Research
Publications
Restricted Access: How the Internet Can Be Used to Promote Reading and Learning (with Laura Derksen and Pedro CL Souza), Journal of Development Economics, 155, 2022. Previously circulated as "Searching for Answers: The Impact of Student Access to Wikipedia".
What Sets College Thrivers and Divers Apart? A Contrast in Study Habits, Attitudes, and Mental Health (with Graham Beattie, Jean-William P. Laliberté, and Philip Oreopoulos), Economics Letters, 178: 50-53, 2019. [NBER Working Paper]. Coverage: Financial Times.
Working Papers
Does private school expansion have negative consequences for public school students? I use a rich longitudinal dataset of 112 schooling markets in rural Pakistan to provide empirical evidence of both parental and public schools' responses to private school expansion. There is clear evidence of sorting: high-achieving students and students from wealthier households switch out of the public sector following a private school entry. Public school performance, measured by school value-added for grades 3 to 5 students, remains unaffected. Furthermore, I find no negative long-term impact of private school expansion on public school students’ schooling outcomes.
Misallocation of Talent in Brazil: The Role of the Education System
This paper investigates how disparities in private and public education across different levels of schooling contribute to misallocation of talent in education. To understand whether public resources in education alleviate the financial constraints that poor parents may face, I develop an overlapping generation model based on Restuccia and Urrutia (2004) in which heterogeneous parents invest in the education of their children. I calibrate the model to the Brazilian economy and find that equalizing public spending per student across the levels of schooling increases aggregate output, consumption and welfare and generates a better selection of talented students in public universities.