Research
Work in Progress/Submitted
[1] "Labor Market Effects of Short-Cycle Higher Education Programs: Lessons from Colombia" (with C. Galindo and M. Ferreyra), 2022. Submitted. Available: NBER Working Paper No. 30178, June 2022.
[2] "Toward an understanding of the returns to cognitive skills across cohorts" (with J. Hellerstein and S. Luo). Manuscript, 2023. Available upon request.
[3] "Is Private Education Worth it? Evidence from School-to-Work Transitions" (with D. Contreras and J. Rodriguez), submitted, 2023.
[4] "Soft Skills Training and Productivity: Evidence from an intervention in retail" (with M. Prada and G. Rucci), R & R, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 2020. Web appendix. Available: IZA Discussion Working Paper Series, No. 12447.
[5] "Redistribution through Education: Assessing the Long-term Impact of Public Spending", manuscript, 2020. Available: Working Paper 88, June 2019, CEQ Institute, Tulane University.
[6] "The Causal Effect of Skills: An International Study" (with R. Espinoza, K. Miyamoto, M. Sarzosa). Available upon request.
Published Papers
[1] "The Transmission of Commodity Price Super-Cycles" (F. Benguria and F. Saffie), forthcoming, The Review of Economic Studies, 2023. Available: NBER Working Paper No. 24560.
[2] "Voting for Democracy: Chile's Plebiscito and the Electoral Participation of a Generation" (with E. Kaplan and F. Saltiel), forthcoming, AEJ: Economic Policy . Available: NBER Working Paper No. 26440.
[3] "What Makes a Program Good? Evidence from Short-Cycle Higher Education Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean" (with L. Dinarte-Diaz, M. Ferreyra, and M. Bassi). World Development , Volume 169, September 2023, 106294.
[4] "Centralized Admission Systems and School Segregation: Evidence from a National Reform" (with M. Kutscher and S. Nath), Journal of Public Economics, Vol 221 (May 2023). Web appendix .
[5] "Does an Increasing Minimum Wage Reduce Formal Sector Employment? Evidence from Brazill" (with F. Saltiel), Economic Development and Cultural Change, Volume 70, Number 4, July 2022.
[6] "Dynamic Treatment Effects of Job Training" (with F. Saltiel and J. Rodriguez), Journal of Applied Econometrics, Volume 37, Issue 2, March 2022, Pages 242-269. Available: NBER Working Paper No. 25408.
[7] "Bullying among adolescents: The role of skills" (with M. Sarsoza), Quantitative Economics, Jul., 2021, Volume 12, Issue 3. Available: NBER Working Paper No. 21631.
[8] "The children of the missed pill " (with M. Sarzosa and T. Rau), Journal of Health Economics, Volume 79, September 2021. Available: NBER Working Paper No. 23911.
[9] Birth Order, Education, and Family Size (with J. Bagger, J. Birchenall, H. Mansour), forthcoming, The Economic Journal, Volume 131, Issue 633, January 2021, Pages 33-69. Available: NBER working paper N 19971.
[10] Should I Stay or Should I Go? Career Choices for Young Workers in Latin America (with F. Saltiel and G. Rucci). Economic Inquiry , January 2020.
[11] One Size Does Not Fit All: Multiple Dimensions of Ability, College Attendance and Earnings (with Maria Prada). Journal of Labor Economics, Volume 35, Number 4 | October 2017. Web appendix .
[12] Heterogeneous Economic Returns to Postsecondary Degrees: Evidence from Chile (with Jorge Rodriguez, and Loreto Reyes, Journal of Human Resources, 51(2), April 2016.
[13] Implementing Factor Models with Unobserved Heterogeneity in Stata: The heterofactor command (with Miguel Sarzosa), Stata Journal, 156(1), January 2016.
[14] Early Exposure to Hazardous Waste and Academic Achievement: Evidence from a Case of Environmental Negligence (with Tomas Rau, and Loreto Reyes), Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 527-563, December 2015.
[15] Cost benefit analysis of an integrated ECD program in a low-income country. (with F. Lopez Boo, and G. Palloni), Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1308, 129-138, June 2014.
[16] Economic Perspectives on Integrating Early Child Stimulation with Nutritional Interventions (with H. Alderman, J. Behrman, S. Grantham-McGregor, and F. Lopez Boo), Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1308, 139-148
[17] The Labor Market Return to an Attractive Face: Evidence from a Field Experiment (with F. Lopez Boo and M. Rossi). Economic Letters. Volume 118, Issue 1, January 2013, Pages 170-172. (Top 10 downloads from March 2012, IZA)
[18] The Demand and Supply of Early Education in Chile (with L. Reyes). Estudios Publicos, Vol. 126, 2012.
[19] The Economic Returns to Higher Education in Chile: Revising the Foundations of 30 Years of Public Policies. Estudios Publicos, Vol. 125, 2012. (cited by The Economist http://www.economist.com/node/21552566)
[20] The Effects of Participation in Public Child Care Centers: Evidence from Chile (with G. Noboa-Hidalgo). Journal of Human Capital, 2012, vol. 6, issue 1, pages 1 - 34
[21] The Education Health-Gradient (with G. Conti and J. Heckman). American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings). May 2010.
[22] Testing the Correlated Random Coefficient Model (with J. Heckman and D. Schmierer). Journal of Econometrics, vol. 157, 2010.
[23] Comparing IV With Structural Models: What Simple IV Can and Cannot Identify (with J. Heckman). Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 156(1), 2010. (Featured by The Economist http://www.economist.com/node/14210799)
[24] Measuring the Impact of Financial Intermediation: Linking Contract Theory to Econometric Policy Evaluation (With R. Townsend). Macroeconomic Dynamics, 13 (2), 2009-268-316, 2009.
[25] Racial Labor Market Gaps: The Role of Abilities and Schooling Choices. Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 43(4): pp. 919-971, 2008.
[26] Instrumental Variables in Models with Multiple Outcomes: The General Unordered Case (with J. Heckman and E. Vytlacil). Les Annales de Economie et de Statistique, 91-92, 2008.
[27] The use of instrumental variables in the presence of heterogeneity and self-selection: an application in breast cancer patients (2007) (With A. Basu, J. Heckman and S. Navarro). Health Economics 16(11):1133-1157, 2007.
[28] Understanding instrumental Variables in Models with Essential Heterogeneity (with J. Heckman and E. Vytlacil). Review of Economics and Statistics, v88, n3, 2006.
[29] The effect of cognitive and Non-cognitive factors in behavioral and labor outcomes (With J. Heckman and J. Stixrud). Journal of Labor Economics, v24, n3, 2006.
Other Publications and Working Papers
[1] "Between- versus Within-Firm Inequality in Latin America", (with G. Rucci, F. Saltiel and E. Munoz), manuscript, 2019. Available: IADB Working Paper Series No. 1004.
[2] The (Un)expected Economic Consequences of the Recent Expansion of Higher Education in Latin America (with R. Espinoza). Latin American Policy Journal, Vol. 7 spring 2018.
[3] Cognitive and socio-emotional abilities (with M. Sarzosa and F. Saltiel) in Handbook of Contemporary Education Economics , Geraint Johnes, Jill Johnes, Tommaso Agasisti and Laura L\'opez-Torres (Editors), Edward Elgar Publishing, Dec. 2017.
[4] "The Effect of Mandated Child Care on Female Wages in Chile" (with G. Rucci, M. Prada), NBER working paper N 21080, April 2015.
[5] "Returns to Higher Education in Chile and Colombia" (with C. Gonzalez-Velosa, G. Rucci, M. Sarzosa), IDB Working Paper Series, N. IDB-WP-587, March, 2015.
[6] "Education, Health, and Wages" (with J. Heckman, John Humphries and G. Veramendi), NBER working paper N 19138, March 2014.
[7] Economic Perspectives on Some Important Dimensions of Early Childhood Development in Developing Countries (with J. Behrman) in Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy , Britto, P., Engle, P., and Super, C. (Editors), Oxford University Press, USA, Jan. 2013.
[8] "Loans for Higher Education: Does the dream come true?" (with E. Rojas and T. Rau), NBER working paper N 19138, June 2013.
[9] Identifying Labor Market Discrimination using an Experimental Design (with D. Bravo and C. Sanhueza) in Discrimination in Latin America: An Economic Perspective, Nopo, H., Chong, A., Moro, A. (Eds), Inter-american Development Bank, 2009.
[10] Ability, Schooling Choices and Gender Labor Market Discrimination: Evidence for Chile (with D. Bravo and C. Sanhueza) in Discrimination in Latin America: An Economic Perspective, Nopo, H., Chong, A., Moro, A. (Eds), Inter-american Development Bank, 2009.