Fernando Parro: Mechanics of Spatial Growth

The Moynihan Institutes’ Trade, Development and Political Economy working group welcomes Fernando Parro, from the University of Rochester.

Parro will discuss how internal migration and trade openness influence both spatial and overall economic growth, particularly through the lens of knowledge diffusion. Drawing on data from China’s rapid growth period, Parro offers causal evidence that regions attracting migrants, especially those from more productive areas, and those exposed to international trade, experience faster knowledge accumulation.

Parro presents a dynamic spatial model where trade and migration are pivotal in driving forward-looking factor accumulation (labor and capital) and endogenous productivity growth. Through quantitative analysis, he sheds light on the profound role of initial spatial conditions on China’s long-term economic trajectory, emphasizing the crucial interplay of factor accumulation and idea diffusion across various phases of transition.

Fernando Parro is a professor of economics at the University of Rochester and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He also serves as an associate editor for the Economic Journal and a senior associate editor at Economics Letters. Fernando earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. His research interests lie at the intersection of international trade and spatial economics, where he explores how trade, migration, and knowledge diffusion shape economic growth and regional development.