Publications
Peer-reviewed Journals
“Early Maternity and Paternity Effects on Educational Trajectories,” with M. Berthelon, D. Contreras, and M. I. Palma. 2025. Journal of Development Economics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103404
“Longer School Schedules, Childcare and the Quality of Mothers’ Employment,” with M. Berthelon, C. Lauer, L. Tiberti and C. Zamora, 2024, Economic Policy. https://doi.org/10.1093/epolic/eiae037
“School schedules and mothers’ employment: evidence from an education reform,” with M. Berthelon and M. Oyarzún, 2022, Review of Economics of the Household. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-022-09599-6
“Maternal Stress during Pregnancy and Early Childhood Development”, with M. Berthelon and R. Sanchez, Economics & Human Biology, 43, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2021.101047
“Harsh parenting during early childhood and child development,” with M. Berthelon, D. Contreras, and M.I. Palma, 2020, Economics & Human Biology, 36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2019.100831
“The Structure of Peers: The Impact of Peer Networks on Academic Achievement,” with M. Berthelon, E. Bettinger and A. Montecinos. Research in Higher Education, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-018-09543-7
“Estimating the effects of teen motherhood in Chile: a family fixed effects approach”, with M. Berthelon and J. Eberhard, Estudios de Economía, 2017, v44 (1), p.5-32.
“Does adolescent motherhood affect education and labor market outcomes of mothers? A study on young adult women in Chile 1990-2013” with M. Berthelon, International Journal of Public Health, 2017, 62(2), 293-303.
"Determinants of Persistence and the Role of Financial Aid: Lessons from Chile”, with V. Santelices, X. Catalan, y K. Horn, Higher Education, 2016, v71(3), 323-342.
“Household Choices of Schooling and Child Labor: A Structural Model with Applications to Brazil”, with Matias Berthelon and Rodrigo Soares. Journal of Human Resources, 2012, v47(1), 1-31.
“Risky behavior among youth: Incapacitation effects of school on adolescent motherhood and crime in Chile”, with Matias Berthelon. Journal of Public Economics, 2011, v95(1-2), 41-53.
“Child labor and schooling in Bolivia: Who’s Falling Behind? The roles of domestic work, gender and ethnicity,” with Daniela Zapata and Dante Contreras. World Development, 2011, Volume 39(4), 588-599.
“Allocation of children’s time along gender lines: Work, school, and domestic work in Brazil,” joint with Matias Berthelon and Rodrigo Soares. Research in Labor Economics, 2010, v31, 161-192.
“Coffee Production Effects on Child Labor and Schooling in Rural Brazil,” Journal of Development Economics, v82(2), 2007, 448-463.
Book Chapters
“Economics of Teen Fertility,” with Matias Berthelon. In: Oxford Handbook on the Economics of Fertility and Reproductive Health, edited by Kelly Jones and Damian Clarke. Oxford University Press. Forthcoming 2026.
“Schooling and youth employment during Covid-19”, in Negocios en América Latina después del Covid-19: Cambios y desafíos después de la pandemia. Héctor Osorio and Daniel Soto, ed., Rubicón Editores - Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, pp. 83-93, with Matias Berthelon and Carolina Molinare, 2021. https://librero.cl/producto/negocios-en-america-latina-post-covid-19
“Effects of Financial Aid Initiatives at the National Level”, with María Veronica Santelices, Catherine Horn, and Ximena Catalán, in The Quest for Equity in Chile’s Higher Education, María Veronica Santelices, Catherine Horn, Ximena Catalán, eds., Lexington Books, 2018.
“Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Latin America: The Case of Nicaragua”, with Matias Berthelon and Diana Saavedra, in Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Latin America, Kym Anderson and Alberto Valdes, ed., The World Bank, 2008.
“Child labor and schooling during a Coffee Sector Boom: Nicaragua 1993 – 1998,” in: Trabajo Infantil: Teoría y Evidencia desde Latinoamérica, Luis F. Lopez-Calva, ed., México, D.F., Fondo de Cultura Económica de México, México (2006).
Research in Progress
“The effect of extreme weather on early childhood cognitive and non-cognitive skills,” with M. Berthelon and V. Vienne. 2024. Presented at Reed College May 2025.
