Publications
Parents, Schools and Human Capital Differences across Countries, with Marta De Philippis [online appendix]
Journal of the European Economic Association, Forthcoming
This paper studies the contribution of parental influence in accounting for cross-country gaps in human capital achievements. We argue that the cross-country variation in unobserved parental characteristics is at least as important as the one in commonly used observable proxies of parental socio-economic background. We infer this through an indirect empirical approach, based on the comparison of the school performance of second-generation immigrants. We document that, within the same host country or even the same school, students whose parents come from high-scoring countries in standardised international tests (PISA) do better than their peers with similar socio-economic backgrounds. This finding is not driven by differential selection into emigration. We provide several pieces of evidence that support the transmission of cultural values as a leading channel behind the cross-country variation in the parental component. Unobserved parental characteristics account for about 15% of the cross-country variance in test scores, roughly doubling the overall contribution of parental influence.
Working Papers
The Relative Efficiency of Skilled Labor across Countries: Measurement and Interpretation, [online appendix]
This paper studies how the relative efficiency of high- and low-skill labor varies across countries. I use micro data for countries at different stages of development to document that the skill premium varies little between rich and poor countries, despite large differences in the relative skill supply. This fact is not explained by cross-country differences in sectoral composition, incidence of self-employment or returns to other individual-level characteristics, and is consistent with the view that highly educated workers are relatively more productive in rich countries. I propose a methodology based on the comparison of labor market outcomes of immigrants with different levels of educational attainment to discriminate between two possible drivers of this pattern: cross-country differences in the skill bias of technology and in the relative human capital of skilled labor. I find that the former is quantitatively more important than the latter.
Barriers to College Investment and Aggregate Productivity
Awarded the LABOUR Prize at the Sixth Italian Congress of Econometrics and Empirical Economics
Family income shapes college opportunities for US students, even when its correlation with academic ability is taken into account. I propose a general equilibrium model to estimate the productivity costs deriving from the fact that human capital investment is not always allocated where its marginal product would be highest. Using the equilibrium conditions of the model, I back out the value of barriers to college investment for disadvantaged students from data on family income, ability, schooling and wages. Counterfactual experiments suggest that a more meritocratic access to college education could boost output by approximately 11%, and wages by between 9% and 12%. I conclude that returns from policies aimed to expand college opportunities are potentially very large.
Reviews and Other Writings
Human Capital and Macro-Economic Development : A Review of the Evidence, [online appendix]
World Bank Research Observer, Forthcoming
The Inequality of Educational Opportunities: Microeconomic Barriers with Macroeconomic Costs
Awarded the 3rd Prize in the Stiglitz Essay Prize Competition; here some pictures of the award ceremony.
A New Dataset on Mincerian Returns, with Francesco Caselli and Jacopo Ponticelli [dataset]
in Francesco Caselli, Technology Differences over Space and Time, Princeton University Press
Work in Progress
Cultural Convergence
The Task Content of Occupations across Countries
Trade Diversion and Structural Transformation: Evidence from the Panama Canal, with Diego Battiston and Felipe Valencia
Trade Linkages and Structural Transformation
Parents, Schools and Human Capital Differences across Countries, with Marta De Philippis [online appendix]
Journal of the European Economic Association, Forthcoming
This paper studies the contribution of parental influence in accounting for cross-country gaps in human capital achievements. We argue that the cross-country variation in unobserved parental characteristics is at least as important as the one in commonly used observable proxies of parental socio-economic background. We infer this through an indirect empirical approach, based on the comparison of the school performance of second-generation immigrants. We document that, within the same host country or even the same school, students whose parents come from high-scoring countries in standardised international tests (PISA) do better than their peers with similar socio-economic backgrounds. This finding is not driven by differential selection into emigration. We provide several pieces of evidence that support the transmission of cultural values as a leading channel behind the cross-country variation in the parental component. Unobserved parental characteristics account for about 15% of the cross-country variance in test scores, roughly doubling the overall contribution of parental influence.
Working Papers
The Relative Efficiency of Skilled Labor across Countries: Measurement and Interpretation, [online appendix]
This paper studies how the relative efficiency of high- and low-skill labor varies across countries. I use micro data for countries at different stages of development to document that the skill premium varies little between rich and poor countries, despite large differences in the relative skill supply. This fact is not explained by cross-country differences in sectoral composition, incidence of self-employment or returns to other individual-level characteristics, and is consistent with the view that highly educated workers are relatively more productive in rich countries. I propose a methodology based on the comparison of labor market outcomes of immigrants with different levels of educational attainment to discriminate between two possible drivers of this pattern: cross-country differences in the skill bias of technology and in the relative human capital of skilled labor. I find that the former is quantitatively more important than the latter.
Barriers to College Investment and Aggregate Productivity
Awarded the LABOUR Prize at the Sixth Italian Congress of Econometrics and Empirical Economics
Family income shapes college opportunities for US students, even when its correlation with academic ability is taken into account. I propose a general equilibrium model to estimate the productivity costs deriving from the fact that human capital investment is not always allocated where its marginal product would be highest. Using the equilibrium conditions of the model, I back out the value of barriers to college investment for disadvantaged students from data on family income, ability, schooling and wages. Counterfactual experiments suggest that a more meritocratic access to college education could boost output by approximately 11%, and wages by between 9% and 12%. I conclude that returns from policies aimed to expand college opportunities are potentially very large.
Reviews and Other Writings
Human Capital and Macro-Economic Development : A Review of the Evidence, [online appendix]
World Bank Research Observer, Forthcoming
The Inequality of Educational Opportunities: Microeconomic Barriers with Macroeconomic Costs
Awarded the 3rd Prize in the Stiglitz Essay Prize Competition; here some pictures of the award ceremony.
A New Dataset on Mincerian Returns, with Francesco Caselli and Jacopo Ponticelli [dataset]
in Francesco Caselli, Technology Differences over Space and Time, Princeton University Press
Work in Progress
Cultural Convergence
The Task Content of Occupations across Countries
Trade Diversion and Structural Transformation: Evidence from the Panama Canal, with Diego Battiston and Felipe Valencia
Trade Linkages and Structural Transformation