AREAS OF INTEREST
Thematic:
- Economic and Business History
- Poverty and Inequality
- Economics and Human Biology
- History of Disease, Public Health and Medicine
Regional:
- History of Mexico
- History of Latin America
- World History
Selected Publications:
- “Migrant Self-Selection and Random Shocks: Evidence from the Panic of 1907.” The Journal of Economic History, 2023, 1–41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050722000535 https://www-cambridge-org.ezproxy.rice.edu/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/migrant-selfselection-and-random-shocks-
evidence-from-the-panic-of-1907/9D2D93FADCF723236D365692E5CAFC69 - "Measuring Mexican Poverty Through Individual Height and Weight in the 19th and 20th Centuries." Oxford Research
Encyclopedia for Latin American History December 2021 https://doi-org.ezproxy.rice.edu/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.826 - “Height and Inequality in Post-1950 Mexico: A History of Stunted Growth” with Roberto Vélez-Grajales, Revista de Historia Económica, Vol. 37 no. 2: 271-296, April 2019
- https://doi-org.ezproxy.rice.edu/10.1017/S0212610919000065
- Escamilla-Guerrero, David, and Moramay López-Alonso. Self-Selection Of Mexican Migrants In The Presence Of Random Shocks: Evidence From The Panic Of 1907, WIDER Working Paper 2019/23 Helsinki: UNU-WIDER, 2019.
- https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/self-selection-mexican-migrants-presence-random-shocks/
- "Using Heights to Trace Living Standards and Inequality in Mexico Since 1850" with Roberto Vélez-Grajales, in Has Latin American Inequality Changed Direction? Looking Over the Long Run, Springer International Publishing, 2017, pp:65-87
- “Economics and Human Biology in Latin America,” in The Oxford Handbook of Economics and Human Biology, Edited by John Komlos and Inas R. Kelly, Oxford Handbook Series, Oxford University Press, 2016.
- “Measuring Inequality in Living Standards with Anthropometric Indicators: The of Case of Mexico 1850-1986,” Journal of Human Development and Capabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal of People-Centered Development, (2015) Vol.16 no. 3: 374-396, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2015.1044820
- Estar a la altura: Una historia de los niveles de vida en México, 1850-1950 (Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2015).
- Measuring Up: A History of Living Standards in Mexico, 1850-1950 (Stanford University Press, 2012)
- “Physical Stature of Men in Eighteenth Century Mexico: Evidence from Puebla" (with Agustín Grajales Porras), Economics and Human Biology, Spring 2011.
Recent Publications:
Co-edited Volume:
The Biological Welfare of Ibero-America - A New Anthropometric History in Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History, December 2025, co-edited with Ricardo Salvatore, Manuel Llorca-Jaña, and José Miguel Martínez Carrión.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
“Presidential Wives and Soft Power in México in the López Mateos (1958-1964) and Echeverría (1970-1976) Eras.” Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, February 2026, Issue (42.1, Winter 2026).
“The body as a mirror of inequality in Mexico during the second half of the twentieth century”/“El cuerpo como espejo de la desigualdad en México durante la segunda mitad del siglo veinte.” Manguinhos História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos (v. 31, e2024018, June 2024) https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-59702024000100018en
“The Backbone of Latin American History: Recent Developments and New Directions in Anthropometric History” in Revista de Historia Económica de América Latina, RHEAL,1/Enero 2024/pp.116-134 (10,000 words)/p>
“Migrant Self-Selection and Random Shocks: Evidence from the Panic of 1907.” Co-authored with David Escamilla-Guerrero The Journal of Economic History, 2023, 1–41. (IF 2.9) https://doi:10.1017/S0022050722000535
Osvaldo Alquicira, Barbara Trautner, Jean Raphael, Juanita Salinas, Kenneth Barning, Hammad Mahmood, Thomas Porter, Richard Street, Moramay Lopez-Alonso, Michael K Paasche-Orlow, Larissa Grigoryan, 1770. Effects of Acculturation and Social Norms on Intention to use Antibiotics without a Prescription among Hispanic or Latino individuals, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Volume 9, Issue Supplement_2, December 2022, ofac492.1400,https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofac492.1400 (IF 3.5)
Edited volume contributions:
"The Long History of Biological Welfare in Mexico: From Mesoamerica to the Present" in The Biological Welfare of Ibero-America - A New Anthropometric History in Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History, Ricardo D. Salvatore et al. (Eds), December 2025.
“Feeding Mexico’s growth: Nutrition and living standards in twentieth-century Mexico” in Health, Nutrition and Inequality in Latin America: An Anthropometric History, Manuel Llorca-Jaña et al. (Eds), September 2025.
“Ejidos urbanos: derechos de propiedad, reforma agraria y crecimiento urbano en el México posrevolucionario” in Derechos de propiedad y crecimiento económico en la Historia Agraria: Contribuciones para una perspectiva comparada en América, Álvarez, Salvador, Margarita Menegus / Alejandro Tortolero, comps., Editorial UNIMagdalena, Santa Marta, Colombia, 2018, pp. 345-370