Work in progress
Work in progress
Television and Trajectories: The Unintended Educational and Economic Impacts of Soap Operas. (Milena Mendonça, May 2024)
Abstract: This paper investigates the long-term socioeconomic impacts of exposure to Brazilian television soap operas on children's educational attainment and adult income. Utilizing a cohort difference-in-differences approach, we build on the work of La Ferrara et al. [2012] and Chong and Ferrara [2009]. which highlighted two potential mechanisms: reduced fertility and increased divorce rates. While reduced fertility could theoretically lead to improved resource allocation per child and better outcomes, increased divorce rates might result in less stable family environments, adversely affecting children's long-term prospects. Our analysis reveals that early exposure to these soap operas is linked with lower educational attainment and diminished income in adulthood, with impacts of -0.22 years in education and a -7.53\% decrease in total income for children exposed before the age of ten. These estimates are robust to several robustness tests, challenging the assumption that reduced fertility uniformly leads to positive long-term outcomes. Instead, our findings suggest that the destabilizing effects of increased divorce rates and family instability may have outweighed the potential benefits of reduced fertility. This research contributes to a better understanding of the complex interplay between media exposure and socioeconomic trajectoriest.
The long-run effect of childhood exposure to trade shocks on educational and labor market outcomes. (Milena Mendonça, Feb 2023)
Presented at LACEA Annual Meeting 2023
Abstract: Trade liberalization policies have been widely adopted with the aim of fostering economic growth and improving living standards. However, the potential long-term consequences of such policies on human capital development and labor market outcomes remain a crucial area of investigation. While the immediate effects of trade liberalization on economic variables such as employment and productivity have been extensively studied, its long-run intergenerational impacts are not well understood. In this paper, I examine the case of the 1990 Brazilian Trade Liberalization, exploiting geographic differences in the exposure to import tariff reductions and baseline industry compositions across locations for identification purposes. My analysis reveals that higher exposure to tariff cuts is associated with a significant and persistent decline in educational attainment and labor market outcomes for future generations. I additionally explore possible channels through which trade liberalization may affect children's long-run outcomes, identifying a substantial negative effect on parental financial resources at the time of the reform as a key mechanism. Furthermore, I examine the heterogeneous effects of the policy by gender and race and undertake various robustness checks to confirm the validity of my results. My findings provide valuable insights into the intergenerational impacts of trade liberalization policies, underscoring the importance of incorporating a comprehensive understanding of policy consequences in the design and evaluation of economic interventions.
Publications
Publications
Abstract: We assess the effects of a Brazilian extended high school day program on college ad-mission test scores. The program entails an increase in Math/Science and Language classtime, and the introduction of extra-class activity time. We exploit variation in programimplementation timing to apply a difference-in-differences strategy and an event-studyapproach. Results show positive large effects on test scores and suggest that these ef-fects are likely driven by increased class and extra-class activity hours. Moreover, theprogram affects not only scores in subjects for which it contemplates increased classtime, but also in Humanities. Finally, we are able to show that increased time dedicatedto academic-related extra-class activities works as a multiplier of program effects. Infact, these additional hours spent in complementary activities make the magnitude ofprogram effects double from 0.101-0.148 to 0.182-0.316 standard deviation.