Speakers

Patrício Alejandro Aroca González

(Universidad Andrés Bello – Chile)

Professor Patricio Aroca serves at the Economics and Business College of Universidad Andrés Bello, Viña del Mar, Chile. With a B.S. in business from Universidad Austral (Chile), an M.A. in economics from Universidad de Chile, and both an M.Sc. in Policy Economics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his academic background lays a solid foundation for his work.

Focusing on spatial econometrics, natural resources, and regional economics, Professor Aroca applies methods like Input-Output analysis and Spatial Econometrics to study Regional Growth and Labor Interregional Migration, and recently is Regional Politics. He has led significant research initiatives, such as the “Regional Science & Public Policy” project under the Chilean Millennium Scientific Initiative and a FONDEF-CONICYT project on the impact of regional investments in Chile.

His advisory roles have included consultancy for the World Bank, UNCTAD, IADB, and CELADE-ECLAC, contributing to policy development and economic strategy. Professor Aroca has also held leadership positions in regional science associations, including the presidency of RSAmericas (now LARSA) and PRSCO, and is a current board member of RSAI (Regional Science Association International). His work, published in international journals and books, bridges academic research with policy-making, contributing to the understanding and development of regional economies.

Larissa da Silva Marioni

(National Institute of Economic and Social Research – NIESR – Inglaterra)

Principal Economist at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), a Research Associate at the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE), a Research Associate at The Productivity Institute (TPI) and a Fellow at the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). She specialises in applied microeconomics and data analysis.

Her research interest lies primarily in labour economics, productivity and public policy. Larissa holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Southampton and her Master Degree in Economics from Federal University of Juiz de Fora.. She has extensive experience applying quantitative methods to investigate a wide range of economic matters and conducting comprehensive analyses of economic data. Over the years, she has worked on several research projects funded by esteemed organisations such as ESRC, UKRI, ONS, NIC, BEIS, DSIT, DIT, Defra, DfE, and the Scottish Government.

Currently, Larissa is engaged in research exploring the relationship between data, artificial intelligence (AI), and emerging technologies with productivity. She is also involved in projects aimed at gaining a better understanding of skills mismatches across regions in the UK.

Marcelo Aarestrup Arbex

(University of Windsor – Canadá)

Professor Marcelo Aarestrup Arbex, Head of the Department of Economics, University of Windsor, is a macroeconomist currently focused on understanding the drivers of materials circularity, encompassing the sustainable use of virgin materials, recycling, and reuse of materials, and its implications for both short- and long-term economic outcomes. With the appropriate blend of theory and policy, he investigates (i) the relationship between materials, technological progress, and economic growth, (ii) the optimal taxation of recyclable goods in general equilibrium, and (iii) the role of economic policy in addressing climate change and energy use within a circular economy. Methodologically, Professor Arbex combines rich data to uncover fundamental mechanisms of economy-wide changes with environmental macroeconomic models to quantify aggregate effects. Together, these research projects can further our understanding of materials circularity, inform important policy decisions, and make relevant contributions to the field of Environmental Macroeconomics.

Professor Arbex previous research has focused on three main topics: (I) Labor Market Networks — e.g., Network Search: Climbing the Job Ladder Faster (IER, 2019); The implications of labor market network for business cycles (EL, 2016); Optimal Taxation and Social Networks (MD, 2014), (II) Tax Evasion and Informal Activities — e.g., Optimal Taxation of Informal Firms: Misreporting Costs and a Tax Reform in Brazil (BEJM, 2024); Optimal sales tax rebates and tax enforcement consumers (OEP, 2015); A Quantitative Analysis of Tax Enforcement and Optimal Monetary Policy (MD, 2013), and (III) Environmental Issues — e.g., What if people value nature? Climate change and welfare costs (REE, 2020), Solow meets Leontief: Economic growth and energy consumption (EE, 2010).