Felix K. Rioja

I am an economist that studies Latin American growth and development. In particular, I have recently been studying how public policy related to public infrastructure investment affects the distribution of wealth and income in Mexico and Paraguay. When governments build more roads, highways, and water systems, how are households in various quintiles of the income distribution affected? Along with my co-authors on several published journal articles on this topic, we have found that the answers depend on how infrastructure investment is financed (by income taxes, by consumption taxes, by government borrowing, etc.). We generally find that poorer households may benefit significantly in terms of income and welfare, but that richer households may also benefit, in some cases, comparatively by even more.

In previous published research, I have also analyzed the effects of public infrastructure on aggregate economic growth in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. I had found that there is a positive effect, but this positive effect may diminish and even turn negative with excessive investment. All the Latin American countries mentioned were well below the threshold, so improving their infrastructure would lead to higher growth rates.

I have also written on the effects of the financial system on growth, poverty reduction and inequality in Latin America. As the banking and financial system was expanded in Latin America, in some countries to a larger degree than in others, those countries grew. Some of the middle income quintiles benefited, but not the poorest which lacked access to the banking and other financial services. Hence, access to financial services is a key issue for the poorest households in the region. Related to this, I am more recently working on how micro finance institutions fulfill dual objectives of profit and social outreach.

For many years, I served as the director of the PhD and masters programs in economics at my previous institution, Georgia State University. I teach a seminar course on Latin American development, as well as macroeconomics and global economics courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels.