José Tessada's homepage

Research

Please email me for access to pre-publication copies.

Published and forthcoming

• "Men, Women, and Capital: Estimating Substitution Patterns Using a Size and Gender Dependent Childcare Policy in Chile,” with Diego Escobar and Jeanne Lafortune, accepted,  Journal of Labor Economics, August 2024.

• "Changing youth entrepreneurship knowledge and mindset through an online challenge in Rwanda," with Jeanne Lafortune, Todd Pugatch, and Diego Ubfal, Economics of Education Review, 101, article 102559, August 2024.

• "Personalizing or Reminding? How to better incentivize savings amongst the poor," with Viviane Azevedo, Jeanne Lafortune, and Liliana Olarte, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 222, pp. 25-63, June 2024.

• "The distortionary effect of size- and factor-dependent policies,” with Diego Escobar, Jeanne Lafortune, and Loris Rubini, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 160, article 104818, March 2024.

• "The Impact of Personalized versus General Information about Pensions on Retirement Savings and Employment," with Olga Fuentes, Jeanne Lafortune, Julio Riutort, and Félix Villatoro, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 72(2), pp. 725-770, January 2024.

• "What is the price of flexibility? Estimating women’s willingness to pay for job flexibility," with Monserrat Bustelo, Ana María Diaz, Jeanne Lafortune, Claudia Piras and Luz Salas, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 71(4), pp. 1179- 1211, July 2023.

• "People and Machines: A Look at the Evolving Relationship Between Capital and Skill Manufacturing 1860-1930 Using Immigration Shocks," with Jeanne Lafortune and Ethan Lewis, Review of Economics and Statistics, 101(1), pp. 30-43, March 2019.

• "Are Micro Firms Constrained by their Lack of Knowledge or Motivation? Lessons from a Randomized Experiment in Chile," with Jeanne Lafortune and Julio Riutort, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(4), pp. 222-245, October 2018.

• "Destabilizing Financial Advice: Evidence from Pension Fund Reallocations," with Zhi Da, Borja Larrain, and Clemens Sialm. Review of Financial Studies, 31(10), pp. 3720–3755, October 2018.

• "Asset Fire Sales in Equity Markets: A Quasi-Natural Experiment in an Emerging Market," with Borja Larraín and Daniel Muñoz, Journal of Financial Intermediation, 30, pp. 71-85, April 2017.

• "More Hands, More Power? The Impact of Immigration on Farming and Technology Choices in US Agriculture in Early 20th Century," with Carolina Gonzalez and Jeanne Lafortune, Journal of International Economics, 97(2), pp. 339-358, November 2015.

• "Who Comes and Why? Determinants of Immigrants’Skill Levels in Early XX Century United States," with Matías Covarrubias and Jeanne Lafortune. Journal of Demographic Economics, 81(1), pp. 115-155, March 2015.

• "Sudden Stops and Reallocation: Evidence from Labor Market Flows in Latin America," with Francisco Gallego. Journal of Development Economics, 97(2), pp. 257-268, March 2012.

• "Low-Skilled Immigration and the Labor Supply of Highly Skilled Women," with Patricia Cortés. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3(3), pp. 88-123, July 2011.

• "Monetary Policy in Latin America: Underpinnings and Procedures," with Vittorio Corbo and Andrés Elberg, Cuadernos de Economía, 36(109), pp. 897-927, December 1999.

Working Papers

• "Barriers to Organizational Performance: Experimental Evidence of the Importance of Relational Contracts,” with Francisco Brahm, Jeanne Lafortune, and Catherine Magelssen, August 2025. Resubmitted, 2nd round to Management Science.

• "Powering Up Productivity: The Effects of Electrification on U.S. Manufacturing,” with Martin Fizsbein, Jeanne Lafortune, and Ethan Lewis, June 2025. Resubmitted to the Journal of Economic History.

• "Mentoring micro-entrepreneurs: Who and for whom?” with Jeanne Lafortune and Magdalena Martin, February 2024.

