Joan Monràs, professor in the UPF Department of Economics and Business and research advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (USA), has received the Fundació Banco Sabadell Award for Economic Research for his innovative research in the field of immigration.

The award, endowed with €30,000, was presented during an event at the headquarters of Banco Sabadell in Oviedo (Asturias), on October 4. The award was presented by Josep Oliu, president of Banco Sabadell.

"It is a privilege to have obtained this award and I am particularly excited to follow in the footsteps of all the previous awardees, many of whom have been economists of reference due to my own research and way of understanding the economy," said Prof. Monràs.

The jury of this 22nd. edition of the award was formed by prestigious economists, chaired by Teresa García-Milà, and accompanied by Javier Andrés, Antonio Cabrales, Natalia Fabra, Nagore Iriberri, Núria Mas, Diego Puga, and Marta Reynal-Querol.

In a speech, Mr. Oliu highlighted the innovative contributions of Prof. Monràs, which "show that the effects of immigration depend not only on the interaction of immigrants but also with established residents in the labour market, housing markets, local consumption and their net tax contributions."

The Banc Sabadell Foundation awards the prize to recognise the work of Spanish researchers in the fields of economic, business, and social knowledge, and to contribute to the analysis and formulation of alternatives that promote social welfare.

Prof. Monràs' research, based in the fields of labour economics, urban economics, and international trade, focuses on understanding labour mobility and geography and how this contributes to spatial balance. The articles he has published in several international journals analyse the effects of immigration on the labour market and how local economies adjust to economic impacts and policy changes. Prof. Monràs obtained a doctorate in Economics from Columbia University in 2014. He holds a master's degree in Economics from the UPF, another in International Relations from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Linked to the UPF Department of Economics and Business since 2018, he is a member of the Center for Research in International Economics (CREI) and also a professor affiliated with the Barcelona School of Economics (BSE). Prof. Monràs is currently on leave to develop the position of Research Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

He has received several prizes and scholarships such as the Ramon i Cajal scholarship, the Ramon Areces Foundation scholarship, the Upjohn Institute Early Career Research, the Young Labor Economist prize of the European Association of Labor Economists (EALE), and the Excellence in Refereeing Award from the Review of Economic Studies.