“The effect of extreme weather on rural employment, income, and gender gaps,” with M. Berthelon and V. Vienne. 2024.
“The impact of emergency contraception on women’s education and employment outcomes,” with C. Lauer and C. Molinare. 2024.
“Closing women’s pay gap? The determinants of gender-based wage differentials in Chile’s public administration,” with D. Brieba and P. Dastres. 2024.
“Breastfeeding duration and Early Childhood Development: evidence from a natural experiment,” with M. Berthelon, R. Sanchez, and C. Ruiz-Tagle. 2024.
“Are teen parents segregated?” with M. Berthelon, D. Contreras, and M. Palma. 2024.
“Spillover effects of reading skills” with C. Gonzalez, M. Berthelon, and J. Eberhard. 2023.
“Longer School Schedules and Early Reading Skills: Effects from a Full-Day School Reform in Chile,” with M. Berthelon and V. Vienne, IZA Discussion Paper No. 10282.
Reports and Other Publications
“Shocks and Coffee: Lessons from Nicaragua,” with Andrew Mason and Renos Vakis. The World Bank, Social Protection Discussion Paper Series No. 0415, July 2004. Download here.
“How Household Economic Opportunities Affect Child Labor and Schooling in Nicaragua: Differential Effects by Gender”, with Matias Berthelon, The Georgetown Public Policy Review, Vol. 9(1), Fall 2003. Download here.
“The Coffee Crisis in Central America,” with Andrew Mason and Renos Vakis, in SPectrum: Volatility, Risk and Innovation: Social Protection in Latin America and the Caribbean, The World Bank, Fall 2003.
“The Distributional Effect of Rural Incentive Policies”, Nicaragua Poverty Assessment, Vol. II, Report No. 20488-NI, The World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2000.
“Rates of Return to Education in Nicaragua”, Nicaragua Poverty Assessment, Vol. II, Report No. 20488-NI, The World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2000.
“The Determinants of Educational Enrollment in Nicaragua”, Nicaragua Poverty Assessment, Vol. II, Report No. 20488-NI, The World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2000.
External Research Grants
MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILE. 03/2025 – 03/2027. “The Impact of Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health on Gender Gaps in Education and Employment.” (Principal Investigator).
MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILE. 03/2025 – 12/2026. “Educational Environment and Adolescent Motherhood and Fatherhood: prevalence in schools, determinants, and peer effects” (Co-investigator).
COES (Center for the Study of Conflict and Social Cohesion). 11/2024 – 11/2025. “Teenage parenthood and schooling in Chile: Spatial characterization and its relationship with public policies” (Principal Investigator).
MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILE. 09/2023 – 09/2025. “Maternidad y Paternidad Temprana y sus Efectos en Trayectorias Educacionales” (Co-investigator).
COES (Center for the Study of Conflict and Social Cohesion). 10/2020 – 04/2022. “Early Motherhood and Fatherhood and their Effects on Educational Trajectories” (Principal Investigator).
PEP (Partnership for Economic Policy). 07/2018 – 07/2019. “Access to childcare and mothers’ employment quality: lessons from Chile.” (Principal Investigator)
COES (Center for the Study of Conflict and Social Cohesion). 03/2018 – 03/2019. “Effect of school schedule extensions on risky behaviors of adolescents in Chile” (Principal Investigator).
FONDECYT (National Scientific and Technological Research Commission, Government of Chile.) 03/2012–03/2015. “The effect of longer school days on household time allocation decisions: Mothers labor supply, juvenile crime, and youth employment and schooling in Chile” (Principal Investigator).
FONDECYT (National Scientific and Technological Research Commission, Government of Chile.) 03/2007 – 03/2009. “The role of gender in youth employment and school enrollment in Chile” (Principal Investigator).
FONDECYT (National Scientific and Technological Research Commission, Government of Chile.) 03/2005 – 03/2007. “Child labor and schooling: A structural model and its empirical application” (Principal Investigator).
FONDECYT (National Scientific and Technological Research Commission, Government of Chile.) May 2006. International cooperation grant.
FONDECYT (National Scientific and Technological Research Commission, Government of Chile.) May 2005. International cooperation grant.
Inter American Development Bank, Latin American Research Network. 01/2006 – 01/2006. “The role of social networks in the economic opportunities of Bolivian women” (Co-investigator).