ECONOMICS ALUMNI NEWSLETTER

SPRING 2023
VOL. 1
ISSUE 1
www.herbert.miami.edu/
Alumni Newsletter

Message
from the
Chair
Greetings to all 'Canes, near and far! Welcome to
our inaugural newsletter.
Inside these pages, you will find the highlights of
what turned out to be a very exciting 2022-23
academic year for the Economics Department.
To begin, Professor Noah Williams and I joined the
department on July 1, 2022. We would like to
thank Dean John Quelch and everyone involved in
that effort. Both Noah and I are thrilled to be here
and, together with our colleagues, we look
forward to making the University of Miami an
internationally recognized center for economic
research, instruction, and policy evaluation.
We are grateful to the Pilar and John Henry
family for their generous gift that will fund
this event for many years to come. Our
speaker this year was Federal Reserve
Governor Christopher Waller who delivered a
speech on the timely topic of Central Bank
Digital Currencies. Is the governor in favor of
the initiative or not and why? See the answer
below!
You can read about these events and more in
the pages that follow. If you have anything to
share, we would love to hear from you! Please
feel free to reach out to me if you or your
organization need speakers for your events, or
if you’d just like to learn more about the
department and its mission.
Thank you!
A big effort this year was devoted to recruiting
new faculty and staff. I am very happy to
welcome Daniela Valdivia as our new office
manager and Professor Stefania Albanesi of the
University of Pittsburgh. Our recruiting
committee is still working hard to fill two more
faculty positions, including the Jeffrey L. Bewkes
Family Endowed Chair. We expect to report more
good news on the hiring front soon. We will keep
you posted!
An important goal of our department is to
promote public discussion and debate over
important economic phenomena and policy issues
that affect us all. To this end, we are very pleased
to announce a new annual speaker’s series that
will feature prominent economists and
policymakers discussing current economic issues
and trends.
Go 'Canes!
Dr. David Andolfatto
Chair & Professor, Department of Economics

The Citibank Challenge
In February, the Economics Department hosted
the Citibank Challenge—a competition that
invited teams of our students to present an
evaluation of U.S. economic policy during and
after the Covid-19 pandemic. Six teams submitted
entries from which three finalists made
presentations.
The judges included David Andolfatto, chair of
the economics department, Dr. Miguel Iraola,
faculty member and program director for the
economics department, and Nick Van Stedum, a
corporate banker and UM recruiter at Citibank.
Also, in attendance were Blessing Utomi a
corporate recruiter at Citibank, David Spigelman,
the faculty advisor for the Econ Club, Patty Ruiz,
the president of the Econ Club, as well as other
members of the executive board of the Econ
Club.
All three teams presented their cases brilliantly,
placing the judges in a difficult position. In the
end, the best presentation was awarded to
Antonio Pacheco and Kyle Pearson, both juniors in
finance. We are happy to report, however, that
every team came out a winner!

Jay Henry, Matias Henry, Pilar Henry, Christopher Waller, Allan Herbert
The Henry Family Endowed
Speaker Series in Economics
The Department of Economics is very pleased to announce a new annual
speaker series made possible through a generous gift from Pilar and John
Henry. The series will showcase nationally and internationally recognized
economists, who will deliver seminars related to their research and
current trends. The intent of the award is to foster intellectual dialogue
among the University of Miami community.
The series kicked off on April 19, 2023, with Federal Reserve Governor
Christopher J. Waller, whose talk was entitled “Demystifying Central Bank
Digital Currency.” The topic was timely since there has been much
discussion recently on whether the Federal Reserve is on the cusp of
introducing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Fears along this
dimension were evidently precipitated by the Federal Reserve announcing
a launch date for its new faster payment service, FedNow. As Governor
Waller explained, FedNow is not a CBDC—it is simply a platform designed
to make payments clear and settle more rapidly via the current payment
system, which operates primarily through banks.
This still leaves the question of what exactly a CBDC is or might entail.
Governor Waller suggested we think of CBDC as a fully-insured checking
account with the Fed—our nation’s central bank—instead of a regular
bank. This description certainly had the effect of removing much of the
mystery! On the issue of whether the government might have too much
information on private transactions, he explained how this concern could
be addressed with a “synthetic” version of CBDC that operates through
private banks instead of the Fed. At the end of the day, however, the
Governor seemed skeptical that a CBDC for the United States is something
worth pursuing. A link to Governor Waller’s presentation is available here:
https://spaces.hightail.com/space/HirLgnmGSO

Jude Alexander Bokor, Dr. Michael Connolly, Justice John Curiel
On March 20th, Randall T. Fitzgerald,
President, Miami Law Federalist Society
organized a meeting to “debate, discuss
and decide” the issue of “Executive
Privilege and the Crisis of Corruption in
Latin America.” The event took place on
March 20th in the Alma Jennings Student
Lounge at the Miami Law School.
The panelists included:
Judge Alexander Bokor, Florida 3rd
District Court of Appeal,
Justice John Couriel, Florida Supreme
Court, and
Professor Michael Connolly Department of
Economics, MHBS
Couriel reviewed the case of Siemens which self-reported
bribery, previously legal from a German point of view, to
comply with the 1999 Convention on Anti-bribery. A
noted expert on Brazil, Couriel stated that the
Odebrecht case has improved the transparency of
government contracting in Latin America and the
Caribbean, suggesting greater accountability in the
future.
Connolly said that “The longevity in office of some
autocrats as in Cuba, required: firstly, an advanced
technology of political repression including the military
and ‘security forces’, and secondly, otherwise
considerable economic liberty - that serves as a safetyvalve
- tolerating a lively informal market conducted in
dollars and euros.”
The discussion and questions were lively:
Bokor noted that “In many cases, the
judicial system has been subordinated to
the executive, hindering the application
of ‘the rule of law’.” A packed supreme
court often suspended a constitution
limiting the terms served by the
incumbent executive.

Introducing our new faculty member Stefania
Albanesi!
We are delighted to welcome Professor Stefania Albanesi to the
Economics Department at the Miami Herbert Business School
beginning this fall!
Stefania is presently a Professor of Economics at the University of
Pittsburgh. She is also a fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy
Research, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of
Economic Research. Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, she
was a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
and subsequently held academic positions at Columbia and Duke. She
received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2001. Stefania is a
native of Milan, Italy and received her B.A. in Economics from Bocconi
University in 1996.
Stefania’s research interests are in macroeconomics, public economics, and labor economics.
Her current research concentrates on understanding the determinants of household
borrowing and default behavior, and on quantifying the impact of changing trends in female
participation on aggregate business cycles.
“Hiring Professor Albanesi continues our positive momentum at the Miami Herbert Business
School, and the Department of Economics in particular, where she will be the third full
professor to join us in the past year. Her commitment to understanding important social
questions and her devotion to training students will benefit all of us in the University
community.” – Ann Olazabal, Dean, MHBS.
“We’re happy to welcome a scholar of Stefania Albanesi’s caliber to the Department of
Economics. She’ll be a great addition the department, and our students will benefit from the
depth of her knowledge and experience across many areas in economics, and particularly her
skill in merging theory and data to understand pressing issues in the labor market and
household finance.” – David Andolfatto, Chair, Economics Department, MHBS.

Kay van Berlo:
BA in Economics and Sportscar Racing Driver
Kay van Berlo is a remarkable student who will earn a BA in Economics in the Spring 2023. In addition to
his brilliant academic career, he is an elite sports car racing driver. Kay is an example of perseverance,
commitment, and mental strength. He is doing an excellent job making his academic responsibilities
compatible with his demanding racing schedule.
Kay started karting when he was eight years old. After having a successful karting experience racing
European and World championships, he advanced to racing sportscars in 2018. Kay has participated in
several endurance series such as the European Le Mans Series (winner of the 4 Hours of Monza LMP3 in
2018 holding the record of youngest ELMS race winner at 17 years of age, and winner of the Imola LMP3
in 2022), Asian Le Mans Series (winner, Fuji LMP3 in 2018),
24 Hours of Nürburgring, Road to Le Mans (winner, LMP3 in
2018), the IMSA Endurance Cup (winner, LMP3 in 2022), and
Sahlen 6 Hours of Watkins Glen (winner, LMP3 2022).
He has also taken part in selected races in the Porsche
Carrera Cup Benelux (winner, Zandvoort in 2019),
completed a full season in the Porsche Carrera Cup
Germany, and the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona (winner in
2022). After 13 wins in the Porsche Carrera Cup North
America series in 2021 and 2022, Kay has been named a
Porsche North America Selected Driver and is now
competing in the full-time Imsa WeatherTech Sportscar
Championship. As a result of his successful driving career,
Kay has earned the opportunity to represent North
America in the Porsche Junior Global Shootout in both
2021 and 2022.
The Department of Economics at MHBS is very honored of
having Kay van Berlo pursuing a BA in Economics. We
want to recognize his effort and congratulate him for his
outstanding academic and racing achievements.

