Maurice Kugler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maurice Kugler is a Colombian economist born in 1967. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from UC Berkeley in 2000, as well as a M.Sc.(Econ) and a B.Sc. (Econ) both from the London School of Economics. He was named in 2007 to the inaugural CIGI Chair in International Public Policy by the Laurier School of Business and Economics. In 2008, CIGI, the Centre for International Governance Innovation, is jointly with University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University launching the Balsillie School for International Affairs, under the sponsorship of the entrepreneur and philanthropist Jim Balsillie.

Contents

[edit] Research

Currently, Kugler conducts research on international trade, foreign direct investment and skilled migration. He explores how global market integration impacts on the prospects of economic growth and convergence for the poor in nations and regions. Since 2006, he has been Research Fellow at the Growth Lab of the Center for International Development in Harvard University. since 2007, he also has been visiting scholar at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

His publications can be found in the Review of Economics and Statistics (MIT Press), the Journal of Policy Reform (Routledge), the Journal of Public Economics (Elsevier), the Journal of Development Economics (Elsevier), Economics Letters and other prestigious academic journals.

[edit] Foreign Direct Investment

In his work on spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI), Kugler has shown that the presence of multinational corporation affiliates (MNC) can yield technological opportunities for host country producers in upstream sectors, especially when the MNC subsdiary is an exporter and the potential spillover recipient firm has absorptive capacity to adopt new technology.

(See e.g. Maurice Kugler (2006), "Spillovers from foreign direct investment: within or between industries? Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 80, No. 2, pp. 444-477).

[edit] International Migration

Research on the determinants FDI location shows evidence consistent with the incorporation of skilled migrants into business networks at the destination country. The links created by these migrants appear to create opportunities for investors in the destination country for FDI project at the migrants' countries of origin.

(See e.g. Souraya El Yaman, Maurice Kugler and Hillel Rapoport (2006), "Migration and Foreign Investments across the European Union: What are the Links?" Revue Economique, Vol. 58, No. 3, pp. 725-733; and Maurice Kugler and Hillel Rapoport (2007), "International labour and capital flows: Substitutes or complements?" Economics Letters, Vol. 92, No. 2, pp. 155-162).

Research on the impact of remittances to mitigate brain drain analyzes conditions under which migration can have a positive impact on human capital formation. There is a direct channel as remittance recipients overcome borrowing constraints to invest in schooling. And there is an indirect channel since the greater supply of human capital can generate creation of skilled jobs, through a thick-market externality. The likelihood that new human capital formation, associated with remittances, exceeds brain drain is higher in the context of well-functioning education systems and labor markets.

(See e.g. Kugler, Maurice, and Emanuela Lotti (2007), "Migrant Remittances, Human Capital Formation and Job Creation Externalities in Central America," Integration & Trade Journal 27 (July-December): 105-134).

[edit] Exports

Research on export dynamics suggests that experimentation is an important component of the investment to establish presence in a new market, understood as a product and destination combination.

(See e.g. Jonathan Eaton, Marcela Eslava, Maurice Kugler and James Tybout (2007), "Export Dynamics in Colombia: Firm-Level Evidence," NBER Working Paper No. 13531).

[edit] Past Activities

In the past, Kugler has held academic positions at the economics departments of Universidad de Los Andes, in Colombia, and University of Southampton, in the UK. He has been visiting professor at Harvard and Stanford University. Kugler has been awarded research grants by the NSF and the Tinker Foundation in the U.S. as well as DfID and the ESRC in the U.K.. His research has been published widely in top economics academic journals. He has been adviser to the Central Bank and Government of Colombia, as well as consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.

[edit] External links