Carlos Mendez

Carlos Mendez

Associate Professor of Development Economics

Nagoya University, JAPAN

About me

After studying Commercial Engineering in Bolivia and Chile, I worked as a consultant for Pro-Mujer International, The World Bank, DANIDA, and JICA. I have a M.A. and a Ph.D. in International Development from Nagoya University, Japan. My research interests focus on the integration of development economics, spatial data science, and applied econometrics to better understand and inform the process of sustainable development across regions. My current research deals with (1) geospatial big data analytics and socioeconomic development; (2) geospatial inequality, poverty, and growth interactions; (3) regional infrastructure and mobility flows; and (4) spatial structural change and productivity dynamics.

Download my CV.

Interests
  • Regional Development
  • Applied Econometrics
  • Spatial Big Data Analytics
  • Spatial Machine Learning
  • Development Macroeconomics
Education

  • PhD in International Development, 2015

    Nagoya University

  • MA in International Development, 2012

    Nagoya University

  • Lic in Commercial Engineering, 2008

    Bolivian Catholic University

QuaRCS-lab Japan

In the QuaRCS-lab and its global network, we conduct research on quantitative regional and computational science. We exploit the integration of development economics, spatial data science, and applied econometrics to understand and inform the process of sustainable development across subnational regions and countries.

When the sun goes down and the lights turn on, there’s still a lot to explore.
Let’s study regional development from outer space!


QUIZ: Based on the regression NTL = a + b(t), the map below shows the trends of nighttime lights. An RGB composite is used for visualization, where positive and negative slope values are represented by red and blue gradients respectively, and the intercept is represented by a green gradient.
Given these parameters, how would you interpret the yellow and cyan colors?
(Hint: Copy and paste this quiz into ChatGPT)

What about the distribution of population? What can we learn from the spatial dynamics of population?
(Click anywhere on the map below and discover it.)

Other Publications

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Tifani Siregar, Carlos Mendez (2026). Minimum wage differentials and commuting across districts. Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science.

Cite DOI Video Published article

Carlos Mendez, Mehak Sachdeva (2025). On the political and socioeconomic geography of violence: Spatial heterogeneity and scale effects in Brazil. Spatial Economic Analysis.

Cite DOI Article AI Podcast Notebook: Stats Notebook: OLS Notebook: GWR Notebook: MGWR Notebook: GWR vs MGWR

Hussein Suleiman, Minh-Thu Thi Nguyen, Carlos Mendez (2025). Predicting subnational GDP in Vietnam with remote sensing data: A machine learning approach. Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences.

Cite DOI AI Podcast Open access article

Chen Yilin, Ursavas Ugur, Carlos Mendez (2024). Can higher-quality nighttime lights predict sectoral GDP across subnational regions? Urban and rural luminosity across provinces in Türkiye. Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences.

Preprint Cite DOI AI Video AI Podcast AI Mindmap Published article

Carlos Mendez, Tifani Siregar (2023). Regional unemployment dynamics in Indonesia: Serial persistence, spatial dependence, and common factors. Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences.

Cite DOI AI Video AI Podcast AI Mindmap Published article

Harry Aginta, Carlos Mendez, Masakazu Someya (2023). Regional Okun’s law and endogeneity: evidence from the Indonesian districts. Applied Economics Letters.

PDF Cite Slides DOI

Eleonora Cutrini, Carlos Mendez (2023). Convergence clubs and spatial structural change in the European Union. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.

PDF Cite DOI

See all publications

Recent & Upcoming Presentations

Development studies in the age of AI
International and Interdisciplinary Workshop, Royal University of Phnom Penh
Sep 18, 2025 2:00 PM Phenom Penh, Cambodia
Slides
Development studies in the age of AI
Monitoring local development from outer space: Promises and pitfalls of satellite nighttime lights
Seminar of the Geographic Data Science Lab, University of Liverpool
Nov 13, 2024 10:10 AM Liverpool, UK
Slides
Monitoring local development from outer space: Promises and pitfalls of satellite nighttime lights
Monitoring economic development from outer space
Workshop of the Asian Development Bank Institute
Sep 4, 2024 10:10 AM Tokyo, Japan
Slides
Monitoring economic development from outer space
Exploring Economic Activity from Outer Space: A Python Notebook for Processing and Analyzing Satellite Nighttime Lights
63rd Congress of the European Regional Science Association
Aug 27, 2024 10:10 AM Azores, Portugal and Virtual
PDF Code Slides
Exploring Economic Activity from Outer Space: A Python Notebook for Processing and Analyzing Satellite Nighttime Lights
Nighttime Lights and Economic Activity: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries
63rd Congress of the European Regional Science Association
Aug 26, 2024 10:10 AM Azores, Portugal and Virtual
Slides
Nighttime Lights and Economic Activity: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries
See all events

