Research

Working papers

Changing the Pyramids: The Impact of Broadband Internet on Firm Employment Structures (with A. V. Barbosa, D. Casagrande, and P. Maier). [SSRN working paper]. Under preparation for resubmission.

We study how the introduction of fast internet affects the occupational and educational structure of firms. We circumvent endogeneity issues by exploiting the staggered technology roll-out in Brazil and a physical constraint in internet connectivity. Results show peculiar polarization effect on establishments’ employment structures and significant job losses in response to broadband availability. The patterns are complex, such that they cannot be fully explained by the traditional skill-biased technological change or routinization hypotheses found for computerization and automation technologies. The consistent expansion of the management layer across all types of firms strongly supports predictions of organizational theories. Further, it indicates that broadband has introduced more nonroutine problems to be solved by managers and that it is mainly used as a communication technology. Overall, our findings suggest that the resulting structural changes are driven by efficiency-seeking firm behavior and are an important mechanism helping firms to survive in the market.

Mandatory CEO Non-Duality, Managerial Agency, and Shareholder Value (with R. Guimarães). [SSRN working paper]. Submitted.

This paper exploits a natural experiment induced by a corporate governance reform in Brazil to estimate the effects of CEO non-duality on shareholder value. Three key findings emerge. First, regression discontinuity results suggest a positive market reaction to the reform among firms expected to separate the CEO and chairman roles. Second, instrumental variable and difference-in-differences estimates show that abnormal returns increase following the rupture, with dynamic analyses revealing a gradual and persistent rise. Third, after the splitting event, firms trade off external for internal financing and experience increases in investments and profits. The findings suggest these impacts stem from mitigating managerial agency issues and underscore that coercive rules may have distinct effects compared to recommendation-based regulations in contexts with weak shareholder protection institutions.

Does CEO Non-Duality Affect Earnings Management? Evidence from Brazil (with R. F. Araújo and V. G. Martins). [SSRN working paper]. Under preparation for resubmission.

We exploit a governance regulation enacted in Brazil to examine whether CEO non-duality influences earnings management. The natural experiment allows us to compare firms mandated to terminate CEO-chairman positions with pre-mandate non-duality firms in a staggered difference-in-differences design. Employing recent developments in the methodology, our results show that treated firms reduced their discretionary accruals while keeping real activities unchanged, suggesting an improvement in financial reporting quality. Our findings are policy-relevant as they underscore that a coercive CEO-chairman separation may emerge as a key mechanism in corporate governance, capable of mitigating agency conflicts by curbing managerial opportunism associated with earnings manipulation.

Work in progress

Broadband Internet and the Gender Wage Gap in Brazil (with M. P. Andrade, A. V. Barbosa, and D. Casagrande)
The Effect of Fast Internet on Firm-Level Demand for Accounting Professionals (with T. R. Sena)
Limiting Speed Improves Highway Safety: Evidence from Brazil (with A. Almeida, A. V. Barbosa, R. Oliveira, and H. Ramalho)
Subway Access and School Participation: Evidence from Brazil (with E. Almeida, L. Emanuel, and R. H. M. Pereira)
Stimulating Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Role of Value Statements and Non-Enforceable Compliance Statements (with A. B. de Aguiar)

Published and forthcoming papers

Duryea, S., Ribas, R. P. , Sampaio, B., and G. Trevisan. "The impact of admission to a selective college on crime: Evidence from a tuition-free university in Brazil." Forthcoming, Journal of Labor Economics.
Ribas, R. P. , Sampaio, B., and G. Trevisan. (2025). "The impact of peer performance and relative rank on managerial career attainment: Evidence from college students." Management Science. [PDF] [IZA discussion paper].
Duryea, S., R. P. Ribas, B. Sampaio, G. Sampaio, and G. Trevisan. (2023). "Who benefits from tuition-free, top-quality universities? Evidence from Brazil." Economics of Education Review. [IZA discussion paper].
Ribas, R. P. , Sampaio, B., Sampaio, G., and G. Trevisan. (2020). "Short- and long-term effects of class assignment: Evidence from a flagship university in Brazil." Labour Economics. [PDF]. 2nd Prize, 2018 SBE Best Paper in Applied Microeconomics. Featured in GlobalDev.
Duryea, S., L. Batista de Freitas, L. M. Garcia, B. Sampaio, G. Sampaio, and G. Trevisan. (2019). "Universities and Intergenerational Social Mobility in Brazil: Examining Patterns by Race and Gender." Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy. (Online version) [PDF].

Policy work and institutional documents

Regressão descontínua e aplicações na área de saúde (with B. Sampaio). In A Avaliação de Impacto das Políticas de Saúde: Um Guia para o SUS. Sponsor: Ministry of Health, 2023. [PDF].
The gender pay gap in Brazil: It starts with college students' choice major (with M. Bustelo, S. Duryea, C. Piras, B. Sampaio, and M. Viollaz). Sponsor: Inter-American Development Bank, 2021. [Technical Note IDB-TN-02099].
Avaliação de Impactos Econômicos e Sociais dos Centros de Artes e Esportes Unificados (CEUS). Sponsor: Ministry of Social Development, Brazil. 2019. [PDF].
Demanda por Audiovisual no Brasil. Sponsor: Ministry of Culture, Brazil. 2018. [PDF].

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