The Water Crisis in Mexico City

Mexico City has been facing a water crisis for a while. Even with increased rainfall, not enough is being captured to supply the needs of the city's 22 million people - it's a common challenge for megacities. Many people refuse to pay their water bill because of frequent outages (and a variety of other factors), meaning the authorities are not receiving enough revenue to invest in updating water systems (both to make them more efficient and to capture more water). It's a downward spiral of reduced services leading to reduced investment and vice versa. Professor of Development Economics, Alejandro Estefan is working with the government of Mexico City on the economic challenge it presents.

Meet the Director: Michael Talbot

Michael Talbot is Director for Initiatives in Mexico for the University of Notre Dame. In that capacity, he provides leadership for the University’s initiatives in Mexico and serves as liaison to partner universities, government offices, non-profit organizations, alumni, and others in the region. He also serves as a resource for Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate students studying in Mexico. Prior to this position, he supported the founding of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs and served as the first Associate Director for its Master of Global Affairs program. Talbot’s research focuses on issues connected to international human rights law, transitional justice, integral human development, and the interface between international legal frameworks and traditional practices.

Meet the Faculty: Alejandro Estefan

Alejandro Estefan is an assistant professor of development economics at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. The main focus of his research is to understand the causes of economic development to inform policy decision-making. He studies many essential topics in the field of development economics, including the factors lifting individuals out of poverty; the effects of public investments in schooling; female labor force participation and its impacts; and state capacity and tax revenue collection.

Taxing Water Consumption the Ethical Way: Theory and Evidence from Mexico City

Presented by Alejandro Estefan

A research overview by Alejandro Estefan of the University of Notre Dame and Karina Ramírez, Secretaría de Hacienda from the ThinkND Forum in October, 2021.

AguaCDMX Download

Funding Public Goods in Developing Countries, Part 1

Presented by Alejandro Estefan

Part 1 of Alejandro Estefan’s, Assistant Professor of development economics at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, talk on Funding Public Goods in Developing Countries.

Funding Public Goods in Developing Countries, Part 2

Presented by Alejandro Estefan

Part 2 of Alejandro Estefan’s, Assistant Professor of development economics at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, talk on Funding Public Goods in Developing Countries.

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