Economist & Anthropological Researcher
Specialist in Transnational Political Economy
I bridge quantitative economic analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, with a focus on the South Bay-Tijuana border region—where standard metrics like CPI often miss the real dynamics of capital flows, informal economies, and everyday social pressures.
My time supporting the monthly Consumer Price Index at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics gave me a strong foundation in formal economic measurement. That experience inspired the Border Living Index (BLI), a framework I’m developing to better capture economic well-being in transnational border zones.
Key impacts include:
• Directing over $3.5M in investments to first-time business owners in peripheral markets
• Leading a successful campaign for $459M in public school infrastructure funding in South Bay, while serving on the Bond Oversight Committee
• Designing programs that deliver 27,000+ social services annually, revealing systemic “Compliance Surcharges”—the hidden costs of bureaucratic inefficiency
I’m committed to making public goods and capital allocation more effective and fair in border communities by addressing gaps in the social safety net and reducing unnecessary friction.