About

March 2026
Jorge Alberto Guerra-Espana

My work focuses on political economy, fiscal policy, energy, and economic history, generally with a geographic and regional lens.

Since July 2026, I have been a Research Fellow (predoctoral) at the Social Economics Lab at Harvard University, directed by Professor Stefanie Stantcheva. My work there focuses on collaborating on the design of large-scale surveys — including chatbot-based surveys — and experiments that shed light on how people understand and form attitudes toward economic issues and policy, on topics such as climate change and consumption dynamics.

I plan to begin a PhD in Economics in 2027.

My research spans political economy, fiscal policy, energy, and economic history, generally incorporating a strong geographic and regional perspective. I study questions such as: How does political continuity shape public debt? How does changing the finance minister affect market risk? What is the long-term impact of creating new regions on development? How does topography affect technological adoption and growth?

I am also interested in bringing rigorous research to broader audiences. I co-edited Retos económicos de la transición energética with Andrés Álvarez and Marc Hofstetter, and I regularly contribute to public debates through columns and media engagement.

Background

I hold an M.A. and a B.A. in Economics from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, and a B.A. in Philosophy from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

I began working as a research assistant at Universidad de los Andes, contributing to consultancy and academic projects across the Department of Economics, the School of Government, and the School of Management. I later worked as an intern at the Ministry of Finance, focusing on real-sector issues. These collaborations have continued over time through both academic and policy-oriented projects.

More recently, I have also collaborated with faculty from Georgetown University and King’s College London on international research projects, supporting research design, coordination, writing, and the production of academic outputs.

I have worked on applied research and consulting projects with institutions such as the Center for Sustainable Development Goals (CODS) and the Center for Sustainable Finance (CSF) at Universidad de los Andes, Connect Bogotá Region, Fundesarrollo, CESORE, and the World Resources Institute, on topics including energy transition, technology markets, and regional development, using a range of applied methodologies such as NLP, machine learning, text analysis, and econometrics.

I have worked as a consultant in the Fiscal Management Division at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), leading the econometrics and data analytics team within FISLAC, an analytical platform that supports governments in making strategic fiscal decisions. The team was originally launched as an initiative of Oscar Valencia and is currently led by Leandro Andrian. In this role, I designed analytical tools and produced analysis for economic policy institutions across the region, while also conducting applied research and collaborating with other specialists at the IDB.

Other affiliations and research collaborations

I usually collaborate with researchers at the Centro de Estudios Económicos Regionales (CEER) of Banco de la República (Colombia's central bank). Some of the workins papers have been published as Regional Economics Series and Economic History Notebooks.

See my CV for the full list of affiliations, awards, and conference presentations.