Eventos

Seminario CEDE - Natalia Pia Guerrero Trinidad

In weak-state environments, behavior depends less on formal rules and more on internalized norms, yet how such norms emerge–and whether informal institutions can cultivate them remains unclear. I provide causal evidence that accountable grassroots institutions can form, internalize, and sustain moral norms that shape long-run behavior. My empirical strategy exploits the staggered emergence of Peru’s Peasant Rounds (1976–1983)–community-run security organizations with participatory and accountable design that promoted moral norms– and combines archival, ethnographic, administrative, survey, and original fieldwork data into a new dataset. Using a matched difference-in-differences design across cohorts and birth districts, paired with displacement induced by exogenous weather shocks, I show that exposure to the rounds before age 11 shifts rule-following from fear to empathy, fosters more impartial moral judgments, increases respect for others’ rights, and raises trust beyond the in-group. These changes in moral norms translate into meaningful behavioral outcomes: adult arrests and incarceration fall by roughly 14 percent relative to the control-group mean, and insurgent recruitment declines by about 32 percent. I also find substantial evidence that these norm changes persist when individuals relocate, diffuse into previously unexposed host communities, and extend to the next generation. A placebo comparison with self-defense groups lacking accountability shows no comparable effects. Taken together, the results are consistent with a mechanism in which accountable community institutions socialize children and raise the moral cost of wrongdoing, cultivating intrinsic prosocial motivation that travels with individuals over space and time.

Seminario CEDE - Antonia Vazquez

Can investing in failing schools help them improve? This paper studies this question using a natural experiment based on a 2017 lawsuit settlement that allocated substantial resources to the lowest-performing schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Using a difference-in-differences design, I compare 50 secondary schools that received an increase of 13.5% on average in their annual budgets for three years, to nearby public, noncharter schools that received no settlement funding. The intervention mandated hiring of additional staff members and allocating of funds for professional development, but allowed discretionary spending on initiatives for high-need students. I find that, in line with the intent of the settlement, schools hired more personnel, including instructional staff such as teachers and counselors and support personnel such as paraprofessionals and school service staff, all effects statistically significant. Settlement schools achieved a 0.75 percentage points reduction in suspension rate relative to unfunded schools, reflecting a marked improvement in performance outcomes. These reductions were particularly notable given that the settlement triggered demographic sorting, with the treated schools losing students overall and shifting toward higher concentrations of economically disadvantaged students and lower Black enrollment. A simple bounding exercise that accounts for demographic sorting indicates that the settlement had meaningful effects on suspension rates, suggesting real improvements on noncognitive dimensions of schooling. Survey evidence suggests that two key mechanisms for lower suspensions were improvements to school climate as reported by staff and students, and enhancements to educators’ capacity and disciplinary approaches.  

3rd Colombian Economics Conference

The Department of Economics and the Center for Economic Development Studies (CEDE) at Universidad de los Andes invite submissions for the 3rd Colombian Economics Conference, to be held in Bogotá on December 15th and 16th, 2025.  Submission Guidelines We welcome submissions on a wide range of topics: Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Development, and Economic History. Papers must be written in English. Submit a full draft in PDF format, including a title and abstract. Works-in-progress are considered if sufficiently developed for academic discussion. Key Dates Submission Deadline: June 20, 2025. Notification of Acceptance: July 20, 2025. Funding  Please note that the Conference will not cover travel and lodging expenses. Registration Fee Authors whose papers are accepted for presentation at the conference will be required to pay a registration fee of 50 USD. Submission Organizing Committee Juliana Helo – Universidad de los Andes Oskar Nupia – Universidad de los Andes David Perez-Reyna – Universidad de los Andes Contact: For questions or further information, contact: [email protected] More info

