January
Professor Nestor Azcona
Providence College
For our January 2019 member of the month, the International Atlantic Economic Society welcomes Professor Nestor Azcona. Professor Azcona’s fields of specialization include: open-economy macroeconomics, international finance, monetary policy, time-series econometrics, and dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models.
Why did you become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society?
I have been an IAES member since 2015. I enjoy attending the conferences because they are very collegial and I always receive helpful feedback. I also like the conferences’ marked international aspect, with attendees from many different countries.
What types of projects/research are you currently working on and what inspired/motivated you to pursue these interests?
I have worked on several topics in international macroeconomics, including currency crises, sources of exchange rate volatility, and monetary policy in open economies. Currently, I am working on currency areas, with particular attention to the European Monetary Union. In a recent paper, I find that bilateral trade intensity does not explain business cycle co-movement among EMU members. Instead, similarities in industry composition are a much more important factor. More broadly, I am studying how different country characteristics and policies can reduce the costs of sharing a currency.
What advice would you give to someone who is considering entering your line of work/field of study?
You can get lots of ideas for new research projects from non-academic publications such as The Economist.
Going forward, what other projects/research are you looking to or hoping to pursue?
One topic that I would like to explore is the connection between inflation and the output gap. In the last decade U.S. inflation has remained relatively stable despite large changes in the output gap.
What’s your favorite hobby?
Lately, I have enjoyed tackling some home-improvement projects. My toolbox has been growing exponentially.