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Staff Profile

Dr Roberto Bonilla Trejos

Lecturer in Economics

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 1675
Background

I hold a PhD in Economics and an MSc in Economics from the University of Essex. Additionally, I earned a BSc in Economics from the Universidad de Costa Rica. I joined Newcastle University in 2005. I am currently the

Degree Programme Director – MSc Economics and Finance.

My academic journey includes positions as Lecturer in Economics at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth, Teaching Fellow and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Essex, and Teaching Assistant at the University of Costa Rica. I have served in advisory roles, including as an Adviser to the Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Trade in Costa Rica and as an Economic Researcher at the Federation of Private Entities of Central America and Panama (FEDEPRICAP). Additionally, I have been involved in various visiting positions at institutions such as the University of Geneva, SUNY-Albany, CESifo in Munich, the INCAE Business School in Costa Rica, the Department of Economics at the University of Navarra and University of Milano-Bicocca. I have attended numerous conferences and seminars globally, presenting papers and engaging with the academic community in events such as the EEA Annual Congress, EALE Annual Conference, and ISNIE Annual Conference,

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

  • Refereeing activity: Referee for International Economic Review, Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, Labour Economics; Journal of Macroeconomics; European Economic Review
  • External Examiner (PG), University of Essex, Adam Smith Business School (Economics), University of Glasgow.
  • Deputy Director of Undergraduate Studies; Senior Tutor; Degree Program Director, Economics and Business Management; Thesis supervision.

Click here for my full CV. For further information on my publications, see below:

  • My Google Scholar, click here
  • My Research Gate, click here
Research

My research focuses on economic theories, particularly in the realm of labour economics, gender economics, mathematical economics, and the marriage market. I am interested in theoretical frameworks and their practical applications, especially in understanding how markets function in allocating labour and shaping social dynamics such as marriage. I am also interested in search theory, which examines decision-making processes in uncertain environments, and applied theories that explore real-world implications of economic concepts.

  • Applied theory, Search theory.
  • Micro Economy
  • Mathematical Models
  • Labour Market
  • Marriage Market

Click here to access my Google Scholar Profile/ Click here to access my Research Gate Profile

Current work in progress:

  • Intra-family Bargaining with integrated labour and marriage markets.
  • Provision of ethical goods under uncertainty in markets with frictions (mimeo, with Pascal Stiefenhoffer
  • Flexible work in a frictional model of the marriage market. (with Sara Maioli, Newcastle University
  • Bonilla, R., Kiraly, F. and Wildman, J. (2018) Marriage Premium and Class, CESifo Working Paper No. 6550. for submission in mid 2024.
  • Bonilla, R., Kiraly, F. , Malo, MA and Pinto, F. (2023) Marriage, divorce and reservation wages - theory and empirical test, under review in European Economic Review
  • Gender asymmetries in the labour and marriage markets: theory, evidence and policy implications (with Prof. Adrian Masters – SUNY-Albany.) for submission in late 2024 (target: JEBO)

Book Chapters:

Roberto Bonilla, 2018. "Chiappori, Pierre-André: Matching with transfers: the economics of love and marriage," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 313-316, November.

Journal Publications:

  1. Bonilla, R., Kiraly, F. Male Investment in Schooling with Frictional Labour and Marriage Markets. Accepted for publication in the Review of Economics of the Household, May 2023.
  2. Bonilla, R, Masters A. Endogenous gender-based discrimination in a model of simultaneous frictional labor and marriage markets Economic Theory Bulletin 2023. In Press.
  3. Bonilla, R.; Malo, M; Pinto, F. “Marriage Wage Premium with Contract Type Heterogeneity", Labour Economics, 78
  4. Bonilla, R., Francis Kiraly, and John Wildman. “Marriage Wage Premium with Productivity Heterogeneity”, Bulletin of Economic Research, 40(1), 317-328.
  5. Bonilla, R. and Alberto Trejos. “Marriage and Employment Participation with Bargaining in Search Equilibrium”, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 68(4), 517-533.
  6. Bonilla R, Kiraly F. Constrained Fixed Sample Search. Economics Bulletin, 40(2), 1645-1650.
  7. Bonilla, R., Kiraly, F. and Wildman, J, (2018). Beauty Premium and Marriage Premium in Search Equilibrium: Theory and Empirical Test. International Economic Review. Vol. 60, Issue 2, pp. 851-877, 2019
  8. Bonilla, R. and Alberto Trejos. “Employment Participation and Home Production in Search Equilibrium”, Monetaria, Volume XXXVII, 2015 (1)
  9. Bonilla R. and Francis Kiraly, “Marriage Wage Premium in a Search Equilibrium”, Labour Economics, Volume 24, October 2013, pp. 107-115
  10. Bonilla R. and Ken Burdett, “On-the-Job Search and Labour Market Equilibrium”. BE Journal of Macroeconomics 2010, 10 (1) 
  11. Bonilla, R. “Contracts and on-the-job search”. Labour Economics 2008, 15(3)
  12. Bonilla R and Ken Burdett, “Bargaining, on-the-job search and labor market equilibrium”. In: Bunzel, H.; Christensen, B.J.; Neumann, G.R.; Robin, J-M, ed. Structural models of wage and employment dynamics. Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V, 2006, pp.15-35

Supervision:

I welcome PhD applications in the following areas:

  • Labour Economics
  • Mathematical Economics
  • Gender Economics
  • Theoretical Economics
  • Applied Theory in any economic field

Current PhD Students:

  • Jing Qian (shared supervision), Search Theory in the analysis of green policies.
  • Yemi Oyedeje (shared supervision), Gentrification and Schooling in the United Kingdom.

Awards, Fellowships, and Grants:

NUBS Internationalisation Scheme (2023, 2019,2012, 2014)

Banco Santander Funding (2017)

External Relations Office, Newcastle University Business School (2014)

Santander Universities (2012), Visiting Professor, Universidad Navarra

HASS School (2015)

Teaching

Present courses:

NBS8662 Recursive Methods in Equilibrium Economic Modelling (PhD and MSc)

NBS8903 Introduction to Economic Theory (PhD and MSc)

NBS8252 Macro Economic Theory (PG)

ECO3004 Labour Economics (UG)

ECO2102 Microeconomics Analysis (Seminars)

ECO2101 Microeconomics Analysis (Seminars)

Past courses:

Undergraduates (UG): Microeconomics, Labour Economics, Personnel Economics, Government and Industry, Economics of Risk and Uncertainty, Regulation Economics, Introduction to Econometrics and Introduction to Economics

Post graduate (PG): International Trade, Research Methods and Game Theory

Publications