I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at the University of Maryland (graduation: May 2012) and I will be attending the 2012 ASSA meetings in Chicago.

My research focuses on understanding and measuring liquidity risk from a macroeconomic point of view. I am particularly interested in uncovering its implications for the volatility of macro aggregates and its role in systemic financial crises.

As part of my research agenda I developed an index of systemic liquidity-risk exposure of banking systems. The index assesses how vulnerable/resilient a banking system is to a drying-up of liquidity. Indirectly, through the liquidity production process of banks and other financial intermediaries, the index speaks about the potential economic contraction in the case the liquidity event materializes.

The index is particularly relevant in the case of Emerging Markets (markets where banks represent a large fraction of the financial system). The Inter-American Development Bank is adopting the index and starting in 2012 will equipped its country economists with it, as a tool to assess systemic financial stability.