Miguel holds a B.A. in Economics from ITAM and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. He has combined work in government with academic research. When inflation targetting was being adopted by the Banco de México, he developed – with Lorenza Martínez and Alejandro Werner – one of the first structural models used for that purpose. He was the Chief Economist of the Ministry of Finance of Mexico, as well as Undersecretary for Revenues and Undersecretary for Finance. He worked in the preparation and negotiation of 12 Federal Government budgets, the National Development Plan 2006-2012, the macro response of Mexico to the Great Recession, several fiscal reforms, the fiscal responsibility law for local governments, and the Energy Reform, among other topics. 

His research has covered topics in economic growth – with particular emphasis on regional growth within Mexico –, financial crises and sovereign insurance, monetary and fiscal policies.