Juan’s research is rooted at the intersection between regional economic inequality, the role of multinationals and FDI in the economic development process, and the EU’s broad push for green, digital and resilient regional development strategies.

Juan completed his BSc in Economics & Geography at University College London in 2014. He then worked for 4 years in local government consulting, helping councils in the UK to design data-led interventions around homelessness prevention, social housing provision and economic development strategies more broadly. In 2020 he completed his MSc in Local Economic Development at LSE. He has since worked as a consultant for the World Bank, and as a researcher at LSE on topics ranging from occupational change to regional investment promotion.

After being awarded a scholarship from the ESRC in 2022, Juan is now pursuing his PhD on the topic that most interested him while a student and researcher at LSE: how lagging regions in developed countries can best achieve economic growth, especially in the context of a rapidly-shifting global economic order.    

Research interests

• Are regional development strategies like Smart Specialization in the EU or ‘Levelling up’ in the UK working?
• Why have certain cities and regions in the developed world fared so badly from de-industrialisation, while others have managed to reinvent themselves?
• How have occupations in developed country workforces evolved over time and in response to technological change and globalisation?
• How do local, national and supra-national policies to stimulate economic development interact?

Provisional thesis title
Regional economic inequalities in a changing global order: place-based development strategies, FDI attraction and resilient Global Value Chains

Scholarships
Full ESRC Doctoral scholarship 2022-2026

Supervisors 

Prof Riccardo Crescenzi
Dr Vassilis Monastiriotis