Documento de Trabajo

Deconstructing Job Search Behavior

Job search is generally described by an intensive effort margin such as the number of applications sent or of hours devoted. Using rich online job board data and a novel network method to determine relevant sets of ads for each applicant, we also investigate the job search selective margin, i.e. why workers apply to or

Wealth Inequality and The Political Economy of Financial and Labour Institutions

This article studies the interplay between inequality and the effectiveness of financial and labor regulations. We motivate the paper by observing that the cross-country correlation between wealth inequality and the strength of regulations increases with a country’s GDP per capita. In poor countries the relationship is negative, but might become positive for rich enough countries.

The Joy of Flying: Efficient Airport PPP Contracts

We derive the optimal concession contract for an airport where the concessionaire’s effort impacts either non-aeronautical revenue (shops, restaurantes, parking lots and hotels) or aeronautical revenues (passenger and airline fees). Our first model assumes that demand for the infrastructure is exogenous whereas demand for non-aeronautical services depends both on passenger flow and on the concessionaire’s

Strategy-proof and Group Strategy-proof Stable Mechanisms: An Equivalence

We prove that group strategy-proofness and strategy-proofness are equivalent requirements on stable mechanisms in priority-based resource allocation problems with multi-unit demand. The result extends to the model with contracts.
JEL Classification Numbers: C78; D78.

Returns to Higher Education: Vocational Education vs College

Students scoring above a given threshold in the college admission test are eligible for education loans in Chile. Given the random variation in college enrollment induced by this cutoff rule, we use a regression discontinuity design to identify the marginal returns of vocational education versus college education. We use individual-level data on educational background and

Investment Opportunities and Corporate Credit Risk

Using a panel dataset for international corporate bonds, this paper explores the relationship between investment opportunities and corporate credit risk. Consistent with theoretical arguments that investment opportunities reduce a firm’s likelihood of bankruptcy, this study shows that corporate credit spreads are negatively related to proxies for investment opportunities, even after controlling for the standard determinants

Sorting On-line and On-time

Using proprietary data from a Chilean online job board, we  find strong, positive assortative matching at the worker-position level, both along observed dimensions and on unobserved characteristics (OLS Mincer residual wages). We also  find that this positive assortative matching is robustly procyclical. Then, we use the generalized deferredacceptance algorithm to simulate ex post matches to

Cooperatives vs Traditional Banks: The impact of Interbank Market Exclusion

In this paper, we analyze the desirability of allowing cooperative banks to participate in the interbank market in Chile. We find that it is desirable, as long as the quality of the cooperative’s governance is not too deficient relative to traditional commercial banks. On the one side, when cooperative banks do participate in the interbank

Identifying Food Labeling Effects on Consumer Behavior

We take advantage of the gradual implementation of a comprehensive mandatory food labeling regulation introduced in Chile to identify its effects on consumer behavior. Using individual-level scandata from transactions in a big-box supermarket, we estimate a demand model for differentiated products in which a food label indicator captures the warning label effect. We find sizable

Centralized Course Allocation

We present the renegotiable acceptance mechanism in the context of the multi-unit assignment problem. This mechanism combines features of the immediate and deferred acceptance mechanisms and implements the set of stable matchings in both Nash and undominated Nash equilibria under substitutable priorities. In addition, we prove that under slot-specific priorities, the immediate acceptance mechanism also

Soft Budgets and Renegotiations in Public-Private Partnerships: Theory and Evidence

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are an increasingly popular organizational form of providing public infrastructure. They can increase efficiency and improve resource allocation, yet pervasive contract renegotiations cast doubts on whether they should be preferred over public provision.Renegotiating a PPP contract allows the present government to extract resources from future governments in exchange for current infrastructure spending

The Inequality-Credit Nexus

This paper explores the inequality-credit nexus from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. The paper develops an overlapping generation model in which the effect of income inequality on private credit depends on the countries’ per capita income and on the quality of laws protecting creditor rights. The model predicts that greater inequality leads to