Dr Vitor Castro

Vitor Castro joined Loughborough University in December 2016 and has been teaching Applied Econometrics, Research Skills, Financial Economics and Corporate Finance.

Previously, he held posts as Lecturer (May 2009–November 2016) and Teaching Assistant (October 2001–April 2009) at the Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Portugal. He started his academic career as Research Assistant at the University of Minho, Portugal (September 1999–September 2001).

He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick (UK), an MSc in Economic Policy and an undergraduate degree in Economics, both from the University of Minho (Portugal).

His research focuses on the duration of economic events for which he developed a specific change-points technique. It also extends to the analysis of business cycles, financial crises, political economy, and the economic impact of fiscal and monetary policies. He has a distinctive record of publications in leading academic journals in Economics and Finance. He is also co-author of a book on 'Introduction to Econometrics'.

Vitor is Associate Editor in the journal Economic Modelling and member of the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Political Economy. He is also a member of the Digital Decarbonisation Group at Loughborough University.

Research interests

• The role of fiscal and monetary policy in stabilising the economic activity.
• Determinants and timing of credit booms and financial crises.
• Business cycles and the duration of economic events.
• The political economy of economic and personal freedom.
• Relationship between sugar consumption, sugar taxes and healthcare spending.

• Agnello, Luca, Castro, Vítor and Sousa, Ricardo M. (2021). On the Duration of Sovereign Ratings Cycle Phases. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 182, 512-526. [ABS rating: 3; ABDC rating: A*]
• Agnello, Luca, Castro, Vítor, Hammoudeh, Shawkat and Sousa, Ricardo M. (2020). Global Factors, Uncertainty, Weather Conditions and Energy Prices: On the drivers of the duration of commodity price cycle phases. Energy Economics, 90, Article 104862. [ABS rating: 3; ABDC rating: A*]
• Castro, Vítor and Martins, Rodrigo (2019). The political and institutional determinants of credit booms. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 81(5), 1144-1178. [ABS rating: 3; ABDC rating: A]
• Agnello, Luca, Castro, Vítor and Sousa, Ricardo M. (2018). The Legacy and the Tyranny of Time: Exit and Re-Entry of Sovereigns to International Capital Markets. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 50(8), 1969-1994. [ABS rating: 4; ABDC rating: A*]
• Castro, Vítor (2017). Pure, white and deadly… expensive: A bitter sweetness in health care expenditure. Health Economics, 26(12), 1644-1666. [ABS rating: 3; ABDC rating: A*]
• Agnello, Luca, Castro, Vítor and Sousa, Ricardo M. (2015). Booms, busts and normal times in the housing market. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 33(1), 25-45. [ABS rating: 4; ABDC rating: A*]