Posts & Tutorials

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Sensitivity Analysis for Parallel Trends in Difference-in-Differences Using honestdid in Stata
Sensitivity Analysis for Parallel Trends in Difference-in-Differences Using honestdid in Stata
Mar 26, 2026
Assess how robust difference-in-differences results are to violations of parallel trends using the honestdid package in Stata, progressing from a simple 2x2 DiD to multi-period event studies with relative magnitudes and smoothness restrictions
Stata do-file Dataset (.dta) Stata log
Difference-in-Differences for Policy Evaluation: A Tutorial using R
Difference-in-Differences for Policy Evaluation: A Tutorial using R
Mar 26, 2026
A guide to Difference-in-Differences with staggered treatment — from TWFE pitfalls through Callaway-Sant’Anna group-time ATTs, doubly robust estimation, and HonestDiD sensitivity analysis — applied to minimum wage effects on teen employment.
R script
Evaluating a Cash Transfer Program (RCT) with Panel Data in Stata
Evaluating a Cash Transfer Program (RCT) with Panel Data in Stata
Mar 24, 2026
Evaluate the causal effect of a cash transfer program on household consumption using regression adjustment, inverse probability weighting, doubly robust, and difference-in-differences methods in Stata
Stata do-file Dataset (.dta) Stata log
Three Methods for Robust Variable Selection: BMA, LASSO, and WALS
Three Methods for Robust Variable Selection: BMA, LASSO, and WALS
Mar 23, 2026
Three principled approaches to variable selection—BMA, LASSO, and WALS—applied to synthetic cross-country CO2 emissions data with known ground truth, demonstrating methodological triangulation for robust inference.
[R] Google Colab R script
Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression: Spatially Varying Economic Convergence in Indonesia
Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression: Spatially Varying Economic Convergence in Indonesia
Mar 22, 2026
Applying Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR) to reveal how economic catching-up varies across Indonesia’s 514 districts, with each variable operating at its own spatial scale
Python script
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Projects

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All Regional development Spatial data science
metricsAI
An introduction to econometrics with Python and AI in the cloud
Website
metricsAI
GeoDevelopment Dashboards
Interactive geospatial dashboards for monitoring regional development
GeoDevelopment Dashboards
DS4Bolivia
A Data Science Repository to Study GeoSpatial Development in Bolivia
Code Slides Video Website
DS4Bolivia
GeoDevelopment Observatory of Cambodia
A public access platform for the analysis, monitoring, and evaluation of sustainable regional development in Cambodia
Slides Video Website
GeoDevelopment Observatory of Cambodia
Computational data science notebooks and apps for development studies
Computational data science notebooks and apps to foster development studies.
Website
Computational data science notebooks and apps for development studies

Students

Doctoral students

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Abdulah Rusli (Indonesia)

PhD student 2023-2026

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Bimo Arvianto (Indonesia)

PhD student 2025-2028

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Cesar Echevarria (Peru)

PhD student 2024-2027

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He Du (China)

PhD student 2025-2028

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Leiva Favio (Peru)

PhD student 2023-2024

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Li Jiaqi (China)

PhD student 2023-2026

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Li Xiaomeng (China)

PhD student 2025-2028

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Phon Sophat (Cambodia)

PhD student 2024-2027

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Restrepo Katerine (Colombia)

PhD student 2023-2026

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Sour Heng (Cambodia)

PhD student 2023-2026

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Theara Khoun (Cambodia)

PhD student 2022-2025

Master students

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Kanyama Yuna (Japan)

Master student 2024-2026

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Mujkanovic Adin (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Master student 2025-2027

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Prieto Laura (Colombia)

Master student 2024-2026

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