Journal of International Development, Dec 27, 2023
Expectations about future labour market opportunities are essential for education and labour mark... more Expectations about future labour market opportunities are essential for education and labour market decisions. This paper uses data from a survey of youths in seven Latin American and Caribbean countries to explore the role of expected returns to education on schooling decisions. We find substantial variation in subjective expectations partly explained by youths' socioeconomic characteristics. Also, we find that enrolment in tertiary education is positively related to perceived education returns. Furthermore, the association of expectations with schooling choices differs across individuals in relevant domains, including gender, skills, and socioeconomic background. Our results suggest that public policies might impact choices and reduce socioeconomic gaps in schooling by providing information on education returns.
This paper examines the relationship between aggregate labor productivity dispersion, adjustment ... more This paper examines the relationship between aggregate labor productivity dispersion, adjustment costs and the volatility of shocks. A growing literature has identified the extent of misallocation from the variation in inputs’ marginal productivity across establishments. The available estimates suggest that improvements in resource allocation can bring about large total factor productivity gains. This literature, however, typically equates productivity dispersion with explicit policies that favor some firms over others. In this paper we claim that an important additional factor behind productivity dispersion is a volatile environment combined with adjustment costs. After a shock, firms that face adjustment costs experience a temporary gap between the value of inputs’ marginal productivity and their market price. The higher adjustment costs and volatility are the higher nominal productivity dispersion is. Using plant-level data for the Chilean manufacturing sector, we analyze the evolution of labor productivity dispersion over years 1990 to 2007. We relate this evolution to changes in the speed of adjustment of firms and changes in the volatility of the shocks firms face. In explaining labor productivity dispersion, we empirically find a role for both the speed at which firms adjust their employment levels and the volatility of the credit, energy and exchange rate markets, i.e., the uncertainty of the operating environment.
Supporting Information: Determinants of participation in the sample. Table S1. Probability of par... more Supporting Information: Determinants of participation in the sample. Table S1. Probability of participating in the baseline survey sample. (DOCX 39 kb)
Journal of International Development, Dec 27, 2023
Expectations about future labour market opportunities are essential for education and labour mark... more Expectations about future labour market opportunities are essential for education and labour market decisions. This paper uses data from a survey of youths in seven Latin American and Caribbean countries to explore the role of expected returns to education on schooling decisions. We find substantial variation in subjective expectations partly explained by youths' socioeconomic characteristics. Also, we find that enrolment in tertiary education is positively related to perceived education returns. Furthermore, the association of expectations with schooling choices differs across individuals in relevant domains, including gender, skills, and socioeconomic background. Our results suggest that public policies might impact choices and reduce socioeconomic gaps in schooling by providing information on education returns.
This paper examines the relationship between aggregate labor productivity dispersion, adjustment ... more This paper examines the relationship between aggregate labor productivity dispersion, adjustment costs and the volatility of shocks. A growing literature has identified the extent of misallocation from the variation in inputs’ marginal productivity across establishments. The available estimates suggest that improvements in resource allocation can bring about large total factor productivity gains. This literature, however, typically equates productivity dispersion with explicit policies that favor some firms over others. In this paper we claim that an important additional factor behind productivity dispersion is a volatile environment combined with adjustment costs. After a shock, firms that face adjustment costs experience a temporary gap between the value of inputs’ marginal productivity and their market price. The higher adjustment costs and volatility are the higher nominal productivity dispersion is. Using plant-level data for the Chilean manufacturing sector, we analyze the evolution of labor productivity dispersion over years 1990 to 2007. We relate this evolution to changes in the speed of adjustment of firms and changes in the volatility of the shocks firms face. In explaining labor productivity dispersion, we empirically find a role for both the speed at which firms adjust their employment levels and the volatility of the credit, energy and exchange rate markets, i.e., the uncertainty of the operating environment.
Supporting Information: Determinants of participation in the sample. Table S1. Probability of par... more Supporting Information: Determinants of participation in the sample. Table S1. Probability of participating in the baseline survey sample. (DOCX 39 kb)
This paper examines how improving dental health affects economic, social, and psychological outco... more This paper examines how improving dental health affects economic, social, and psychological outcomes. In a randomized experiment, we provide a low-income group in Chile free dental care, including prostheses, and find significant and persistent impacts on men's and women's dental and self-perceived mental health. For women, treatment generates steady improvement in selfesteem, significant impact on appearance, short-run improvements in employment and earnings, and improvement in partner interactions. We find no impact for men in any of these dimensions. Heterogeneity analyses suggest that treatment effects on labor market outcomes are larger for women with more severe visible dental issues at baseline. In summary, we find that increasing access to dental care, including cosmetic elements, improves important aspects of people's lives.
Expectations about future labour market opportunities are essential for education and labour mark... more Expectations about future labour market opportunities are essential for education and labour market decisions. This paper uses data from a survey of youths in seven Latin American and Caribbean countries to explore the role of expected returns to education on schooling decisions. We find substantial variation in subjective expectations partly explained by youths' socioeconomic characteristics. Also, we find that enrolment in tertiary education is positively related to perceived education returns. Furthermore, the association of expectations with schooling choices differs across individuals in relevant domains, including gender, skills, and socioeconomic background. Our results suggest that public policies might impact choices and reduce socioeconomic gaps in schooling by providing information on education returns.
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Papers by Andrea Repetto