Seminario CEDE - Román Andrés Zárate

Este artículo estima el impacto de la violencia perpetrada por pares y por el personal escolar sobre los estudiantes víctimas. A partir de datos administrativos de Chile que vinculan reportes de violencia escolar con registros educativos individuales, abordamos limitaciones metodológicas que han dificultado la identificación de los efectos causales de la violencia escolar en el corto, mediano y largo plazo. Usando un diseño de diferencias en diferencias con emparejamiento, encontramos que la exposición a la violencia escolar tiene efectos negativos persistentes: el ausentismo aumenta entre un 46 % y un 64 %, las tasas de repitencia se duplican, y tanto las calificaciones como los puntajes en pruebas estandarizadas disminuyen significativamente, con impactos que se extienden hasta por cuatro años. A largo plazo, las víctimas presentan una probabilidad sustancialmente menor de graduarse de la educación secundaria o matricularse en la universidad. Los efectos son más severos cuando la violencia es perpetrada por adultos que cuando proviene de pares. Evidencia complementaria de encuestas muestra que los incidentes reportados se asocian con mayores percepciones de violencia y discriminación, así como con una menor sensación de pertenencia escolar y menores expectativas por parte de los docentes. Aunque estos efectos psicológicos y de percepción desaparecen un año después de los incidentes, las consecuencias educativas adversas persisten, evidenciando cómo experiencias de violencia, incluso breves, pueden generar desventajas educativas duraderas.  

Seminario PePe - Ana Carolina Ramírez

El proyecto Bre-B, impulsado por el Banco de la República, se estructuró como una intervención de política pública con fundamentos en la economía industrial, orientada a corregir una falla de mercado en la provisión de pagos electrónicos de bajo valor. Antes de su implementación, el mercado presentaba altas barreras de entrada, fragmentación e interoperabilidad limitada entre los distintos proveedores, lo que restringía la competencia y el acceso a medios de pago eficientes. Desde esta perspectiva, Bre-B se concibió como una infraestructura compartida y neutral, capaz de generar efectos de red positivos, reducir costos de transacción y favorecer la competencia en la capa de servicios más que en la de infraestructura. La estructuración del proyecto incorporó criterios de interoperabilidad, neutralidad tecnológica y gobernanza abierta, buscando que la innovación y la eficiencia en los pagos inmediatos surgieran de un entorno más competitivo, equitativo y con menores asimetrías de poder de mercado entre las entidades participantes.  

Seminario PePe - Juan Sebastián Betancur

El Comité Autónomo de la Regla Fiscal (CARF) presenta una conferencia sobre las perspectivas fiscales de Colombia, en un contexto de ajustes económicos y desafíos globales. Durante la sesión, el director técnico del CARF, Juan Sebastián Betancur, expondrá los principales retos y oportunidades que enfrenta el país para alcanzar la sostenibilidad de las finanzas públicas, fortalecer la credibilidad macroeconómica y mantener la confianza. El espacio busca acercar a los estudiantes de economía a la realidad fiscal del país y al papel que cumple el CARF como órgano técnico e independiente, encargado de velar por el cumplimiento de la Regla Fiscal y de promover la sostenibilidad de las finanzas públicas.  

Premio Juan Luis Londoño 2025

Seminario CEDE - Vitor Possebom

The FAO-GAEZ productivity data are widely used in Economics. However, the empirical literature rarely discusses measurement error. We use two proxies to derive novel analytical bounds around the effect of agricultural productivity in a setting with nonclassical measurement error. These bounds rely on assumptions that are weaker than the ones imposed in empirical studies and exhaust the information contained in the first two moments of the data. We reevaluate three influential studies, documenting that measurement error matters and that the impact of agricultural productivity may be smaller than previously reported. Our methodology has broad applications in empirical research involving mismeasured variables.  

Seminario PePe - David Jaeger

Using a unique panel survey of final-year undergraduates at six of the largest universities in Mozambique, we find that completing an undergraduate degree brings a moderate overall wage premium, conditional on a rich set of controls, including pre-degree earnings and academic performance.  We find heterogeneity in sheepskin effects across different kinds of firms and propose a simple model of wage-setting in which productivity is only partially observable in some firms and fully observable in others. In this setting, education serves both to enhance productivity and as a signal of productivity. Consistent with the theory, we find larger ``sheepskin'' effects in positions where productivity is likely to be less observable.