Working Papers

This section features working papers developed by researchers at the LM²C² Millennium Nucleus. These are ongoing studies or early-stage academic manuscripts that have not been peer-reviewed or formally published in scientific journals.

As with our published research, the working papers are organized across six core research areas: Job Design and Productivity, Employment Platforms, Inequality and Labor Market Mobility, Informality, Discrimination, and Human Capital Accumulation.

Job Design and Productivity

This research line examines how job characteristics—such as required experience, task complexity, and hiring standards—affect productivity, workplace satisfaction, and career trajectories.

Wage Cyclicality Revisited: The Role of Hiring Standards

Author: Benjamín Villena

This paper analyzes how hiring standards influence the measurement of wage cyclicality in Chile, showing that omitting criteria like education and experience can lead to underestimating wage fluctuations across economic cycles.

What He/She Wants in the Labor Market

Authors: Benjamín Villena and Sekyu Choi

This study explores gender differences in job preferences and how they intersect with social norms and career trajectories.

Market and Non-Market Exchange and Market-Supporting

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

Investigates how institutions supporting market interactions can improve formal and informal exchanges, ultimately enhancing overall well-being.

Investments, Competition, and Endogenous Cash Constraints

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

Analyzes how internal liquidity constraints within firms affect investment decisions, even when external financing is accessible.

Introducing Free Choice: Competition and Vouchers in Markets Supplied by Public Providers

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

This theoretical study models the effects of competition and voucher systems in publicly supplied sectors such as education and healthcare, analyzing their impact on prices, quality, and consumer welfare.

Innovation and Competition: A Dynamic Perspective

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

Presents a dynamic model that analyzes how market competition influences long-term investment in research and development (R&D).

Artificial Intelligence and Market Power in the Labor Market

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

Explores how adopting artificial intelligence (AI) affects market power among employers and workers, examining whether it reinforces employer control or enhances workers' bargaining power.

Market and Non-Market Exchange

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

A theoretical study that integrates economic sociology and game theory to explore the conditions under which exchanges are governed by market norms versus social or bureaucratic norms.

Wage Cyclicality Revisited: The Role of Hiring Standards

Author: Benjamín Villena

This paper analyzes how hiring standards influence the measurement of wage cyclicality in Chile, showing that omitting criteria like education and experience can lead to underestimating wage fluctuations across economic cycles.

What He/She Wants in the Labor Market

Authors: Benjamín Villena and Sekyu Choi

This study explores gender differences in job preferences and how they intersect with social norms and career trajectories.

Market and Non-Market Exchange and Market-Supporting

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

Investigates how institutions supporting market interactions can improve formal and informal exchanges, ultimately enhancing overall well-being.

Investments, Competition, and Endogenous Cash Constraints

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

Analyzes how internal liquidity constraints within firms affect investment decisions, even when external financing is accessible.

Introducing Free Choice: Competition and Vouchers in Markets Supplied by Public Providers

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

This theoretical study models the effects of competition and voucher systems in publicly supplied sectors such as education and healthcare, analyzing their impact on prices, quality, and consumer welfare.

Innovation and Competition: A Dynamic Perspective

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

Presents a dynamic model that analyzes how market competition influences long-term investment in research and development (R&D).

Artificial Intelligence and Market Power in the Labor Market

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

Explores how adopting artificial intelligence (AI) affects market power among employers and workers, examining whether it reinforces employer control or enhances workers' bargaining power.

Market and Non-Market Exchange

Author: Felipe Balmaceda

A theoretical study that integrates economic sociology and game theory to explore the conditions under which exchanges are governed by market norms versus social or bureaucratic norms.

Employment Platforms

This line of research focuses on using digital platforms to classify job postings and map skill demands, employing natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning models (e.g., transformers). The aim is to monitor labor mismatches and inform more effective policy design.

(Frisch-Waugh-Lovell)': On the Estimation of Regression Models by Row

Authors: Damian Clarke, Nicolás Paris, and Benjamín Villena-Roldán

Presents a novel computational method for estimating regression models row-by-row, improving large-scale data analysis.

Transformer Models for Job Occupation Classification

Author: Benjamín Villena

It applies machine learning models (transformers) to improve the classification of job postings in Chile, which has implications for public policy and real-time labor market monitoring.

