Better together? Student's benefits of educational market integration, (with Claudio Allende and Juan Luksic), Journal of Development Economics, 167 (2024), 103233.
The direct and spillover effects of a mental health program for disruptive students, (with Clément de Chaisemartin), Journal of Labor Economics 41 (3), 729-769 (2023).
Health effects of increasing income for the elderly: evidence from a Chilean pension program, (with Enrico Minglio, Pablo Navarrete H. and Gonzalo Navarrete H.), American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 15.1 (2023): 370-393.
Behind the veil: the effect of banning the Islamic veil in schools (with Éric Maurin), Economic Policy 38. 113 (2023): 63-98.
Unleashing Waste-Pickers’ Potential: Supporting Recycling Cooperatives in Santiago de Chile (with Pablo Navarrete-Hernandez), World Development, Volume 101, 2018, Pages 293-310.
Should I Stay or Should I Go? The effect of internal migration for university studies on educational trajectories and labor market outcomes (with Roberto Asmat, Gonzalo Gaete and Jose Montalban)
This paper estimates the impact of students’ internal migration for pursuing university studies on their educational and early labor market outcomes using rich administrative data from Chile. Using a regression discontinuity design based on centralized university admission cutoffs, we compare marginal students induced to migrate from their high school commuting zone (CZ) with those induced to remain there. We find that, right after admission, students induced to migrate are roughly four times as likely to enroll in a university outside their high school CZ as those not induced to migrate. We find no significant differences in dropout rates ten years after high school completion, although migrant students take longer to graduate, largely due to return migration and re-enrollment. Although average labor market outcomes fourteen years after high school completion are similar, heterogeneous effects emerge: students with higher ability or stronger destination-based peer networks are less likely to return to their high school CZ and experience better labor market outcomes. Moves to areas with better labor market opportunities also appear to lead to higher earnings. These findings highlight the importance of non-pecuniary factors in shaping migration returns and suggest that the gains from educational mobility accrue primarily to well-connected and academically stronger students.