Julio Elías

WINTER, SPRING 2025

Julio J. Elias is a Professor in the Department of Economics and Business School at Universidad del CEMA (UCEMA), Argentina. He serves as the Executive Director of the UChicago/UCEMA Joint Initiative for Latin American Experimental Economics (JILAEE), Director of the MA program in Economics, and Director of the Center for Creativity Economics at UCEMA.

He earned his BA from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina, in 1996, and his MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago in 2005. Elias has held positions as a Visiting Fellow at the Becker Friedman Institute, a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago, the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he was also an Assistant Professor.

Elias's research focuses on organ donation, exploring financial incentives, strategies to alleviate organ shortages, and the associated moral aspects. In collaboration with Gary Becker of the University of Chicago, he has analyzed the introduction of financial incentives to stimulate organ donations. Working with Nicola Lacetera of the University of Toronto and Mario Macis of Johns Hopkins University, Elias has developed a research agenda to understand the concept of repugnance surrounding monetary and other incentives for organ donors, as well as other contentious transactions and markets, aiming to provide insights into market design.

Elias also studies Creativity Economics and its relation to economic development, particularly in Latin America. In this area, he and his collaborators have investigated innovation and innovators in fields such as the Argentine wine industry and Peruvian cuisine. He's also analyzed the role of cultural identity and how celebrating local culture can set products apart and inspire innovation.

Elias regularly delivers lectures on the Economics of Organ Donations and Creativity Economics, contributing to the academic and public discourse in these fields.

His research has been disseminated in journals including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Perspectives, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, PLOS One, and World Medical & Health Policy; in book chapters; and has generated productive discussion in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Together with Casey B. Mulligan and Kevin M. Murphy of the University of Chicago, he edited a collection of Gary Becker’s unpublished writings, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2023.