MdM Unit of Excellence
In 2016, CEMFI was awarded the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" distinction by the Spanish National Research Agency. This distinction is granted to public research centers and units that demonstrate global scientific leadership and impact. CEMFI has maintained this distinction for the period 2022-2025.

The award entails 2-million-euro funding for a period of 4 years. CEMFI's strategic research program aims to strengthen its position as a leading world-class research institution in economics, and to expand and strengthen its PhD program. As part of this research program, the following activities are being undertaken:
- The PhD Support Program enhances CEMFI's capacity to attract highly qualified international students by providing them competitive funding. As human capital, both faculty and students, is the main ingredient of successful PhD training, the ability to attract top-level graduate students to CEMFI is an essential part of the Strategic Program.
- The Visitor Program fosters the interaction between CEMFI's researchers and leading international scholars. Visits funded by this program normally last between two weeks and three months and take place between September and mid-July. Visitors are expected to contribute to the already vibrant research environment at CEMFI and interact with faculty and graduate students.
Applications to the CEMFI María de Maeztu Visitor Program are made by filling an online application form available following this here. The number of visiting positions is limited. There are two deadlines for application: 15 September (first round) and 15 January (second round, if there are still available positions). CEMFI provides visitors with a flat honorarium, which depends on the duration of the visit, to cover their travel and accommodation expenses.
Acedemic year | Visitor | Affiliation | Dates |
---|---|---|---|
2022-2023 | Javier Bianchi | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis | November-December |
Kamran Bilir | Princeton University | September-June | |
Joshua Blumenstock | University of California at Berkeley | September-May | |
Leopoldo Fergusson | Universidad de los Andes | April-August | |
Bryan Graham | University of California at Berkeley | September-December | |
Rody Manuelli | Washington University in St. Louis | January-June | |
Eduardo Morales | Princeton University | September-June | |
2021-2022 | Juan Dubra | Universidad de Montevideo | November-December |
Raquel Fernandez | New York University | June-July | |
Cecilia García Peñalosa | Aix Marseille School of Economics | January-March | |
Jonathan Hall | University of Toronto | March | |
Enrique Mendoza | University of Pennsylvania | February-April | |
Kurt Mitman | Institute for International Economic Studies | March-April | |
Morten O. Ravn | University College London | April-June | |
Luca Repetto | Uppsala University | November-March | |
Andrés Rodríguez-Clare | University of California at Berkeley | February-May | |
Esteban Rossi-Hansberg | University of Chicago | May | |
Alessandro Ruggieri | University of Nottingham | October | |
María Sáez Martí | Yale University | January-February | |
Fabrizio Zilibotti | Yale University | January-February | |
2020-2021 | Jorge de la Roca | University of Southern California | September-November |
Julio Garín | Claremont McKenna College | March-July | |
Martín Gonzalez-Eiras | University of Copenhagen | October-November | |
Morten O. Ravn | University College London | November-December | |
2019-2020 | Martin Gonzalez Eiras | University of Copenhagen | May-July |
Keith Head | University of British Columbia | September-July | |
2018-2019 | R. Anton Braun | Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta | April-June |
Dean Corbae | Wisconsin School of Business | May-June | |
Rosario Crinó | Universitá Catolica del Sacro Cuore | January-April | |
Mauricio Drelichman | University of British Columbia | September-February | |
Gilles Duranton | University of Pennsylvania | January | |
Iván Fernández-Val | Boston University | January-June | |
Luca Repetto | Uppsala University | September-March | |
Frédéric Robert-Nicoud | University of Geneva | September-December | |
Jan Stuhler | Universidad Carlos III de Madrid | October-March | |
Lucciano Villacorta | Banco Central de Chile | March | |
2017-2018 | Konstantin Büchel | Uniersität Bern | January-February |
Margarida Duarte | University of Toronto | January-June | |
Maximilian Ehrlich | Uniersität Bern | January-February | |
Pablo Fajgelbaum | University of California, Los Angeles | May-June | |
Pierre-Carl Michaud | HEC Montréal | October, June | |
Maria Jose Prados | University of Southern California | June | |
Christopher Rauh | Université de Montréal | May-June | |
Diego Restuccia | University of Toronto | January-June | |
Frédéric Robert-Nicoud | University of Geneva | August | |
2016-2017 | Jorge de la Roca | University of Southern California | November |
- The Research Support Program provides resources for faculty and graduate students to boost CEMFI's research output. Four elements of the Research Support program have been designed to encourage high-risk, high-return projects (Exploration Grants Program), reward top-quality research (Research Incentive Program), enhance the interaction between faculty and students (Research Assistantship Program), and address specific needs of graduate students (Explorations Grants Program and PhD Placement Program).
This prize recognizes the best original piece of research conducted by CEMFI PhD students during the first year of their thesis writting stage.
Academic year | Name | Title |
---|---|---|
2021-2022 | Francesco Chiocchio | The Effects of Property Taxes on Homeownership |
2020-2021 | Claudio Luccioletti | Labor Market Power and the City-Size Wage Premium |
2019-2020 | Alba Miñano | When are D-graded Neighborhoods not Degraded? Geography and the Legacy of Redlining |
2018-2019 | Javier López-Segovia | Intergenerational Persistence in Welfare Program Participation |
2017-2018 | José Gutierrez | Capital Requirements for Off-Balance-Sheet Exposures: How do They Affect Real Economy Through Credit Lines? |
2016-2017 | Jorge Abad | Breaking the Feedback Loop: Macroprudential Regulation o Banks' Sovereign Exposure |
- Finally, María de Maeztu post-doctoral fellows contribute to CEMFI's research environment and enhance its graduate teaching capabilities.
Dates | Researchers |
---|---|
September 2020 - February 2022 | Mateo Montenegro |
May 2022 - | Lajos Kossuth |
September 2022 | Cauê Dobbin |
September 2018 - June 2021 | Christoph Albert |
September 2018 - August 2019 | Clara Santamaría |
May - October 2018 | Anja Grujovic |