Students and the market for schools in Haiti

Uniquely among Latin American and Caribbean countries, Haiti has a largely non-public education system. Prior to the earthquake of January 2010, just 19 percent of primary school students were enrolled in public schools, with the remainder enrolled in a mix of religious, for-profit, and non-governmental organization-funded schools. This paper examines changes in Haitian schooling patterns in the last century and shows the country experienced tremendous growth in school attainment, driven almost entirely by growth in the private sector. Additionally, it provides evidence that the private market"works"to the extent that primary school fees are higher for schools with characteristics associated with education quality. The paper also analyzes the demand and supply determinants of school attendance and finds that household wealth is a major determinant of attendance. Given these findings, the authors conclude that in the near-term paying school fees for poor students may be an effective approach to expanding schooling access in Haiti.Education For All,Tertiary Education,Primary Education,Disability,Gender and Education

Social Networks and Voting

This paper uses a randomized experiment to study whether social networks aect vote choice. In a ercely contested presidential election in Peru with ten candidates, only 35% of subjects were aware how their friends intended to vote. We compare people who were randomly informed how one of their friends intended to vote to people who were randomly informed how an un-named stranger intended to vote. We nd no evidence that informing people people how their friends intended to vote aects their vote choice

Proyecto CuidaPets

El presente proyecto de investigación consiste en la constitución de una interfaz móvil a partir de una problemática evidenciada en Lima Metropolitana. En ocasiones, las personas que tienen mascota a su cargo, no gozan del tiempo suficiente para dedicarles a causa de múltiples factores. Por ejemplo, horarios complicados de carácter laboral, viajes imprevistos, reuniones con espacios prohibidos para animales, etc. Del mismo modo, existe una constante preocupación y frustración del usuario por no saber con quién dejar a su ser querido. Ante ello, nace Cuida Pets, un aplicativo móvil que brinda un espacio dinámico que ofrece múltiples alternativas a los dueños de mascotas. Teniendo la facilidad de encontrar al cuidador idóneo según su cercanía en el mapa de geolocalización. Tomando en cuenta estos elementos es cómo el App móvil Cuida Pets busca generar una presencia imponente dentro de una industria con proyecciones de crecimiento sostenido. A través de la validación del problema se evidenció la existencia de un elemento que requiere solución. A través de múltiples experimentos y herramientas se ratificó el modelo de negocio que permitió establecer resultados concretos en cada uno de los cuadrantes del Business Model Canvas. Asimismo, se obtuvo intereses de compras concretas mediante la comercialización del producto mínimo viable, lo que evidencia la existencia objetiva de adquirir el servicio por parte de nuestro público objetivo. Por último, mediante el uso de un análisis crítico y cognitivo, se elaboró el plan financiero para obtener indicadores que comprueben la validez y viabilidad del proyecto.This research project consists of the constitution of a mobile interface based on a problem identified in Metropolitan Lima. Sometimes, people who have a pet in their care do not have enough time to dedicate them due to multiple factors. For example, complicated work schedules, unforeseen trips, meetings with forbidden spaces for animals, etc. Similarly, there is a constant worry and frustration of the user at not knowing who to leave their loved one with. With this in mind, Cuida Pets is born, a mobile application that provides a dynamic space that offers multiple alternatives to pet owners. Having the facility to find the right caregiver according to their proximity on the geolocation map. Taking these elements into account is how the mobile App Cuida Pets seeks to generate an imposing presence within an industry with projections of sustained growth. The validation of the problem revealed the existence of an element that requires a solution. Through multiple experiments and tools, the business model was ratified that allowed the establishment of concrete results in each of the quadrants of the Business Model Canvas. Concrete purchasing interests were also obtained through the marketing of the minimum viable product, which shows the objective existence of purchasing the service by our target audience. Finally, through the use of critical and cognitive analysis, the financial plan was developed in order to obtain indicators to test the validity and viability of the project.Trabajo de investigació

