Juan-Carlos Cuestas
Lecturer in Economics
Room 527
Tel +44 (0)114 22 23410
Fax +44 (0)114 22 23458
email : j.cuestas@sheffield.ac.uk
Biography
Juan-Carlos graduated from the University of Valencia (Spain) in 2000 and gained an MSc from the University of Nottingham and a PhD from Jaume I University (Spain). He previously worked at the University of Alicante (Spain) as a visiting professor and Nottingham Trent University as a lecturer. He has participated in a number of research projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology on economic integration and international economics. Juan-Carlos joined the department in September 2010 as a lecturer.
Teaching
"I currently teach Macroeconomic Principles during the winter semester. In this module I cover basic macroeconomic concepts and their interrelation. Students are introduced to the IS-LM, unemployment and inflation models, and the role of expectations in the behaviour of key macroeconomic variables. Given the current macroeconomic climate, an understanding of these concepts is critical to understanding of the influence that different agents have on the overall performances of the economy. My teaching strategy is to introduce key concepts and then lead the students towards the understanding of the ways changes in these variables affect different agents via practical examples. In particular, I try to link my research experience on applied macroeconomics with the theory introduced to the students. Hence, critical thinking and a linking theory with reality are the cornerstone of my teaching and learning approach. I consider that future economists should have a solid theoretical background in macroeconomics, backed up with case studies from different real world situations."
Research Summary and PhD Student Supervision
Juan-Carlos´ research interests lie primarily in the area of applied macroeconometrics and in particular the economic integration of European transition countries and development economics. Examples of his work include: the analysis of the persistence of shocks in European transition countries´ unemployment rates; the role of Germany in the economic convergence of Central and Eastern Europe; fiscal shocks and budget balance persistence in the EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe; and the prevalence of shocks to inflation rates in African countries. Juan-Carlos is interested in supervising PhD students in any area of applied macroeconomics.