Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

Professional experience

  • Since- March 2013 Health Economist Office of Health Economics. Southside, 7th Floor. 105 Victoria Street. London SW1E 6QT. The OHE commissions research, publications and meetings on the economics of the pharmaceutical industry, health care systems and the use of health technology assessment.
  • 2012 Counselor in Health Economics. Consulting in the topic of Health Inequalities. University of Costa Rica, Centro Centroamericano de Poblacion (www.ccp.ucr.ac.cr).
  • 2010 – 2012 Research Assistance. Missing data estimation and application of econometrics models. Department for Agricultural Economics and Rural Development. Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany.
  • 2005 – 2010 Researcher at the Group of Health Economics. Postgraduate Economics Department and Centro Centroamericano de Población (www.ccp.ucr.ac.cr). Main topics: effect of the lifestyle and socioeconomic factors on the health status and the differences per age group, analysis the SF-36 for Costa Rica and the study of the determinants of the consumption of medicines.
  • 2009 Counselor in Price Transmission Analysis. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) headquartered in Santiago, Chile.
  • 2003 –2006 Chief Administrative Officer. I coordinated a team of six people of which I had the responsibility to be the financial administrator, the guidance counselor in the courses, and offer general help and attention to my team, professors and students. Moreover, I was responsible for handling a budget of around 70,000 Euros per year. Furthermore, I organized presentation, seminars, conferences, workshops and open courses on both the national and international level. Postgraduate Economics Department, University of Costa Rica.
  • 2002 – 2007 Research Assistant. I assisted the Director of Postgraduate Economics Department and Economic Research. As part of my responsibilities, I established an excel grid to assist the Director in making decisions for the macroeconomic model of Costa Rica. University of Costa Rica.
  • 2004 - 2004 Member of the Meeting Organization Committee of LACEA (Latin American and Caribbean Economics Association) in San José, Costa Rica. November 4-6, 2004. I collaborated on the financial management of the activity.


    • Teaching Experience

  • 2010 - 2012 Tutor in the Courses Econometrics 1 and Econometrics 2. Institute for Statistics and Econometrics. Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany.
  • 2006 – 2007 Teacher of Statistics. Masters programs of Health Economics, Pharmacoeconomics and Banking and Capital Markets. Postgraduate Economics Department, University of Costa Rica.
  • 2002 – 2007 Teacher of Economic Database Usage and Statistics. I taught third-year undergraduate students how to manage databases using tools, such as office and various statistical and econometrics programs. Department of Economics, University of Costa Rica.
  • 2002- 2005 Teacher of Statistical Programs for Master Students of Economics. I taught basic statistics and econometrics using simple tools, such as Excel, and more advance statistical programs, such SPSS, to master students of Pharmacoeconomics, Health Economics and Banking and Capital Markets. The students were very unfamiliar with such topics. I was very successful in that my students were able to utilize these tools quite well by the end of the course. Postgraduate Economics Department, University of Costa Rica.
  • 2000 - 2003 Tutor Microeconomics and Statistics. I provided classes to masters students as a tutor in the introductory courses. Postgraduate Economics Department, University of Costa Rica.

    • Education

  • 2008 – 2012 PhD Agricultural Economics. PhD Thesis “Price Transmission within Selected Agricultural Markets of Latin America”. Department for Agricultural Economics and Rural Development. Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany.
  • 2002 – 2006 Master’s degree in Economics with emphasis in Banking and Capital Markets. University of Costa Rica.
  • 1997 – 2001 Bachelor in Economics. University of Costa Rica.
  • Year graduated/completed (optional), degree earned (e.g., DPhil in Health Economics), school/university


    • Language and other skills


    Statistical Softwares

  • R, Stata, SPSS, Eviews, J Multi, VBA.
    Languages
  • Spanish (mother tongue)
  • English (advance level)
  • German (intermediate level)


    • Distinctions

  • Scholarship of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
  • As part of the Research Group of Health Economy, we presented and won the grant of the Merck Foundation (100,000 dollars per year during three years) known as Program on Pharmaceutical Policy Issues (PPPI) with which we made an extensive market analysis of medicaments in Central America.

    • Publications


    Reviewed Publications

    Journals

  • 2010. Hernández K. “Asymmetric Price Transmission and Structural Breaks in the Relationship between Costa Rican Markets of Livestock Cattle, Beef and Milk”. The Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology. ISSN 1939-1250. 4 (5) (Serial No.30) pp 37-50.
  • 2008. Morera-Salas M., A. Aparicio-Llanos, K. Hernández, JR. Vargas, et.al. “Determinantes y Diferencias de Salud entre las Regiones de Costa Rica” (Health Status and Determinants and Differences of Health between the Regions of Costa Rica). Población y Salud en Mesoamérica. ISSN-16590201.
  • 2008. Aparicio-Llanos A., M. Morera-Salas, K. Hernández, JR. Vargas, et.al. “Factores Relacionados a la Utilización de Servicios de Salud en Costa Rica”. (Factors Related to the Utilization of Health Services in Costa Rica). Revista de Salud Pública. ISSN 0124-0064.


