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Alberto Ortiz

ALBERTO ORTIZ
45 Glenhurst Drive
Oberlin OH 44074
Cell: (617) 529-9624
Email: aortizb@bu.edu
Web site: http://people.bu.edu/aortizb/


CURRENT POSITION
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Oberlin College

EDUCATION
Ph.D., Economics, Boston University, Boston MA, 2008
Dissertation Title: Essays on Structural Macroeconometrics
Dissertation Committee: Simon Gilchrist, John R. Harris and Adrien Verdelhan
M.A., Political Economy, Boston University, Boston, MA, 2005
B.A., Economics, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Mexico, 2002
Exchange Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, Fall 1999

FIELDS OF INTEREST
Macroeconomics, International Economics, Development Economics

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor, Market Failure in Financial Markets, Oberlin College, Spring 2009
Instructor, Money, Banking, and the Financial System, Oberlin College, Fall 2008
Instructor, Development Economics, Oberlin College, Fall 2008, Spring 2009
Instructor, Monetary and Banking Institutions, Boston University, Fall 2007 and 2006
Instructor, Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis, Boston University, Spring 2007
Teaching Fellow, International Financial Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University, Spring 2007 and 2006
Teaching Assistant, Introductory Macroeconomics, Boston University, Fall 2005, Spring
2003 and Fall 2002
Teaching Assistant, International Finance, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas,
Fall 2001

WORK EXPERIENCE
Consultant, Research Department, Inter-American Development Bank, Summer 2007
Research Assistant for Professor Ian Sue Wing, Boston University, September 2003 to
August 2004
Macroeconomist with Professor Raul Feliz, Macroeconomic consulting services for
Emerging Markets Research departments of BNP-Paribas and Barclays Ltd.
Macroeconomic analysis for BANCRECER, IXE, Prudential-Apollo, and Aeromexico,
January 2000 to July 2002
Research Internship at Technical Advisory Office, Mexican Presidency, Summer 1996

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
Fulbright-Garcia Robles Scholarship, September 2002 to August 2005
Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología Scholarship, September 2002 to August 2005
Promesan Fellowship to study in Northwestern University, Fall 1999
President Mexican Association of Economics Students, April 1998 to April 1999


Alberto Ortiz
PUBLICATIONS
Ortiz, Alberto, Ottonello, Pablo, Sturzenegger, Federico, and Talvi, Ernesto (2009)
“Monetary and Fiscal Policies in a Sudden Stop: Is Tighter Brighter?” in Dealing with an
International Credit Crunch: Policy Responses to Sudden Stops in Latin America, E.
Cavallo and A. Izquierdo (eds.) Inter-American Development Bank.
Ortiz, Alberto and Sturzenegger, Federico (2007) “Estimating South African Reserve Bank’s
Policy Reaction Rule”, South African Journal of Economics, 75(4): 659 - 680.
Martinez, Andre C. and Ortiz, Alberto (2000) “Factores de Competitividad, Situación
Nacional y Cadena Productiva de la Industria del Calzado en León, Guanajuato”
Economía, Sociedad y Territorio, 2(7): 533-568.

WORKING PAPERS
“Credit Risk and the Macroeconomy: Evidence from an Estimated DSGE Model” with
Simon Gilchrist and Egon Zakrajs̃ek June 2009.
“Credit Market Shocks, Monetary Policy, and Economic Fluctuations” December 2008.
“The Effects of the 1994 Mexican Financial Crisis on Firms’ Investment Activity” December
2004.

WORK IN PROGRESS
“Measuring the Importance of Financial Frictions in Emerging Market Economies”
“Fear of floating? Mexican Monetary Policy under Inflation Targeting”
“International Trade and Business Cycles with Heterogeneous Firms, Capital Accumulation
and International Investment Flows”

LANGUAGES: Fluent in English and Spanish, basic knowledge of French

COMPUTER SKILLS: GAMS, GAUSS, MATLAB, Scientific WorkPlace, Microsoft Office

OTHER: Co-founder of Yreta: Mexican Folk Art Association; Racket Sports

CITIZENSHIP/VISA: MEXICO/J1-VISA

REFERENCES

Professor Simon Gilchrist
Professor John R. Harris
Department of Economics
Department of Economics
Boston University
Boston University
Phone: (617) 353-6824
Phone: (617) 353-8903
Email: sgilchri@bu.edu
Email: harrisjr@bu.edu


Professor Federico Sturzenegger
Assistant Professor Adrien Verdelhan
President
Department of Economics
Banco Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Boston University
Phone: (54-11) 4329-8600
Phone: (617) 353-6324
Email: fsturzenegger@bancociudad.com.ar
Email: av@bu.edu


July 2009

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ALBERTO ORTIZ



Credit Market Shocks, Monetary Policy, and Economic Fluctuations

This paper uses a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with credit market imperfections
to estimate the role of credit market shocks and monetary policy in U.S. business cycles. The
estimated model captures much of the historical narrative regarding the conduct of monetary
policy and developments in financial markets that led to episodes of financial excess and distress
over the last two decades. The estimation suggests that credit market shocks are an important
factor behind economic fluctuations accounting for 15% of the variance in real output since 1985.

Monetary and Fiscal Policies in a Sudden Stop: Is Tighter Brighter? (with Pablo Ottonello,
Federico Sturzenegger, and Ernesto Talvi)

This paper analyzes the fiscal and monetary policy response and their effects on output in a set of
22 external financial crisis episodes occurred since 1990. We develop exogenous measures of
fiscal and monetary policy response and we find evidence that countries that tightened monetary
and fiscal policy during these crises experienced larger output contractions than countries that
followed a looser policy stance. The conclusion of the analysis is not so much that macro policies
should be relaxed upon a crisis, but that countries should prepare themselves by creating the
conditions to be able to act countercyclically upon such events. This entails among other things
reducing balance sheet mismatches or strengthening fiscal results during expansions.

Estimating South African Reserve Bank’s Policy Reaction Rule (with Federico Sturzenegger)

This paper estimates an open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model of South
Africa to characterize the South African Reserve Bank's (SARB) monetary policy rule. We find
that the SARB has a stable monetary policy rule very much in line with those estimated for
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and UK. The distinguishing characteristics of the SARB's rule
relative to these other four countries are a somewhat larger weight on output and a very low
weight on the exchange rate. Relative to other 20 emerging market economies, the policy reaction
function of the SARB appears to be much more stable.

The Effects of the 1994 Mexican Financial Crisis on Firms’ Investment Activity

This paper finds evidence of the existence of rigidities in the Mexican credit market, thereby
lending support to the important role of firm's internal funds in taking advantage of investment
opportunities. Using balance-sheet data on firms listed in the Mexican Stock Market between
1988 and 2002, we find that the importance of internal funds varies according to firms’
characteristics and that the 1994 Mexican financial crisis modified firms' access to credit. The
modification that a particular firm witnessed was determined by their leverage ratio and export
activity. Exchange rate overshooting lead to increased income streams for export oriented firms,
thus increasing their credit access. Meanwhile, the net-worth of highly leveraged firms dropped
due to the increase in the value of their debt.

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