Research
Working Papers
"Anticipated Discrimination and Wage Negotiation: A Field Experiment" [New Draft!]
with Gary Charness, Ramón Cobo-Reyes, Simone Meraglia, and Ángela Sánchez
This paper proposes a field experiment to study whether a perception of gender discrimination affects requested wages. People interested in an advertised position can apply using an online portal. After the initial application, participants are randomly allocated to one of three treatments. In the baseline treatment, applicants are asked to fill in a standardized curriculum vitae template, containing information about the applicant’s first name, surname, age, education, and employment. In a gender-blind treatment, applicants complete a curriculum vitae template in which they can only report their initials, so that information about gender is not transmitted. We also conduct a gender-blind treatment in which applicants receive a message that makes the nature of the blind process salient. In all treatments, applicants request the hourly wage they wish to receive if hired. We find that female applicants ask for just over half the wage requested by male applicants when the full name is revealed. However, when gender is undisclosed this difference in requests decreases by over 50%. Finally, the reinforcing message (third treatment) causes the gap in requested wages to completely disappear. Our results indicate that female workers request much lower wages when the firm clearly knows the applicant’s gender, but that this lower request is entirely dependent on the degree to which they perceive that one’s gender is known to the hiring firm.
"Beyond Labor Market Polarization" [New version coming out soon]
It is well documented that routine-biased technical change ("RBTC") led to labor market polarization during 1980-2000. In particular, the employment and wages of non-routine occupations, which include low-wage manual and high-wage cognitive ones, increased relative to routine occupations. I document that during 2000-2016, wage polarization stopped in that the wages of non-routine manual occupations fell in relative and absolute terms. I study the end of wage polarization through the lens of a dynamic general equilibrium model with RBTC, human capital accumulation, and occupational mobility. I find that during 2000-2016, RBTC continued to take place, but human capital accumulation and occupational mobility changed. In particular, compared to workers in routine occupations, workers in non-routine manual occupations had lower initial human capital and accumulated less human capital whereas workers in cognitive occupations had more initial human capital and accumulated more human capital than before. During 1980-2000 the changes in the human capital accumulation of the occupations were similar to those during 2000-2016, but during the second period mobility across occupations fell, which magnified the differences in human capital accumulation and led to the end of wage polarization.
"The Anatomy of the China Shock" [New version coming out soon]
I estimate the effect of the increasing import competition from China on the intensity of tasks performed by workers (e.g. cognitive, routine) within U.S. manufacturing establishments between 2002 and 2017. I measure the changes in the intensity of these tasks by linking information on occupational employment from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) to the occupational characteristics published by the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). I find that this “China shock” led establishments to significantly decrease the intensity of cognitive and interpersonal tasks, and to increase the intensity of manual and routine tasks. The literature predicts that the U.S. offshores routine and manual tasks to China, but these estimations are consistent with U.S. establishments reallocating employment to become more similar to their Chinese competitors, characterized by technologies more intensive in low-skilled workers. I document that, contrary to the estimated short-run effects of the China shock, manufacturing establishments on average reallocate employment following a process of routine-biased technical change (“RBTC”): decreasing the intensity of manual and routine tasks performed by workers and increasing the intensity of cognitive and interpersonal tasks. RBTC was an important force of technical change during this period, so quantifying how much the increasing import competition from China slowed down RBTC, and what were the effects on the productivity of the manufacturing sector, are important questions for future research. Moreover, if RBTC increases the productivity of manufacturing establishments, the results have implications for the design of public policies, such as subsidizing existing establishments affected by this China Shock.
(Selected) Work in Progress
"The effect of personality traits and expectations on the acquisition of human capital: A focus on STEM"
with Esteban Aucejo and Ramon Cobo-Reyes Cano
Workers in different occupations perform different tasks or activities. To execute these tasks, workers must applyparticular skills. Having the right skills is crucial since a mismatch between a person’s actual skills and those required in the labor market can lead to lower job opportunities and wages. Since a significant fraction of the required skills is obtained through schooling decisions studying schooling choices is critical to understand the accumulation of human capital and labor market outcomes. Despite significant contributions to the understanding on how the tasks that workers perform determine their well-being and to the understanding of schooling choices and the process of human capital accumulation, the connection between these two remains a “black box.” This project aims to analyze the role that different factors play on schooling decisions and human capital accumulation and their connection to tasks that students would perform in the labor market, with a focus on .on tasks classified as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) since these are more complementary with new technologies and, thus, are generally more important in high-paying jobs with better job opportunities.
"Earnings differences across and within college majors: the role of tasks and occupations"
More than 50% of students in recent cohorts earn college majors that provide different degrees of specialization in terms of human capital accumulation to perform specific tasks in the labor market. At the same time, the differences in earnings for workers who earn different college majors are substantial, with STEM and Business and Economics majors receiving higher earnings within and across most occupations. This project will leverage the information on job posting ads from Lightcast and information on college curricula to analyze the role of tasks that workers with different college majors perform within and across occupations to explain the differences in their earnings.
"Economic Conditions, Labor Market Perspectives and High School Drop Outs in Uruguay"
One of the major problems in the Uruguayan educational system is the dropout of high school students, which in the last two decades has consistently been above 40%. The main objective of this project is to obtain a better understanding of the causes behind high school dropout in Uruguay. The project aims to answer two research questions. The first one, what is the impact of current economic conditions on student dropout?; the second, what is the impact of beliefs about future labor market conditions and student expectations on student dropout? The project uses two research designs. To find an answer to the first question, the project will use a design based on structural models and reduced form using data from the Continuous Household Survey (ECH) and administrative data. To address the second question posed and thus delve into the causes behind dropout, information experiments will be conducted.
"Job Tasks, Technical Change, and Economic Development"
The“task approach” to labor market studies how the intensity of the tasks that workers perform affect their labor market outcomes. This literature has been key to understanding the effect of technical change in the labor market during the last four decades and the increasing wage inequality in developed economies. Nevertheless, mostly to the lack of data, little or no attention has been paid to the relationship between technology, tasks, and labor market outcomes in developing economies. But it is a well-established fact that labor markets in developing economies are significantly different to those in developed economies and, therefore, it is expected that the effect of technology and other shocks on the intensity of the tasks that workers perform are also significantly different. This project aims to fill in this gap by combining rich databases of online job postings in developing economies with data on wages and employment from official sources.