Working Papers
We examine the economic consequences for women of majoring in the male-dominated fields of Technology and Engineering (TE). Using administrative records and admission discontinuities generated by Chile's centralized college admission system, we identify causal effects of field of study on labor market outcomes. Majoring in TE yields significant earnings gains for men, but not for women. These gendered returns are only partially explained by sorting across firms and sectors; the bulk reflects women being rewarded differently within similar environments. We also document that child-related earnings penalties are substantially larger for women in TE, suggesting parenthood-related barriers play an important role.
Do residential neighbors affect each others' schooling choices? We exploit oversubscription lotteries in Chile's centralized school admission system to identify the effect of close neighbors on application and enrollment decisions. A student is 5-7% more likely to rank a high school as their first preference and to attend that school if their closest neighbor attended it the prior year. These effects are stronger among boys and applicants with lower parents' education and prior academic achievement, measured by previous scores in national standardized tests. Lower-achieving applicants are more likely to follow neighbors when their closest neighbor's test scores are higher. A neighbor enrolling in a school with 1σ higher school effectiveness, peer composition, or school climate induces increases of 0.02-0.04σ in the applicant's attended school. Our findings suggest that targeted policies aimed at increasing information to disadvantaged families have the potential to alleviate these frictions and generate significant multiplier effects.
Work in progress
- College and Social Mobility: Evidence from Chile (with Josefa Aguirre)
- Centralized School Assignment and School Effectiveness in Chile (with Andrés Barrios)