CV

Carlos Vargas-Silva

Current Position

Assistant Professor of Economics, Sam Houston State University.

Previous Position

George Washington Henderson Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Economics, University of Vermont.

Education

o Post-Doc, University of Vermont, 2007.

o Ph.D. Applied Economics, Western Michigan University, 2006.

Dissertation: Determinants and Consequences of Workers’ Remittances.

* Dissertation was selected as the winner of the Inter-American Development Bank call for dissertations on migrant remittances.

Committee: Susan Pozo, Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Wei-Chao Huang.

o M.A., Applied Economics, Western Michigan University, 2003.

o M.A., Economics, University of Puerto Rico, 2002.

Thesis: Economic Determinants of Fertility: A Comparison of Four Countries.

Committee Chair: Maria Enchautegui.

o University of Colorado, American Economic Association (AEA), Summer Minority Program, 2002.

o B.A., University of Puerto Rico, 2001.

Thesis: Campaign Donations and Electoral Reform.

Publications (peer reviewed)

Vargas-Silva, C. "Are Remittances Manna from Heaven? A look at the Business Cycle Properties of Remittances." The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, forthcoming.

Vargas-Silva, C., "Crime and Remittance Transfers." Eastern Economic Journal, Forthcoming.

Vargas-Silva, C., “The Tale of Three Amigos: Remittances, Exchange Rates and Money Demand in Mexico.” Review of Development Economics, Forthcoming.

Vargas-Silva, C.; Ruiz, I. and Shukralla, E., “Remittances, Institutions and Growth: A Panel Semi-Parametric Approach.” International Economic Journal, Forthcoming.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Ruiz, I. “Monetary Policy and International Remittances.” Journal of Developing Areas, Forthcoming.

Vargas-Silva, C., “Monetary Policy and the U.S. Housing Market: A VAR Analysis Imposing Sign Restrictions.” Journal of Macroeconomics, 2008, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 977-990.

Vargas-Silva, C. “The Effect of Monetary Policy on Housing: A Factor-Augmented Vector Autoregression (FAVAR) Approach.” Applied Economics Letters, 2008, Vol. 15, No. 10, pp. 749 - 752.

Vargas-Silva, C. “Measuring the Macroeconomic Impact of Workers’ Remittances in a Data-Rich Environment.” Applied Financial Economics Letters, 2007, Vol. 3, No. 6, pp. 359 - 363.

Vargas-Silva, C., “Portfolio Reasons for Homeownership: The Case of Immigrants.” Revista Ecos de Economia (Colombian journal), 2006, No. 23, pp.73-86.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Peng, H., “Macroeconomic Determinants of Workers’ Remittances: Host versus Home Country’s Economic Conditions.” Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, 2006, Vol. 15, No.1, pp.81-99.

Other Publications

Vargas-Silva, C.; Amuedo-Dorantes, C. and Pozo, S., “Remittances and the Macroeconomy: The Case of Small Island Developing States”, part of the United Nations, WIDER Project on Fragility and Development.

Vargas-Silva, C., “The Determinants of International Remittances: Evidence from the Legalized Population.” Academy of Economics and Finance Papers and Proceedings, 2006, Vol. 30, pp.333-335.

Working Papers

Vargas-Silva, C. and Pozo, S., “Do Immigrants and their Remittances Respond to the Exchange Rate?”

Other Teaching Experience

Instructor, The Economics of Migration, University of Vermont, (Spring 2007).

Instructor, Principles of Microeconomics, Western Michigan University, (Fall 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006).

Instructor, Principles of Macroeconomics, Western Michigan University, (Fall 2005).

Teaching Assistant, Western Michigan University (Fall 2002 – Summer 2004): Principles of Microeconomics,

Principle of Macroeconomics, Introductory Econometrics, Environmental Economics.

Teaching Assistant, University of Puerto Rico (Spring 2002): Statistics for Economists.

Other Employment

United Nations, WIDER Project on Fragility and Development, (September 2006 –January 2007), Position: Consultant.

U.S. House of Representatives, Office of Congressman José Serrano, Washington D.C., (1999), Position: Intern.

Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly, Office of Senator Rubén Berríos, San Juan, P.R., (1998), Position: Intern.

Honors, Fellowships and Grants

Dissertation was selected as the winner of the Inter-American Development Bank call for dissertations on migrant remittances, 2008 (award includes cash prize plus publication of an article based on the dissertation on the upcoming journal Remittances and Development).

