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Tuesday, 3 February, 2026

Master´s Thesis Defense Presentations

Room #320

12:00    

Sosa Galindo Ivan Israel: Regional Growth, Internal Migration, and Persistent Inequality in Mexico

Chair: Byeongju Jeong

Opponent: Stephanie Ettmeier

13:00    

Lark Madison: Bitcoin Market Activity and Public Attention to Central Bank Digital Currencies (2017-2024)

Chair: Branislav Saxa

Opponent: Jan Zápal

14:00    

Ďurian Ladislav: Estimating Genre-Specific Demand Elasticities in the Amazon Book Market: A Double/Debiased Machine Learning Approach

Chair: Paolo Zacchia

Opponent: Klaus Achim Ahrens

Sosa Galinbdo Ivanm Israel

Abstract:

This thesis examines regional income dynamics in Mexico from 1970 to 2019, focusing on whether internal migration and changes in population composition contributed to regional convergence. Despite deep economic transformation and increased trade integration since Mexico’s accession to GATT in 1986 and NAFTA in 1994, substantial income differences across states have persisted. Using Gross State Product data, the analysis revisits absolute and conditional convergence and extends the framework with an accounting mechanism linking growth outcomes to internal migration and demographic change. Convergence patterns are reassessed using two alternative data series and extended to the post-2001 period, which includes heightened international competition following China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (2001) and the Global Financial Crisis (2008). The results indicate that internal migration primarily operated as a reallocation mechanism, with flows directed toward higher-income and faster-growing states. While migration exerted a moderate convergence effect, this influence was outweighed by other forces shaping regional convergence and divergence, allowing leading regions to expand without substantially improving the relative position of lagging ones. Changes in indigenous-speaking population shares reflect demographic adjustment and mobility, but do not eliminate long-standing structural disadvantages.

Full Text: “Regional Growth, Internal Migration, and Persistent Inequality in Mexico"