    • Non-reviewed publications

    Journals

  • 2010. Dutoit L., K. Hernández & C. Urrutia. “Transmisión de Precios en los Mercados del Maíz y Arroz en América Latina”. (Price Transmission in Latin American Maize and Rice Markets). Serie CEPAL: Desarrollo Productivo. ISBN: 978-92-1-323464-8.
  • 2007. Hernández K., M. Morera-Salas, JR. Vargas, et.al. “Valores Poblacionales de Referencia del Cuestionario de Salud Sf-36 para Costa Rica”. (Reference Values of the SF-36 Health Survey for Costa Rica). Gaceta Sanitaria Vol. 21 Special edition.
    www.aes.es/Jornadas2007/GS_CONGRESO_ECONOMIA_SALUD.pdf


    • Monographs
  • 2007. Hernández K. et. al. “Una Medida de Calidad de Vida Relacionada con la Salud: Valores Poblacionales de Referencia para Costa Rica, 2006”. (Health-related Measure of the Quality of Life: the case of Costa Rica, 2006). Decimotercer Informe Estado de la Nacion en Desarrollo Humano Sostenible, San José Costa Rica. www.estadonacion.or.cr/index.php/biblioteca-virtual/informes-costa-rica/ponencias/aspectos-sociales/informe-xiii/567-informe-xiii-calidad-de-vida

    • Working Papers
  • 2012. Hernández K. “El Adulto Mayor y la Universalidad de la Salud Análisis de Desigualdad Basado en una Comparación entre los Diferentes Grupos de Edad”. (Elderly and the Universality of Health: Analysis of Inequality Based on a Comparison between Age Groups). Working Paper, Centro Centroamericano de Población, Universidad de Costa Rica.
  • 2012. Hernández-Villafuerte, K. “Analysis of the Socioeconomic Well-being Inequities in Costa Rica: Unlike Health, is Happiness Something that Money cannot Buy?”. Working Paper, Centro Centroamericano de Población, Universidad de Costa Rica.

    •  
    Important Specialist Conferences

  • 2011. Hernández-Villafuerte K. “The Relationship between Spatial Integration and Geographical Distance in Brazil”:


    The European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE) Congress. Zurich, Switzerland. August-September, 30-2.

    AAEA & NAREA Joint Annual Meeting. Pittsburgh, USA. July, 24-26.


  • 2010. Hernández-Villafuerte K. “Factores que Influyen en los Hábitos de Vida de los Costarricenses: ¿Varian Estos Factores en Pacientes Con Enfermedades Crónicas?” (Factors Influencing the Costa Rican Lifestyle: Do Vary These Factors on Patients with Chronic Diseases?). Jornadas de Economía de la Salud (Health Economics Annual Meeting). Valencia, Spain. June 22-25.
  • 2010. Hernández-Villafuerte K. “Relation between the Spatial Price Transmission and the Geographic Distance in Brazil” International EAAE-SYAL 2010. Parma, Italy. October 27-30.
  • 2009. Hernández K. “The Role of Asymmetric Price Transmission and Structural Breaks in the Relationship between Costa Rican Markets of Livestock Cattle, Beef and Milk” 27th International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) Conference. Beijing, China. August 16-22.
  • 2009. Hernández K., L. Dutoit & C. Urrutia. “Price Transmission in Latin American Maize and Rice Markets”. 4th Annual Conference of the Garnet Network, Food Security and Suitable Development. Rome. November 11-13.
  • 2008. Hernández K., P. Barber, Y. Xirinach et.al. “Hábitos de Vida Saludables y su Relación con la Percepción de Salud y el Estado de Salud en la Población Adulta Costarricense”. (Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Their Relationship with the Health Perception and Health Status of Costa Rican Adult Population). Jornadas de Economía de la Salud (Health Economics Annual Meeting). Salamanca, Spain. May 28-30.
  • 2008. Hernández K., P. Barber, Y. Xirinach et.al. “Diferencias Regionales en la Prevalencia del Consumo de Medicamentos no Naturales en la Población Adulta Costarricense, 2006” (Regional Differences in the Prevalent of the Consumption of Allopathic Medicines in the Adult Costa Rican Population). Jornadas de Economía de la Salud (Health Economics Annual Meeting). Salamanca, Spain. May 28-30.
  • 2007. Hernández K., Xirinachs Y. & Vargas JR. “Pérdida de Poder Monopsonico de La Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social en la Adquisición de Medicamentos Producto de la Fragmentación de las Compras: 2003-2006” (Loss of Monophonic Power on the CCSS in the Purchase of Medicines). Jornadas de Economía de la Salud (Health Economics Annual Meeting). La Coruña, Spain. Jun 6-8.
  • 2007. Hernández K., Xirinachs Y. & Vargas JR. “Variabilidad en los Precios de Compra de Medicamentos en la Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social: El Caso de los Antineoplásicos”. (Evolution of the Consumption and Antineoplasic Pharmaceutical Expenses across Official Recipe of the Costa Rican Public Health System). Jornadas de Economía de la Salud (Health Economics Annual Meeting). La Coruña, Spain. Jun 6-8.