Faculty Research Grant of the Office of
Research and Special Programs at Sam Houston State University (award includes money for summer research).

Graduate Research and Creative Scholar Award (award to the best research by a Ph.D. student in economics) at Western Michigan University, March 2006.

Distinguished Economics Paper Award (best paper by a Ph.D. candidate in economics) of The Academy of Economics and Finance Meeting, February 2006 (award includes recognition at conference luncheon plus cash prize).

American Economic Association Summer Minority Program Scholarship, Summer 2002 (award includes a full scholarship to attend the AEA summer program).

Cordova Congressional Scholarship, 1999 (award includes a full scholarship to study in Washington DC and a paid internship in the US House of Representatives).

Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly Scholarship, 1998 (award includes a paid internship in Puerto Rico's State Assembly).

Journal Refereeing

Eastern Economic Journal, Applied Economics, Journal of Developing Areas, Feminist Economics

Other Education

Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, mathematics and statistics courses.

The Washington Center, Campaign Management Semester, 1999.

High School, Colegio Santiago Apóstol, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, 1996.

Selected Conference Presentations (including forthcoming)

Vargas-Silva, C. "What's to Blame for the Recent Slowdown in Workers' Remittances", Allied Social Sciences Association Annual Meeting (ASSA-NEA/ASHE Sponsored Session), January 2009.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Nath, H. "Remittances and Relative Prices: Evidence from State Level Data", Southern Economic Association (SEA), November 2008.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Nath, H. "Remittances and Relative Prices", Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting, March 2008.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Nath, H. "Remittances and Relative Prices" Eastern Economic Association (EEA), March 2008.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Nath, H. "Remittances and Relative Prices" The Academy of Economics and Finance Meeting (AEF), February 2008.

Vargas-Silva, C. “Remittances and the Macroeconomy.” Part of the conference Hispanic American Issues, Texas A & M, November 2007.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Ruiz, I., “Are Hispanics in the U.S. Promoting Informality in Latin America?” Southern Economic Association (SEA), November 2007.

Vargas-Silva, C., “The Macroeconomic Determinants of Remittances.” Part of the conference: Cross-Border Banking. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, San Antonio Branch.

Vargas-Silva, C., “Remittances in Mexico: Micro vs. Macro.” Part of the conference: Mexican Migration to the US: A Bi-national Approach Remittances, Financial Institutions, and Human and Community Development. Mexico Center, University of Texas, San Antonio, March 2007.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Pozo, S., “Are women more generous? Remitting behavior of Hispanic men and women.” Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting, March 2007.

Vargas-Silva, C. “Criminality and Remittances: Evidence from Colombia.” Eastern Economic Association, February 2007.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Ruiz, I., “Measuring the Reaction of Monetary Policy to International Remittances.” Southern Economic Association (SEA), November 2006.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Pozo, S., “Are Daughters More Generous? An Inquiry into the Remitting Patterns of Hispanics the U.S.” Southern Economic Association (SEA), November 2006.

Vargas-Silva, C. and Ruiz, I., “The Real Exchange Rate and Capital Inflows: A New Look at the Empirics.” Missouri Valley Economic Association (MVEA), October 2006.

Vargas-Silva, C., “Remittances, Exchange Rates and Domestic Money Demand: A Structural VAR Approach.” Midwest Economic Association (MEA), March 2006.

Vargas-Silva, C., “The Determinants of International Remittances: Evidence from the Legalized Population.” The Academy of Economics and Finance Meeting (AEF), February 2006.

Vargas-Silva, C., “The Effects of Foreign Exchange Risk and Return on Workers’ Remittances, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, American Economic Association (AEA) Meetings Open House, January 2006.

Vargas-Silva, C., “Dollarization and Seigniorage: the Case of Puerto Rico,Midwest Economic Association (MEA), March, 2005.

Languages

English; Spanish

Professional Affiliations

American Society of Hispanics Economists (ASHE)

Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA)

American Economic Association (AEA)

Midwest Economic Association (MEA)

Southern Economic Association (SEA)

Academy of Economics and Finance (AEF)

Western Economic Association International (WEAI)

Computer programming languages and packages

STATA, RATS, EVIEWS, MATLAB, SAS, GAUSS.