Research

Research Interests

Labor Economics

Applied Econometrics

Economics of Education

Publications

Foreign language skills and labor market outcomes: The case of English in Mexico, (2025), Economics of Education Review. 108: 1-25.

This paper examines the labor market effects of English instruction in the context of a developing, non-English-speaking country. I leverage a natural experiment in Mexico, where six states introduced English as a subject in public elementary schools during the 1990s. Using individual-level data from the 2014 Subjective Well-being Survey, which uniquely includes a self-reported measure of English-speaking ability, I estimate the causal effects of these policy changes using a staggered Difference-in-Differences design with robust estimators that account for treatment effect heterogeneity. The results indicate that state English programs increased English proficiency, especially among individuals from higher-income households and those with more educated parents. However, despite this improvement in language skills, the programs had no significant effect on wages. I show that this null effect is consistent with general equilibrium dynamics: the interventions expanded labor supply, particularly among women and low-educated individuals, but did not raise labor demand sufficiently to generate wage gains. Complementary analyses show no impact on higher education enrollment, domestic or international migration, or shifts between formal and informal employment. These findings suggest that while early exposure to English instruction can increase language proficiency and labor force participation, the broader economic benefits may be limited in the absence of complementary labor demand shocks. This contributes new evidence to the literature on language skills and labor markets, highlighting the importance of considering equilibrium effects and workforce composition when evaluating education policies.

Minimum eligibility age for social pensions and household poverty: Evidence from Mexico, with Clemente Avila and David Escamilla-Guerrero (2024), Economic Inquiry, 62(1): 175-196.

This paper examines the impact of social pensions on old-age poverty. To achieve causal identification, we leverage the reduction in the minimum eligibility age of Mexico's flagship non-means-tested social pension program. We find that the program's expansion significantly reduced extreme poverty, mainly among indigenous seniors and in rural areas. However, it had negligible effects on labor force participation, suggesting that social pensions were not effective in ensuring minimum economic well-being and simultaneously inducing retirement among seniors at early stages of old age. The program's small cash transfer and mistargeting are among the main explanations.

Working papers

Biofuel Growth: The Unintended Effects of the Ethanol Boom on Farmland Values (with Hoanh Le) ---> Draft available upon request

We examine the unintended effects of the 2000s ethanol boom on farmland values in the U.S. Midwest. Using a difference-in-differences strategy and the Census of Agriculture farmland value data, we show that, after the ethanol boom, counties with high corn suitability experienced a substantial increase in farmland values relative to counties with low corn suitability. We estimate an average increase of $988 per acre, with the most significant effects observed between 2012 and 2017. Unlike prior research, which focused on areas near ethanol plants, we are the first to evaluate the broader impact of the ethanol boom on farmland values and propose that, in addition to rising corn prices, an increase in the demand for farmland serves as a key mechanism driving this growth.

Global Language, Local Identity: English Education and Indigenous Skill Formation in Mexico (with Ornella Darova) ---> Draft available upon request

As countries expand English instruction to promote global economic integration, policymakers often worry this may erode indigenous languages and cultural heritage. This paper examines this concern through a natural experiment in Mexico, where six states introduced English programs in public primary schools during the 1990s. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design and Mexico's School and Population Censuses, we find, unexpectedly, that exposure to English increased the likelihood of self-reported understanding and speaking an indigenous language by 1.2 and 0.7 percentage points, respectively - substantial effects given the low baseline rates of 2.2% and 1.4%. We also document a 1.7 percentage point increase in indigenous self-identification from a baseline of 8.26%, accompanied by significantly greater geographic mobility. These findings suggest that multilingual education can simultaneously promote economic integration and reinforce cultural distinctiveness.

Labor market assimilation of workers with new skills: Evidence from Mexico's National English Program (with Jorge Perez Perez and Francisco Cabrera-Hernandez) ---> Draft available upon request

We assess the impact of exposure to foreign language in school on student achievement and labor market outcomes by exploiting a 2009 policy in Mexico that introduced English instruction in elementary schools. Using a staggered Difference-in-Differences approach, we find that exposure to English instruction decreases the likelihood of formal sector employment but, after adjusting for selection bias and applying bounds to our estimates, positively influences wages. The policy prompts a shift from manufacturing to tourism-related jobs, with workers increasingly entering English-intensive roles. Finally, while we observe an initial negative effect on test scores in the early years of the intervention, this effect diminishes with extended exposure to English instruction, suggesting that the wage benefits likely stem from English skill acquisition.

Work in progress

• Empirical validation of the exclusion restriction condition in IVs (with Jose Mota)

• Rent capture by central cities (with Steven Craig, Janet Kohlhase and Annie Hsu)

• Paved ways, uneven gains? The economic impact of rural roads in Mexico (with Jaime Arrieta Ortega)

• Unintended effects of universalizing social pensions: Evidence from Mexico (with Raymundo Ramirez Peralta)

Other publications

PhD dissertation

• Effects of English instruction and English skills on labor market outcomes in Mexico. (2023).  PhD dissertation, University of Houston.

Developed at the Central Bank of Mexico

• Nowcasting Mexico's quarterly GDP using factor models and bridge equations. (2020). Estudios Económicos, 35(2): 213-265

  • Nowcasting Mexico's Quarterly GDP using Factor Models and Bridge Equations (this version in Spanish), Banco de México Working Papers Series, 2018-06

In collaboration with my former students

• Informality, poverty and consumption in Mexico, with Ramírez-Loyola and Vega-Valdivia. (2022). The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance, 17(2): 1-20

• Is there a pass-through from the international coffee price to the Mexican coffee market? with Miguel Cortés. (2021).  Studies in Agricultural Economics, 123(2): 86-94

• How to Measure the Multidimensional Inequality with Household Surveys: The Mexican Case, with Paulina Benitez-Blacio. (2018). The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance, 13(2):175-193

Master's thesis

• Could Education Increase the Economic Growth of Mexico? (2020). Análisis Económico, 35(89): 37-64