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Mexico’s Banamex Prize for Economics goes to Jorge Gallardo-García, economist at Bates White
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 15, 2006—Jorge Gallardo-García has been awarded Mexico’s most distinguished award for economics, the Banamex Prize. Established in 1951, this annual international prize, open to all and administered by Banamex (the largest commercial bank in Mexico), recognizes research that relates to the analysis and solution of economic problems in Mexico. Gallardo-García is a member of the Environmental and Product Liability Practice at Bates White, LLC, an economic consulting firm based in Washington, D.C.
Gallardo-García’s thesis, “El seguro popular de salud y su efecto en la salud infantil: Un análisis sobre empleo, fecundidad y cuidado prenatal en México,” (“The Universal Access Health Insurance and Its Effect on Infant Health: An Analysis of Employment, Fertility and Prenatal Care in Mexico”) took first prize in the Research Level category of the competition.
In his paper, Gallardo-García analyzes how Mexican families make decisions about employment, health insurance, fertility, and prenatal care. He presents a model he developed to study the interplay between employment and insurance decisions and pregnancy outcomes and infant health. Such decisions have national economic implications for Mexico, where a large proportion of the population has little or no access to medical services and where the incidence of low birth weight and infant mortality rate are relatively high. The lack of access to health care is mainly due to a large uncovered labor market sector, where workers are not eligible for government health benefits.
Judges for the Banamex Prize included the deans of several universities’ schools of economics, the President of Banamex, and Secretaries and Governors from the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance, and Mexico’s Central Bank. An array of Mexican government and academic dignitaries attended the awards ceremony in Mexico City on November 27, including Francisco Gil Díaz, Finance Minister of Mexico and Manuel Medina Mora, President of Banamex. Gallardo-García received both a diploma and a monetary appreciation.
“I was competing with professors and others with more experience,” said Gallardo-García. “I didn’t think I was going to win the prize. But I did.”
An article about the event, “Necessaria, mayor inversión en salud,” (“Needed: more investment in health”), appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Economista (November 30).
To read Gallardo-García’s complete dissertation (English), visit http://www.bateswhite.com/news/pdf/diss_JGG_final_version.pdf
To read a summary of Gallardo-García’s dissertation in English, visit http://www.bateswhite.com/news/pdf/diss_introduction_for_BW.pdf
To read a summary of Gallardo-García’s dissertation in Spanish, visit http://www.bateswhite.com/news/pdf/diss_spanish_short_version.pdf
To read the El Economista article, visit http://www.bateswhite.com/news/pdf/economista_impreso_0611.pdf
For more information on the Banamex prize, visit: http://www.banamex.com/eng/grupo/eventos/economia/index.html
About Bates White
Bates White is a national economic consulting firm of more than 150 professionals.
Established in 1999, Bates White offers consulting services in economics,
finance,
and business analytics. Bates White has offices in Washington, D.C., and San
Diego, Calif.
www.bateswhite.com
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