• "Does formal credit lead to more financial inclusion or distress? Results using a strict scoring rule amongst low-income in Paraguay," with Viviane Azevedo, Jeanne Lafortune, and Liliana Olarte, March 2022.

• "Technological Changes in the Second Industrial Revolution: Effects on Returns to Scale of Manufacturing Industries 1860- 1930," with Jeanne Lafortune, Ethan Lewis, and José Pablo Martinez, March 2021.

• "Smooth(er) Landing? The Role of Networks in the Location and Occupational Choice of Immigrants," with Jeanne Lafortune, January 2020.

• "Educating a melting pot: Estimating the impact of historical immigration on the US educational system," with Andrés Gazmuri and Jeanne Lafortune, November 2018

Book Chapters

• "Contribución Fiscal Neta de la Immigración en Chile," in Migración en Chile: Evidencia y Mitos de una Nueva Realidad, Nicolás Rojas and José T. Vicuña, eds., September 2019. With Bastién Maire.

• "Inmigración de Alta Calificación en Chile: Una Propuesta para Mejorar su Integración al Mercado Laboral" in Proposals for Chile 2014, Centro de Políticas Públicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2015. With Claudia Silva and Rosario Palacios. (Published version)

• "Response to External and Inflation Shocks in a Small Open Economy" in General Equilibrium Models for the Chilean Economy, R. Chumacero and K. Schmidt-Hebbel, eds. Santiago: Central Bank of Chile, 2005. With Vittorio Corbo. (Published version)

• "Growth and Adjustment in Chile: A Look at the 90's" in Economic Growth: Sources, Trends and Cycles, N. Loayza and R. Soto, eds. Santiago: Central Bank of Chile, 2004. With Vittorio Corbo. (Published version)

Other publications

• “Desafíos y propuestas para la regularización e inserción laboral de migrantes en Chile,” with Rodrigo Azócar, Patricio Domínguez, Roberto González and Olaya Grau. Temas de la AgendaPública, 17(160), 1-21. Centro de Políticas Públicas UC, September 2022

• “Diagnóstico y propuestas para la reactivación del mercado laboral en Chile,” with Fernando Coloma, Francisco Gallego, Ignacio Irarrázaval, Alexandre Janiak, Jeanne Lafortune, Claudia Martínez, Paula Pedró, Tomás Rau and Edoardo Trimarchi. Temas de la Agenda Pública, 15(127), 1-14. Centro de Políticas Públicas UC, August 2020.

• “Reapertura del mercado laboral y Covid-19 en Chile: Ocupaciones más expuestas y costos asociados a la prevención en los lugares de trabajo,” with Francisco Gallego, Ignacio Irarrázaval, Martín Coloma, Sandra Cortés, Humberto Jiménez, Angeles Morandé, Nicolás Muñoz and Hugo Silva. Temas de la Agenda Pública, 15(126), 1-33. Centro de Políticas Públicas UC, July 2020.

• “Using Big Data to Expand Financial Services: Benefits and Risks,” with Facundo Abraham and Sergio Schmukler, Research and Policy Brief 26, World Bank Chile Center and Malaysia Hub, November 2019.

• "Financial Innovation and Additionality: The Power of Economic Analysis and Data Analytics," with Facundo Abraham and Sergio Schmukler, Research and Policy Brief 23, World Bank Chile Center and Malaysia Hub, June 2019.

• "Robo-Advisors: Investing Through Machines," with Facundo Abraham and Sergio Schmukler, Research and Policy Brief 21, World Bank Chile Center and Malaysia Hub, February 2019.

• "Migración, Productividad y Economía: Una Mirada a la Inmigración y la Economía Chilena," with Jeanne Lafortune, December 2018, prepared for the Comisión Nacional de Productividad (in Spanish.)

• Migrantes Latinoamericanos en Chile: Un Panorama de su Integración Social, Económica y Financiera, monograph, Interamerican Development Bank (IADB, Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo), December 2016. With Jeanne Lafortune (in Spanish).

Updated: August 18th, 2025