Luz Marina Arias
Luz Marina Arias
Stanford University
2008-09
Research Project: Indigenous Institutions and the Reversal of Fortune
Website: http://econ.ucsd.edu/~luarias/
Expertise
The interrelation of Economic Development and Institutions; Colonial Spanish America.
Regions of Interest
Mexico; The Colonial Americas
Current Project
Indigenous Institutions and the Reversal of Fortune
Publications
Luz Marina's manuscripts focus on the development of colonial institutions in Mexico and their impact on current economic performance. Her paper, ''A Theory of the Origins of Coercive enforcement by the State: Insights from Colonial Mexico," studies the factors that lead to the creation of a centralized state administration with the ability to collect revenue. In "Can legitimacy lead to the concentration of coercive power?" she analyzes the strategic forces behind the concentration and dispersion of coercive power by the state. Both papers are inspired by and are applied to the colonial history of Mexico, and in particular study the creation of a standing army and of a state administration backed by coercion to collect revenue during the eighteenth century in Colonial Mexico.
Academic Background
Luz Marina was at Stanford University before coming to CUSMS. While at Stanford, she completed her PhD in Economics. She was also a Hewlett Fellow for the 2007-2008 academic year at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. She was born and raised in Mexico City and completed her undergraduate studies in Economics at ITAM. Her research interests lie at the intersection of economics, political science, and history. Her project while at CUSMS will study the effect of pre-colonial institutions on institution building in the Americas both at colonization and after the colonial period.