Our department is excited to introduce some of the innovative research projects that our faculty
members have been conducting. This newsletter includes projects that have been presented by our
faculty members David Kelly, and Alex Horenstein.
Professor David Kelly on
David L Kelly and Renato Molina
Forthcoming: Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
Link to paper: http://moya.bus.miami.edu/~dkelly/papers/Adaptation_final.pdf
What are the effects of climate adaptation infrastructure investments (sea walls, pumping stations,
elevating roads, drainage systems, and other infrastructure) on surrounding property values? This is a
question that many property owners in the Miami-Dade region would like to know! Professors David
Kelly and Renato Molina highlight their findings below.
Renato Molina and I evaluate the effect of climate adaptation infrastructure investments on property
transaction prices using data on over four hundred thousand property transactions and 162
infrastructure projects in the Miami-Dade County, an area that is highly vulnerable to flooding and sea
level rise due to climate change. Exploiting the timing and sitting of different adaptation projects in
Miami-Dade, we find that property values near the projects increase by about 5% more than surrounding
areas after the projects are completed. Because property values increase near the projects after
completion, we can rule out other factors that affect property values everywhere in Miami, such as the
trend towards remote work.
These gains are concentrated in areas close to the project, and for projects that are visually
identifiable. Our results suggest an aggregate mean benefit net of adaptation cost of about $680,000
per project, and almost $300 million in aggregate net benefits for all projects in our sample. Most
projects generated positive net benefits, indicating that most adaptation efforts are being placed in
areas that pass a pecuniary benefit-cost test.
Contrary to some news reports expressing skepticism of Miami’s ability to adapt to climate change, our
results show that policies to city and the county to make Miami more resilient to climate change are
working, as evidenced by higher demand for protected properties. The research also shows, however,
that a tradeoff exists between affordable housing and making Miami more resilient, and that the city
and county should consider the effect of adaptation infrastructure on the supply of affordable
housing.

Konrad Grabiszewski and I are pioneering a what we
think is groundbreaking approach to experimental
research called mobile experiments. Our idea is
motivated by the fact that there are over 5 billion
mobile phone users worldwide and that smartphones
have become essential for many daily activities.
From this, we saw a potential for mobile devices to
serve as experimental labs. And so, we decided to
develop a new way for researchers to study human
behavior on an unprecedented global scale by
collecting data from users asked to play strategic
games in laboratory settings via their smartphones.
The widescale use of mobile devices offers several
advantages for experimental research. One important
advantage is that mobile experiments can potentially
reach billions of people, mitigating the problem of
small sample size. At the same time, it eliminates
the need for travel and face-to-face interactions.
Not only does this save on expense, but it promotes
sustainable research practices.
Our first mobile experiment, called Blues and Reds
(www.bluesandreds.com), has been downloaded in
over 140 countries, with players completing over
75,000 games.
The data from this experiment has been used in
four research projects focused on understanding
decision-making. In one project, we discovered
that people often fail to find the correct solution
to a problem not because they do not know how
to solve it, but because they don't understand the
problem itself.
This finding has practical implications. For
example, it suggests that policymakers should
focus on improving communication and education
to ensure the public fully understands the
problems being addressed by policies being
proposed by legislators. This suggests that more
effort should be devoted to simplifying complex
issues, using relatable examples, and employing
various communication channels to reach diverse
audiences. Businesses should also prioritize clear
communication within their organizations, so
employees understand the goals, objectives, and
challenges they face. As Einstein famously said,
“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55
minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes
thinking about solutions.” Our findings from Blues
and Reds supports this idea.
Currently, we are working on three more mobile
experiments. One is complete and is called
Strategize It! (www.strategizeit.org), another is
about to be launched and is called Escapismo
(www.escapismo.org), and the third one is a
financial trading laboratory that is in production.
Mobile experiments have the potential to
revolutionize research and our understanding of
human behavior in various fields, such as
psychology, economics, healthcare, and
education. As scientists, we're excited to embrace
and shape this new chapter of experimental
research by leveraging the widespread use of
smartphones and the power of mobile apps.

Allan Herbert, Economics Ph.D. student with Dr. Elisah Lewis, Associate Director of Accreditation and Assessment at Miami
Herbert Business School. She was honored with the 2023 Parsuraman Family Power of the U Staff Award for Service
Excellence, for her work obtaining the Triple Crown in Accreditation.
Miami Herbert has earned accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC); Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the
world’s leading accrediting body that ensures quality and continuous improvement; EQUIS, which
recognizes business schools that are trying to make an impact beyond their domestic frontier; The
Association of MBAs (AMBA); and the Education Quality Accreditation Agency (EQUAA), whose mission is
to increase the academic quality of programs, institutes, careers, faculties and universities, and other
educational units in Latin America and the world. The School holds a “triple crown” accreditation
status (AACSB, EQUIS, AMBA accreditation)—a feat achieved by less than 1 percent of the world’s
business schools. In the United States, Miami Herbert is one of only three business schools with this
coveted designation.
The Triple Crown of Accreditation

Economics Department Members
David Andolfatto Hugo Faria Michael Connolly Rong Hai Daniel Hicks
Professor Lecturer Professor Asst. Professor Lecturer
Department Chair
Alex Horenstein Ayca Kaya David Kelly Luis Locay Maria Jesus, Lorca Susino
Associate Professor Associate Professor Professor Associate Professor Lecturer
Staminir Morfov Augustine C.W. Nelson Christopher Frank Parmeter Esteban Petruzzello Miguel Angel Iraola Guzman
Lecturer Lecturer Associate Professor Asst. Professor Prof. Asst. Professor Prof. Practice
Practice
Undergraduate Dir. in Economics
Philip Robins Manuel Santos David F Spigelman Noah Williams Ian Wright
Professor Emeritus Professor Lecturer Professor Asst. Professor
Stefania Albanesi
Professor
Daniela Valdivia
Office Manager