The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has announced the winners of the 2025 IDB Young Economist Award, an annual honor that celebrates exceptional research by recent PhD graduates in economics focused on Latin America and the Caribbean. The award highlights rigorous and policy-relevant work that addresses pressing regional development challenges.
First prize went to Pascuel Plotkin, an Argentine researcher at the Center for Monetary and Financial Studies, for his paper “Dinner at Your Door: How Delivery Platforms Affect Workers and Firms.” His study examines the effects of online delivery platforms on restaurants and workers in Brazil, shedding light on both the costs and opportunities these platforms create, especially in economies with high levels of informality.
The second prize was awarded to Daniel Jaramillo Calderón, an Ecuadorian economist from The University of British Columbia, for his analysis of the impact of a mass amnesty in Ecuador on neighborhood crime rates, focusing on the reintegration of former convicts. Third prize went to Renata Motta Café, a Brazilian economist from the Getulio Vargas Foundation and fiscal policy specialist at the IDB, for her research on how access to government-backed loans influences municipal public spending in Brazil.
Honorable mentions were given to Francisco Eslava Sáenz of Colombia (University of British Columbia), Karla Hernández of Costa Rica (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Isaac Martínez Centeno of Chile (London School of Economics and Political Science), Laura Pérez Cervera of Spain (Queen Mary University), and Víctor Zuluaga of Colombia (University of Houston), recognizing their outstanding contributions to the field.
Laura Alfaro Maykall, Chief Economist and Economic Advisor at the IDB, praised the winners, stating, “This award honors academic excellence and highlights the transformative power of economic research to improve lives. We congratulate the winners for their creative, rigorous, and policy-relevant work addressing critical challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
The awardees will be celebrated at the 2nd IDB Research Conference on September 15 and 16 at IDB headquarters in Washington, DC. The conference will feature presentations and discussions with academics, policymakers, and development professionals, exploring how digital technologies such as AI, digitization, and automation are reshaping economic development.
The 2025 IDB Young Economist Award received 66 applications from PhD graduates across the IDB’s 48 member countries. A selection committee of IDB economists and researchers evaluated submissions based on originality, methodological rigor, and policy relevance, identifying the winners who demonstrate the highest potential to influence development in the region.
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