26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 3 - Meeting Abstracts - Antwerp, Belgium. 15–20 July 2017

This work was produced as part of the activities of FAPESP Research,\ud Disseminations and Innovation Center for Neuromathematics (grant\ud 2013/07699-0, S. Paulo Research Foundation). NLK is supported by a\ud FAPESP postdoctoral fellowship (grant 2016/03855-5). ACR is partially\ud supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

On Voting, Violence, and Health: Essays on Political Economics and Development

The three essays conforming this thesis are representative pieces of my approach to analyzing the causes and consequences of economic underdevelopment. The overaching topic that ties together these essays is role that institutions and culture play in affecting specific behaviors that undermine development. The approach to the questions addressed in each essay is empirical, using data from Per\'{u} and Sierra Leone, and relies on economic theory to provide a general framework and deepen our understanding of the observed behaviors. Below, I provide a more detailed summary of the main findings of each chapter in this thesis:In Chapter 1, ''Turnout, Political Preferences, and Information: Evidence from Perú'', I explore the role of electoral institutions that encourage citizens to vote on voter behavior. These institutions are widely used around the world, and yet little is known about the effects of such institutions on voter participation and the composition of the electorate. In this paper, I combine a field experiment with a change in Peruvian voting laws to identify the effect of fines for abstention on voting. Using the random variation in the fine for abstention and an objective measure of turnout at the individual level, I estimate the elasticity of voting with respect to cost to be -0.21. Consistent with the theoretical model presented in this essay, the reduction in turnout is driven by voters who (i) are in the center of the political spectrum, (ii) are less interested in politics, and (iii) hold less political information. However, voters who respond to changes in the cost of abstention do not have different preferences for policies than those who vote regardless of the cost. Further, involvement in politics, as measured by the decision to acquire political information, seems to be independent of the level of the fine. Additional results indicate that the reduction in the fine reduces the incidence of vote buying and increases the price paid for a vote. Chapter 2, ''Civil Conflict and Human Capital Accumulation: The Long Term Consequences of Political Violence in Perú'', analyzes the consequences of a long lasting civil conflict on human capital accumulation. In this chapter, I provide empirical evidence of thelong- and short-term effects of exposure to political violence on human capital accumulation. Using a novel data set that registers all the violent acts and fatalities during the Peruvian civil conflict, I exploit the variation in conflict location and birth cohorts to identify the effect of the civil war on educational attainment. Conditional on being exposed to violence, the average person accumulates 0.31 less years of education as an adult. In the short-term, the effects are stronger than in the long run; these results hold when comparing children within the same household. Further, children are able to catch up if they experience violence once they have already started their schooling cycle, while if they are affected earlier in life the effect persists in the long run. I explore the potential causal mechanisms, finding that supply shocks delay entrance to school but don't cause lower educational achievement in the long-run. On the demand side, suggestive evidence shows that the effect on mother's health status and the subsequent effect on child health is what drives the long-run results.In the third and final chapter of this dissertation, "Transportation Choices, Fatalism, and the Value of Statistical Life in Africa", joint work with Edward Miguel, we take a look at the role culture plays in determining the willigness to pay to avoid life thretening situations. Specifically, we exploit a unique transportation setting to estimate the value of a statistical life (VSL) in Africa. We observe choices made by travelers to and from the airport in Freetown, Sierra Leone (which is separated from the city by a body of water) among transport options -namely, ferry, helicopter, speed boat, and hovercraft - each with differential historical mortality risk and monetary and time costs, and estimate the trade-offs individuals are willing to make using a discrete choice model. These revealed preference VSL estimates also exploit exogenous variation in travel risk generated by daily weather shocks, e.g. rainfall. We find that African travelers have very low willingness to pay for marginal reductions in mortality risk, with an estimated average VSL close to zero. Our sample of African airport travelers report high incomes (close to average U.S. levels), and likely have relatively long remaining life expectancy, ruling out the two most obvious explanations for the low value of life. Alternative explanations, such as those based on cultural factors, including the well-documented fatalism found in many West African societies, appear more promising

