20), 165–173.
38. Hotchkiss, J. L., Moore, R. E., & Rios-Avila, F. (2012). Assessing the welfare impact of tax reform: A case study of the 2001 US tax cut. The Review of Income and Wealth, 58(2), 233–256.
39. Mercado-Salazar, A., Leiton, J., & Rios-Avila, F. (2004). Segmentación en el mercado matrimonial. Revista Latinoamericana de Desarrollo Económico, 3, 49–76.

Awards and Honors

  • Journal of Economic Issues, Editor’s Prize, 2019 - Recognition for outstanding contribution to institutional economics
  • The Stata Journal, Editors’ Prize, 2023 - Excellence in statistical software development and documentation

Thesis Advisor

  • María Aristizábal-Ramírez (Undergraduate Thesis)
  • Ian Bowen (Master Thesis)
  • Alejandra Montoya (Master Thesis)
  • Daniella Medina (Master Thesis)
  • Rhett Maiorama (Master Thesis)
  • Esteban Rivera (Master Thesis)
  • Brandon Istenes (Master Thesis)
  • Masooma Hassan (Master Thesis)

Technical Skills

Statistical Software

  • Stata: Advanced proficiency, developed and maintained various user-written programs.
  • R: Intermediate proficiency, used software for Econometrics classes.
  • Python: Intermediate proficiency for programming and basic econometric analysis.
  • Basic knowledge of Julia and SQL.

Languages

  • Spanish (Native)
  • English (Fluent)