Chris M. Woodruff
Associate Professor of Economics; Director of Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies
cwoodruff@ucsd.edu
Phone: (858) 534-0590
Fax: (858) 534-3939
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0519
Office #1321
Education
Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin, 1994 (economics)
M.A., University of California, Los Angeles, 1984 (economics)
B.A., University of Chicago, 1980 (economics)
Biography
CV
Woodruff's research focuses on the challenges faced by small and medium sized firms in developing and transition economies. His research examines how disfunctional legal systems make formal contracting impossible, how inadequate financial systems limit access to financial capital, and how corruption makes retention of profits difficult. Woodruff's research spans a broad area of the developing world including Mexico, Vietnam, and eastern Europe. Currently, Woodruff examines the sources of financial capital for small firms in Mexico. Together with a Mexican colleague, Woodruff finds that remittances from workers in the United States play a large role in financing small enterprises in urban Mexico. Woodruff has written articles on wages in Mexico and the adjustment of firms in Mexico's industrial sector to increases of import levels and export opportunities, the latter primarily the result of NAFTA. He has also written articles on the development of markets in Vietnam and eastern Europe and has served as a consultant to the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Woodruff joined IR/PS in 1994.
Programs and Centers
Center for U.S. - Mexican Studies
Perspectives
Woodruff can provide commentary on a variety of issues related to the impact of NAFTA, and trade liberalization on labor markets and firms in Mexico. Woodruff can also comment on issues affecting the market development of the economies of eastern Europe and Vietnam.
Expertise
Woodruff's primary research focuses on the challenges faced by small and medium sized firms in developing and transition economies. Woodruff studies how dysfunctional legal systems make formal contracting impossible, how inadequate financial systems limit access to financial capital, and how corruption makes retention of profits difficult. Geographically, his research spans a broad area of the developing world: Mexico, Vietnam and eastern Europe.
Current Projects
In one current project, Woodruff examines the sources of financial capital for small firms in Mexico. Together with a Mexican colleague, Woodruff finds that remittances from workers in the United States play a large role in financing small enterprises in urban Mexico. Initial estimates suggest that remittances are responsible for as much as 20% of the capital invested in microenterprises in Mexico. This work will be extended to a set of somewhat larger firms through surveys currently being carried out.
Background Notes
Woodruff has also been a consultant to the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He has been on the faculty at IR/PS since 1994.
Research Interests
Woodruff examines the sources of financial capital for small firms in Mexico.
Publications of Note
Woodruff has written articles on wages in Mexico and the adjustment of firms in Mexico's industrial sector to increases in import levels and export opportunities, the latter primarily the result of NAFTA. Woodruff has also written articles on the development of markets in Vietnam and eastern Europe.
Recent Publications
"Why do Firms Hide?: Bribes and Unofficial Activity after Communism" (with S. Johnson, D. Kaufman and J. McMillan), Journal of Public Economics, forthcoming.
"Interfirm Relationships and Informal Credit in Vietnam," (with J. McMillan), Quarterly Journal of Economics, forthcoming, November 1999.
Managerial Economics
Fall 2006
Course Description:
Survey of basic tools in economics. Examination of how commodity demand is determined, what affects supply of the commodity, how price is determined, when optimal market allocation of resources and failure occur, and basic topics concerning the aggregate economy.
