Research

You may find the working paper here (Draft)

In recent decades, the number of female entrepreneurs has grown substantially, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the high rate of involvement of women in entrepreneurial activity, the characteristics and performance of female-led ventures differ significantly from those of ventures led by men. A potential reason for this is the lack of clearly defined venture goals, including the profit margin that ventures target. We study the relationship between gender and target margins using a large dataset of ventures located in Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. We find that ventures led only by women are almost five percentage points less likely than male-led ventures to establish target margins, even after observable characteristics of the venture and the founders are controlled for. In addition, in most cases, ventures with only female founders set lower target margins than those with only male founders. These results suggest that policymakers, as well as accelerators and incubators, can play a major role in supporting female entrepreneurs as they grow their businesses by encouraging women to set clear and realistic target margins to be more successful at raising funds for their ventures.

Objetives: The adoption of vaccines was a crucial factor in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccination rates between rural and urban areas varied greatly. In this paper, our objective is to understand the individual and institutional factors associated with the uptake of vaccines in remote rural areas in Colombia.

Methods: We interviewed a random sample of 800 households (1,592 individuals) in remote rural areas of Antioquia (Colombia) during February 2022 when vaccinations were available. Then, we use a linear probability model to explain the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Results: The results indicate that the probability of having at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is positively associated with access to information, trust in police and army, and the perceived risk of contracting COVID-19. Trust in the church is negatively related to vaccination.

Conclusion: Institutions can play a critical role in the management of pandemics. Timely information on the risks associated with the disease and perceived riskiness are key factors that mobilize the population to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

We measure the extent of discrimination against same-sex couples by schools in Colombia using a correspondence study. We send requests to visit private and public schools from several couples of different sexual orientation as conveyed by the names of the parents. We track the response rate from schools, the time to reply and the "quality" of the reply. We find that schools are 11.7 percentage points (21.9%) less likely to respond to a request sent by a homosexual couple with respect to one sent by a heterosexual one. When no information about sexual orientation is provided, the response rate decreases by 20pp. (37%) versus an explicitly heterosexual couple. Conditional on replying, we find no difference in the time schools take to respond or the quality of the reply across couples, a result plausibly driven by selection into responding. Our findings suggest that, despite a strong legal framework that protects LGBTQ+ rights, discrimination against same-sex couples is pervasive and can have intergenerational consequences.

Many countries in the developing world have implemented old-age pensions. Evidence of the impact of such policies on the elderly in sub-Saharan Africa, however, is scarce. We provide the first evidence from a randomized evaluation of an unconditional old-age pension targeted at the elderly in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Our findings show that treated beneficiaries self-report better quality of life and a more stable mental health. We also provide evidence of spillover effects on the labor outcomes of other household members and of household savings patterns as well as support for interventions aimed at improving the welfare of elderly poor citizens and other household members.

Monetary incentives are often used to increase the motivation and output of health service providers. However, the focus has generally been on frontline health service providers. Using a cluster randomized trial, we evaluate the effect of monetary incentives provided to community-based volunteers on early initiation of antenatal care visits and deliveries in health facilities in communities in Zambia. Monetary incentives were assigned to community-based volunteers in treatment sites, and payments were made for every woman referred or accompanied in the first trimester of pregnancy during January-June 2020. We found a significant increase of about thirty-two percentage points in the number of women seeking antenatal care visits in the first trimester but no effect on coverage rates (the percentage of women who deliver at a health facility and are assisted by skilled birth attendants). The number of women accompanied by community-based volunteers for antenatal care in the first trimester increased by thirty-three percentage points. Deliveries in health facilities also increased by twenty-two percentage points. These findings suggest that the use of health facilities during the first trimester of pregnancy can be improved by providing community- based volunteers with monetary incentives and that such incentives can also increase deliveries in health facilities, which are key to improving the survival of women and newborns.

Freedom of choice is a fundamental aspect of individuals' social, economic, and political lives, and it is considered the ultimate goal of development. However, one paradoxical aspect is that men are the primary decision-makers in many cultures at the household and community levels. We use a two-stage field experiment to examine whether men's and women's underlying motivations to exert agency differ. In the first stage, participants make a donation decision on an individual and a joint endowment. In the second stage, and without previous announcements, participants can delegate the decision to either a random device, their spouses, or a stranger. This stage allows us to identify whether men and women value agency equally. Similar to Neri and Rommeswinkel (2017), the treatment conditions vary the control individuals exert on others' payoff to disentangle the role of preferences for independence, power, or self-reliance as mechanisms explaining agency. We find gender differences regarding the preferences to keep the decision rights. Our findings imply that men strongly prefer freedom, while similar behaviour is not found in women paired with their spouses. 

Available here

Policies aimed at improving school governance via community-based management are common but understudied. We present the results of a cluster-randomized trial of a multi-faceted education intervention that involved support for local School Management Committees (SMC) in rural India. The intervention increased SMC meetings held by 17 percent and completed school improvement plans by 38 percent, gains that persist for one year after the intervention ends. We find a 14 percent increase in the number of teachers and a 25 percent increase in the likelihood of having a kitchen. We provide suggestive IV analyses to show that the increases in teachers and having a kitchen may be attributed to the increased school management committee activities.

Working draft (here)

Financial incentives have been used as an effective means of encouraging health behaviours. The study explores the impact of a national program in Bolivia that provides small cash incentives to women. Conditional on antenatal care visits and deliveries assisted by skilled health personnel. We show positive effects of the program on prenatal care and delivery and use of health services in never married women. If never married women are enrolled in the program increases the probability of being attended by a doctor in a delivery care by 69.4 percentage points. Also, increase the probability of taking their children to the doctor during the first 30 days after birth by 57.4 percentage points. A pathway analysis shows that the results of such programs effects may be related to the empowerment of women and their effect on decision-making in the demand for medical care.

Working paper (here)

Policy makers often express concerns over the lasting implications of teenage pregnancy, due to the observation that young mothers have worse health, less schooling, and poorer job market performance in adulthood. However, because there is selection into early motherhood, the causal impact of teenage pregnancy on human capital investments is difficult to estimate. Additionally, the majority of the literature has focused on high income settings. I examine the impact of teenage pregnancy in Cape Town, South Africa, on educational outcomes and future labor force participation using two main identification strategies. I use an instrumental variable strategy which relies on the number of teenage fertile years as an instrument for teenage pregnancy and exploit differences among a subsample of sisters where one sister reported a teenage pregnancy and at least one who did not. I find an increase in the likelihood of failing a grade by approximately 50 percentage points and dropping out of school of 27 percent (10 percentage points). As for overall school attainment, teenagers who report a pregnancy are, on average, 1.8 less years less educated. Finally, I find that the negative effects of teenage pregnancy is mitigated by strong kinship networks and by lowering its social costs. My findings suggest that the presence of the mother