Civil Conflict and Human Capital Accumulation: The Long Term Effects of Political Violence in Perú

This paper provides empirical evidence of the long- and short-term effects of political violence exposure on human capital accumulation. Using a novel data set that registers all the violent acts and fatalities during the Peruvian civil conflict, Leon exploit the variation in war location and birth cohorts of children to identify the effect of the civil war on educational attainment. The results show that, conditional on being exposed to violence, the average person accumulates about 0.21 less years of education as an adult. In the short-term, the effects are stronger than in the long run. Further, children are able to catch-up if they experience violence once they have already started their schooling cycle, while if they are affected earlier in life the effect persists in the long run. He explore the potential causal mechanisms, finding that supply shocks delay entrance to school but don't cause lower educational achievement in the long-run. On the demand side, suggestive evidence shows that the effect on mother's health status and the subsequent effect on child health is what drives the long-run results. [Working Paper No. 245]children, schooling cycle, life, mother's health, child, demand human capital, war location, birth, Civil Conflict, Education, Persistence, Economic shocks, Perú, violence, education, adult, human capital accumulation

Replication Data for "Compulsory Voting, Turnout, and Government Spending: Evidence from Austria"

We study a unique quasi-experiment in Austria, where compulsory voting laws are changed across Austria’s nine states at different times. Analyzing state and national elections from 1949-2010, we show that compulsory voting laws with weakly enforced fines increase turnout by roughly 10 percentage points. However, we find no evidence that this change in turnout affected government spending patterns (in levels or composition) or electoral outcomes. Individual-level data on turnout and political preferences suggest these results occur because the impacts of compulsory voting on turnout are larger among those who are non-partisan, who have low interest in politics, and who are uninformed

Replication Data for "Turnout, Political Preferences and Information: Experimental Evidence from Perú"

I combine a field experiment with a change in voting laws reducing the fine for abstention to assess the effects of monetary incentives to encourage voter participation. In a real world election, using experimental variation in the perceived reduction of the fine for abstention I estimate that receiving information about a reduction in the fine by 50 (75) percent causes a decrease in turnout of 2.6 (5.3) percentage points. These estimates imply a cost elasticity of voting of -0.22. The reduction in turnout is driven by voters who are in the center of the political spectrum, hold less political information and have lower subjective value of voting. The increase in abstention does not change aggregate preferences for specific policies. Further, involvement in politics, as measured by the decision to acquire political information, is independent of the level of the fine. Additional results indicate that the reduction in the fine reduces the incidence of vote buying and increases the price paid for a vote

Risky Transportation Choices and the Value of Statistical Life

This paper exploits an unusual transportation setting to generate some of the first revealed preference value of a statistical life (VSL) estimates from a low-income setting. We estimate the trade-offs individuals are willing to make between mortality risk and cost as they travel to and from the international airport in Sierra Leone (which is separated from the capital Freetown by a body of water). We observe travelers choosing among multiple transport options – namely, ferry, helicopter, hovercraft, and water taxi. The setting and original dataset allow us to address some typical omitted variable concerns, and also to compare VSL estimates for travelers from dozens of countries, including both African and non-African countries, all facing the same choice situation. The average VSL estimate for African travelers in the sample is US$577,000 compared to US$924,000 for non-Africans. Individual characteristics, particularly job earnings and fatalistic attitudes, can largely account for this variation in the estimated VSL, but there is little evidence that estimates are driven by individuals’ lack of information or predicted life expectancy. We estimate a large income elasticity of the VSL of +1.77. These VSL estimates begin to fill an important gap in the existing literature, and can be used to inform public policy, including current debates within Sierra Leone regarding the desirability of constructing new transportation infrastructure