Dr Vitor Castro

PhD in Economics (University of Warwick); MSc in Economic Policy (University of Minho); undergraduate degree in Economics (University of Minho)

  • Reader in Economics

Expertise: economic growth and business cycles; fiscal and monetary policy; political economy; health economics; applied econometrics; duration analysis.

Research groups and centres

Vitor Castro joined Loughborough University in December 2016 and has been teaching 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) where he thought Calculus, Statistics and Econometrics. He was also a Research Assistant at the University of Minho (Portugal) from September 1999 to September 2001.

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

He has published several papers in peer reviewed international journals in the areas of Economics and Finance.

He is also co-author of a book on 'Introduction to Econometrics'.

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*]