Publications
Publications
Remote delivery of STEM and entrepreneurship role models at scale changes college major choice in Ecuador (with Asanov, Igor; Astebro, Thomas; Buenstorf, Guido; Crepón, Bruno; McKenzie, David; Mensmann, Mona; and Schulte, Mathis). Nature Human Behavior (2026)
Large-scale RCT with ~30,000 students in Ecuador showing that exposure to multiple role models changed educational aspirations in unexpected ways: students shifted away from STEM, with girls moving toward business and boys toward agriculture and other fields.
System-, Teacher-, and Student-level Interventions for Improving Participation in Online Learning at Scale in High Schools (with Asanov, Igor; Asanov (Noha), Anastasiya; Astebro, Thomas; Buenstorf, Guido; Crepón, Bruno; McKenzie, David; Mensmann, Mona; and Schulte, Mathis). PNAS 120 (30).
Nationwide RCT with over 45,000 students in Ecuador studying the most effective options to engage students with remote or digital education. Light-touch interventions at the student and teacher levels showed little to no effect, but when implemented at the system level with support from the local authority, they can improve engagement and learning.
Remote-learning, time-use, and mental health of Ecuadorian high-school students during the COVID-19 quarantine (with Asanov, Igor; McKenzie, David; Mensmann, Mona; and Schulte, Mathis). World Development 138 (2021).
A rapid-response phone survey of over 1,500 high school students aged 14 to 18 in Ecuador examines how they spent their time during a nationwide lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Marked gender and socioeconomic-level differences in household tasks, work activities, and voluntary learning are reported; the paper was also among the first to document potential mental health issues during the peak of the pandemic.
Academic aspirations and income inequality: spillover effects of a video-based role model intervention among teenagers. (single-authored) Working paper
Using data from 16,570 Ecuadorian high school students, I document that low-income students set lower aspirations than their high-income peers only because of their position in the income distribution. Moreover, I report inconsistencies between academic preferences and earning expectations, making students, especially low-income students, susceptible to experience frustration when entering the labor market. Experimental evidence suggests that simple interventions, such as watching role models cannot reduce the aspiration gap between high- and low-income students, but they can contribute to setting more realistic aspirations.
Who Accepts Counseling? Determinants of Take-Up Among First-Generation Students and Implications for Access to Higher Education (with Reimer, David). Working Paper
Over 1,200 students across Denmark, Hungary, Germany, and Iceland were offered a free one-to-one counseling session to advise their educational transition from upper-secondary to college education. Despite the free resources, only a fraction of students attended. This paper aims to answer who attended the session and what might have driven their willingness to attend.
Role Models and Human-Capital Choices. (with Reimer, David). Chapter in the Handbook of Labor, Human Resources, and Population Economics. Editor: Prof. Klaus F. Zimmermann
Can a Role Model Intervention Decrease Inequality in Access to Higher Education? Results from a Comparative Randomized Controlled Trial in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, and Iceland. (with Kohlmeier, Markus and Reimer, David). Working Paper
Online Soft- and Hard-Skills Training at Scale in high schools (with Asanov, Igor; Asanov (Noha), Anastasiya; Astebro, Thomas; Buenstorf, Guido; Crepón, Bruno; McKenzie, David; Mensmann, Mona; and Schulte, Mathis). Working Paper
Academic Aspirations and Gender Homophily: The Causal Effect of Male and Female Role Models on Ecuadorian High School Students. (single-authored paper)