Interview with Dr. Julio Garín, a graduate of the Bachelor of Economics program at Universidad ORT Uruguay and winner of the 2018 Morosoli Bronze Prize in Economics.
Garín earned his bachelor’s degree in economics in 2007. He then continued his studies at the University of Notre Dame, where he earned his Ph.D. in 2012. After graduating, he joined the Department of Economics at the University of Georgia, where he remained for five years. He is currently affiliated with Claremont McKenna College.
You've just received the Bronze Morosoli Award. Why do you think you received this award?
That’s a question I’ve been asking myself, too. I ask it whenever something like this happens. What the scientific committee mentioned is that they awarded it to me for my scientific contributions and for the work I’ve done as an educator. Up until now, I’ve always viewed each piece of work independently of the whole.
What does receiving an award like this entail?
It was an honor that colleagues I hold in high regard considered my professional achievements to date worthy of recognition. Personally, it was a joy, since awards are often the way our friends and family learn about the relative merit of what we do.
In any case, we must not lose sight of the fact that, although awards are given to specific individuals, in the fields of knowledge, little is achieved through individual effort alone.
I see this as a tribute to everyone who helped ensure that I didn’t waste whatever talent I might have. I received the award, but the credit goes to them. At least, that’s how I see it.
Your research has focused on labor markets, credit constraints, optimal monetary policy, and inflation. What are the main findings of your career?
That's a complicated question because I've worked in different fields. For the most part, my work highlights the importance of frictions in financial and labor markets for understanding what the data shows.
From a monetary policy perspective, one point I consider significant is that my co-authors and I have identified empirical and theoretical problems in the models commonly used by central banks.
Related to this is another study in which we show that the significant increase in the accumulation of short-term assets by multinational firms—which has puzzled many researchers—is largely due to the lower inflation rates observed over the past 30 years.
In another line of research, I have shown that the credit constraints faced by firms can strengthen their bargaining power over workers in wage negotiations and increase the volatility of economic variables.
In a recent study, we showed just how costly it can be to announce policy measures that take a long time to implement and that, when legislative proposals are delayed, can have effects that are completely opposite to what the legislation intended. So, in all humility, I believe my work may also offer lessons for what is happening in our country.
You have published in some of the most prestigious economics journals, such as the *Review of Economics and Statistics*, the *Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control*, the *American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics*, and the *Journal of Money, Credit and Banking*. What does it take to get published in these journals?
On a professional level, perhaps the most rewarding thing is knowing that the questions you’re trying to answer—and the way they’re answered—are worthy of publication in reputable academic journals. It’s like a seal of quality for the work you do. And it’s the experts in the field themselves who bestow that recognition.
Each project takes years to complete, and for every one that is published, there are several that never see the light of day; however, the satisfaction of doing one’s part to push the boundaries of knowledge makes all the hours invested worthwhile.
What was it like to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame?
Those were undoubtedly the most challenging—but also the most rewarding—five years of my life. When I chose Notre Dame, given the options I had at the time, I wasn’t entirely sure it was the best choice for me.
By my second year of the doctoral program, I had already realized how fortunate I had been in my choice. The environment was ideal for intellectual growth, and there was no shortage of any necessary resources.
Given the nature of the institution, academic work was viewed there in a holistic way; teaching and research were complementary. It was a perfect fit for me, since that was—and still is—my philosophy as a student.
I formed close friendships with other students (not just those in the economics Ph.D. program). In addition, some of my professors became colleagues with whom I collaborated on various projects—and we still work on projects together—and eventually became friends.
What subjects are you currently teaching?
All levels of macroeconomics. At the doctoral level, I essentially taught the fundamental tools that economists who study issues related to aggregate variables share and use.
At the undergraduate level, I teach intermediate and advanced macroeconomics (which, at Claremont McKenna, given the caliber of our students, is equivalent to a graduate-level course).
You've had a truly remarkable career. What skills did your bachelor's degree in economics provide you with that helped you achieve all of this?
First of all, I probably wouldn’t have gone on to pursue a Ph.D. if it weren’t for my bachelor’s degree in economics. Having professors like Enrique Gagliardi, Néstor Gandelman, Eduardo Siandra, Julio de Brun, Gabriel Odonne, and Juan José Barrios was a transformative experience for me.
I wanted to think like them. I wanted to have the objectivity they displayed in the classroom. Néstor, Enrique, and Eduardo gave me a tremendous amount of support; they were the ones who made it possible for me to study abroad.
Beyond that, the technical training at ORT was excellent. The doctoral material was difficult in and of itself, not because I wasn’t prepared. I entered college without being a good student. ORT transformed me into someone who wanted to understand the world. Of all forms of laziness, intellectual laziness among those of us who study human behavior and society tends to be the most costly. The bachelor’s degree helped me develop the habit of thinking about issues rigorously and realize that, for society, the worst shortcuts are intellectual ones.
At the Morosoli awards ceremony, they asked what advice you would give to recent economics graduates. What advice do you usually give them?
The only advice I give—regardless of what you want to achieve—is this: don’t complain; just work. As long as there are children in this world who have to walk 15 kilometers to fetch dirty water from a river so their families don’t die of thirst, those of us who have the privilege of learning don’t have much to complain about (even if we do). I always tell you that we have a great responsibility toward those who have no idea that something called education even exists.
I tell my undergraduate students not to worry if they don’t know what they want to do; knowing what we don’t like is just as important, and there’s nothing wrong with trying things out. Many young people believe that if they don’t know what they’ll be doing when they retire by the time they’re 22, they’re headed for a life of collecting unemployment benefits.
I don't know where that idea comes from. I always tell my Ph.D. students to work hard. It's a fantastic profession, but a very competitive one, and while luck plays a role, without hard work you won't achieve anything truly significant or noteworthy.
Video interview:
https://youtu.be/wGO2QyipgwI?si=cIMIXbflK37Ag8Y7