Labor markets in large metropolitan areas are segmented. The literature has referred to these micro-markets as ``Local Labor Markets" and has typically used location and industry, or occupation, to delineate them. This is problematic for two reasons: 1) delineations rely on arbitrary administrative boundaries for regions, industries, and occupations, and 2) this implicitly assumes that the structure of the larger market does not change. In this paper, we use the metro expansion in Santiago de Chile to show that transport infrastructure can change what constitutes a local labor market and thus have knock-on effects on labor market power and aggregate outcomes. We build a simple theoretical framework that delivers testable predictions to guide our analysis. We find empirical evidence that after a relevant reduction of commuting costs, workers from previously small markets have higher probabilities of changing local labor market and enjoy higher wages. Lastly, we find that in labor markets affected by the reduction of commuting costs, mean markdowns fall around 10 percentage points. 

In this paper I explore the medium and long-term effects of a large-scale early childhood intervention in the context of a medium-income developing country. By exploiting the program's staggered rollout at the municipality level, I find that the program have long-term impacts in terms of cognitive and non-cognitive skills, socioemotional reactions and health. I also find that the program successfully increases parental time investment. This effect seems to be driven by the early development gains and the increase in parental time investment. 

This study explores and characterizes the Intergenerational Mobility in the case Chile, a developing country. I use the rich administrative data available in the country to construct a panel that follows a student cohort from primary school to the end of their formal education. In doing so, I study how the educational outcomes of the students are related to their family income. I first analyze the mobility at the national level. Then, I examine variation across the different regions within the country. I find a robust heterogeneity of results across regions. Finally, I explore potential characteristics that could correlate with these differences in mobility between regions. I find evidence that public education quality is strongly related to mobility at the local level. While the results presented here does not identify the causal mechanism that explains mobility, the statistics on intergenerational mobility that I discuss open a research path that could be better explored. This is particularly interesting as mobility has not been the subject of many studies in developing countries.

Bullying is one of the most important social problems faced by students at school. However, there is scant research in the economic literature on this subject, particularly for developing countries. This paper explores the effect of being a victim of different types of bullying (physical, verbal, social and cyber) on standardized test scores using a unique panel dataset from Chile. Moreover, we are able to see if bullying influences grade retention rates and college admission tests. Fixed effect estimates indicate that being bullied decreases students' standardized test scores. For instance, being cyberbullied every day decreases math and reading scores by 0.13 and 0.08 S.D respectively. The more frequent bullying is, the more detrimental effects it has on school performance. On top of this, we find that being bullied increases grade retention probability and decreases college admission test scores. Our results suggest that bullying must be an important matter in policy makers’ agenda in developing countries, since development is heavily influenced by the cognitive skills acquired at school.

Informality is an important phenomenon in developing countries, while is also growing in developed countries. It represents a relevant challenge for the economy, particularly concerning social security and tax systems. Informal workers do not contribute to pensions, health, or unemployment insurance programs, and depending on the country, they do not benefit from them. In this paper, we address incentives for workers to participate in both formal and informal labor markets. Specifically, we study how a negative tax policy (subsidy for low-wage workers) may influence the decision to work informally. The paper is divided into two parts. First, I exploit the introduction of the Guaranteed Minimum Income in Chile to examine the effects of such policies. Using the policy’s implementation rules, I determine how the decision to engage in informal work changes after the policy is introduced. In the second part, I develop and estimate a structural model to evaluate the aggregat welfare effects.

This paper studies the effect of the integration of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) on the academic achievement of their peers without SEN. This achievement is measured using performance in standardized reading and mathematics tests. The study also evaluates the effect of a policy that recognizes and increases resources for special educational needs that had not yet been considered and improves education provision protocols for students with SEN. Using administrative data and standardized test scores, we constructed a panel that follows a cohort of students before and after the reform, determining for each individual and year whether the class to which he/she belongs has any students with SEN. Our identification strategy employs panel data with fixed effects at the school, individual, and time levels. Estimates show that, on average, having a peer with SEN in the classroom has a negative effect on the academic performance of students without SEN. However, these effects are small and decrease, or even vanish, once better inclusion policies are in place. These results suggest that the effect on peers is almost totally canceled when more resources are provided and when adequate treatment and support protocols are implemented.

This research investigates whether properties near metro lines in Santiago, Chile, are sold for higher prices. To achieve this, a multiple regression analysis is carried out, considering fixed and temporal effects, comparing data within and outside a 1 km buffer zone around each metro station. The study focuses on three variables: (1) capitalization by landowners, (2) capitalization by apartment prices, and (3) a "land incidence" ratio, which is the proportion of land cost-to-apartment prices and acts as a proxy for residential density. The results indicate a positive correlation between metro proximity and capitalization by landowners and apartment prices, at 5.1% and 9.2%, respectively. However, the land incidence shows a negative correlation of − 11.8%, which suggests that apartment prices and residential densities increase more than land costs near metro stations. An approximate estimation also finds 23.5% higher premium to developers within the metro buffer zone, based on apartment prices, density, land cost, and average building cost. These findings support previous studies that show the positive impact of the metro on land and housing values. The study sees the influence of the metro in transforming Santiago's residential densities and private profits.

Land upzoning and state investment in public infrastructure are two of the principal factors that increase the rent gap in the city; however, the scale of their impact remains unknown. This paper presents a novel method of rent gap analysis based on multiple linear regressions with controlled fixed factors, tested for Greater Santiago, Chile. Drawing on an administrative dataset of 36,911 transactions for new apartments sold between 2008 and 2011, along with data regarding the size of each apartment and its commercial sale price—but discounting imputed land and construction costs—it can be seen that state investment in the Metro rapid transit network enlarged the potential ground rent (portion of the rent gap capitalized by developers) by 25.6% over the period. Similarly, each additional floor area ratio point (dictated by district zoning guidelines) increased capitalized ground rent by an average of 6.1%. Meanwhile, the portion capitalized by small-scale private landowners through sale of un-redeveloped land increased by only 5.5% over the same period. These results show the high elasticity of the rent gap, the strong influence of land regulations and state-financed Metro infrastructure on rent gap formation, and the need for discussion of taxation of the capitalized ground rent for redistributive purposes.

Tanto las inversiones en infraestructura pública como las modificaciones a los Planes Reguladores para la construcción en altura valorizan la renta obtenible por la explotación del suelo. A partir de una base de datos relativos a departamentos nuevos vendidos entre 2008 y 2011, se realiza un cálculo para el Gran Santiago sobre el aporte porcentual de políticas del Estado a la renta de suelo, aporte realizado mediante infraestructura del sistema Metro y regulaciones urbanas. Conocidos el tamaño del departamento y precio comercial de venta, y descontados los costos de suelo y construcción, se realiza un análisis de regresión lineal múltiple con factores fijos y se obtiene que en el Gran Santiago la inversión estatal en la red de Metro incrementa un 25, 6% la ganancia de las inmobiliarias, mientras que solo lo hace en un 5, 5% la de propietarios particulares de suelo. Asimismo, el factor de Coeficiente de Constructibilidad de los Planes Reguladores incrementa un 6, 1% la valorización de renta de suelo por cada punto del coeficiente, valorización que también es absorbida por las inmobiliarias. Dados estos resultados, es importante discutir la necesidad y eficiencia de tener un impuesto a la renta del suelo en el país.