Research Statement
My current work includes evaluating parental stimulation and nutrition programmes as well as the implementation and evaluation of quality pre-school interventions, primarily randomized field experiments, aimed at improving early childhood development in India. I'm also working on the importance of maternal subjective beliefs in explaining the heterogeneity in maternal choices of investments in the development of their children. I’m also working in a series of projects focused on improving children’s life chances in high-risk and low-income settings and on understanding effects of poverty on human capital accumulation in adolescence in LMIC’s and evaluation of interventions that aim to mitigate these using longitudinal analysis and policy evaluation methods: evaluating long run effects of an anti-poverty transfer programme implemented in Bangladesh in 2007 and Pakistan in 2012 on human capital accumulation on those who were exposed to the programme in early childhood; as well as designing a “new generation” longitudinal cohort study with the aim of addressing socioeconomic gaps through significantly increasing our understanding of child development and what can be done at different developmental stages to mitigate adverse environmental factors, many of which are triggered by poverty, including poor nutrition and stimulation and stress.
During my Ph.D., my research focused on understanding and identifying the determinants of parental investment decisions in children human’s capital, using a dynamic and stochastic structural model that incorporate mixed discrete and continuous choices based on the overall description of the mechanisms through which parental investment is modified and affects the human capital formation of their children, adding restrictions that involve weaker assumption than those derived from the literature, as well as simulating, using a rich longitudinal data from Chile, the most effective targeting policies for Early Child Development compensating the most disadvantaged children. Even though we know a lot about the positive effects of parental investment, little we know about how parents’ investment decisions behave and therefore how these decisions affect child outcomes, which is crucial information for both, parents and policymakers, and hence for disentangling the disparities early in life.
Before joining the University of Chile, I gained experience being involved in various research projects of empirical and analytical nature as well as designing and implementing large-scale quantitative studies in a variety of LMIC contexts, conducting relevant research on the effects of programs that support early childhood development in developing countries like Chile, Colombia, Nigeria, Gambia, and India.
Research Experience and Other Employment
2019-Present Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad de Chile, Assistant Professor.
2019-Present Institute for Fiscal Policies, UK, Research Associate.
2019-Present EduInclusiva, Chile, Research Associate.
2019-Present The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) Latinoamérica y el Caribe, Invited Academic.
2019-Present Institute for Research in Market Imperfections and Public Policy (MIPP), Chile, Research Fellow.
2019-Present Centro de Sistemas Públicos, Chile, Research Fellow.
2022-Present Comisión Nacional de Evaluación y Productividad (CNEP), Chile, Counselor, Government of Chile.
2022-Present Casa de Moneda, Chile, Board member.
2021-Present Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y Familia, Chile, Counselor. Consejo de la Sociedad Civil de la Niñez.
2019-2023 Jacobs Foundation, Switzerland, Consultant. Leveraging Evidence for Action to Promote change in Early Childhood Development.
2021-2022 Ministerio de Hacienda, Chile, Consultant. Consorcio de Universidades Contra la Informalidad en Chile.
2020 Ministerio de la Mujer y la Equidad de Género, Chile, Consultant. Mesa de Cuidados.
2019 Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y Familia, Agencia de Calidad de la Educación, Chile, Consultant. Estudio sobre instrumentos de Educación Parvularia.
2016-2019 Institute for Fiscal Policies, UK, PostDoc Fellow. Working with the Centre for Evaluation of Development Policies (EDePo) to design, implement and evaluate different interventions for
improving early childhood development.
2013-2017 The World Bank, Co-Investigator, Researcher, Programmer and Data Analyst. Working with the
Development Impact Evaluation team to prepare and monitor the surveys for the impact evaluation
of a Maternal and Child Health Initiative in Nigeria.
2013-2015 Institute for Fiscal Policies, UK, Researcher. Working with the Centre for Evaluation of
Development Policies (EDePo) to design a new module measuring parental beliefs and the
implementation of cognitive and non-cognitive tests for children and parents in India and Colombia.
The World Bank, Consultant. In charge of the standardisation of measurements on child
development used in “Nadie es Perfecto” program implemented by DECRG: Poverty and Inequality.
2015 Oxford Policy Management, Analyst. In charge of the sampling frame, data management and
analysis for the Midline survey with the aim of understanding the effectiveness of the Malaria
Consortium Programme aimed at increasing the appropriate use of quality-assured RDTs in private
sector markets in Nigeria.
2013-2014 Inter-American Development Bank, Consultant. Designing a micro-simulator for alternative
educational grants under Oportunidades program.
2008-2010 Microdata Center, Universidad de Chile, Analyst. In charge of the implementation and analytical
evaluation of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in areas related with poverty, inequality, labor
and unemployment, social security, child development and perceptions.
2006-2008 Central Bank of Chile, Economic and Financial Analyst of the Department of Models and
Projections. Projecting macroeconomic variables of interest using DSGE models and modelling the
interaction between Chilean and foreign economies markets.
2004-2006 Microdata Center, Universidad de Chile, Research Assistant for the Assessor Technical Committee
of the University Selection Tests (PSU). Assisting on the preparation of technical documents for the
predictive validity of the PSU.
Microdata Center, Universidad de Chile, Research Assistant for the implementation and
analysis of the Survey of Occupation and Unemployment in the Gran Santiago and the Survey of
Economic Perception.
2003-2005 Microdata Center, Universidad de Chile, Research Assistant for Prof. P. Mujica in the project
“Costs of the medical attention of three pathologies attributable to the tobacco consumption in four
countries of Latin America”. A multicenter study released in four countries of Latin America by
the OPS/OMS.