(Frisch-Waugh-Lovell)': On the Estimation of Regression Models by Row

Authors: Damian Clarke, Nicolás Paris, and Benjamín Villena-Roldán

Presents a novel computational method for estimating regression models row-by-row, improving large-scale data analysis.

Transformer Models for Job Occupation Classification

Author: Benjamín Villena

It applies machine learning models (transformers) to improve the classification of job postings in Chile, which has implications for public policy and real-time labor market monitoring.

Informality

This area investigates the causes, persistence, and consequences of informal employment in Latin America. It explores its connections to human capital development, social protection, and public policy reforms, including pensions and working hour regulations.

Working and Saving Informally: The Link between Labor Market Informality and Financial Exclusion

Authors: Mauricio Tejada and Luca Flabbi

Examines how financial exclusion impacts informal workers, limiting their ability to save and access social protection systems.

Savings, Informality and the Distributional Impact of Pension Reforms

Authors: Mauricio Tejada and Luca Flabbi

This study evaluates how pension system reforms impact savings behavior and labor informality in Chile, revealing that the effects are regressive for informal workers.

Working Hours Policy Reform: Micro and Macro Impacts

Authors: Mauricio Tejada and Benjamín Villena

This study evaluates Chile's working hours reform, which reduced the standard workweek from 48 to 45 hours. The reform highlighted both micro- and macroeconomic impacts, including a notable increase in self-employment.

Working and Saving Informally: The Link between Labor Market Informality and Financial Exclusion

Authors: Mauricio Tejada and Luca Flabbi

Examines how financial exclusion impacts informal workers, limiting their ability to save and access social protection systems.

Savings, Informality and the Distributional Impact of Pension Reforms

Authors: Mauricio Tejada and Luca Flabbi

This study evaluates how pension system reforms impact savings behavior and labor informality in Chile, revealing that the effects are regressive for informal workers.

Working Hours Policy Reform: Micro and Macro Impacts

Authors: Mauricio Tejada and Benjamín Villena

This study evaluates Chile's working hours reform, which reduced the standard workweek from 48 to 45 hours. The reform highlighted both micro- and macroeconomic impacts, including a notable increase in self-employment.

Discrimination

It focuses on how biases related to gender, race, and socioeconomic background shape hiring practices, wages, promotions, and occupational segregation—issues with broad implications for labor market efficiency and equity.

What He/She Wants in the Labor Market

Authors: Benjamín Villena and Sekyu Choi

This paper is relevant to productivity studies because it investigates the impact of gender bias on labor market decisions and access to different job types.

An Imperfect Match?

Author: Tania Cabello Hutt et al.

Develops an intersectional framework to analyze discrimination in hiring, revealing that both Black and White women are required to demonstrate greater qualifications than White men to be perceived as meeting job requirements.

Future Childbearing Risk

Author: Tania Cabello Hutt

Introduces the concept of "future childbearing risk" as a dimension of the motherhood penalty, using experimental and qualitative studies to explore how this perceived risk affects women's labor market outcomes.

What He/She Wants in the Labor Market

Authors: Benjamín Villena and Sekyu Choi

This paper is relevant to productivity studies because it investigates the impact of gender bias on labor market decisions and access to different job types.

An Imperfect Match?

Author: Tania Cabello Hutt et al.

Develops an intersectional framework to analyze discrimination in hiring, revealing that both Black and White women are required to demonstrate greater qualifications than White men to be perceived as meeting job requirements.

Future Childbearing Risk

Author: Tania Cabello Hutt

Introduces the concept of "future childbearing risk" as a dimension of the motherhood penalty, using experimental and qualitative studies to explore how this perceived risk affects women's labor market outcomes.

Human Capital Accumulation

This line analyzes how individuals acquire education and skills and how these investments influence labor market outcomes. It also addresses school-to-work transitions, technical and higher education, and the effects of automation.

The Leaky Pipeline: How academic preparation and financial aspects shape gender differences in STEM Major dropouts?

Authors: Andrea Canales and Paola Bordón

Explores how academic and financial challenges contribute to higher dropout rates among women in STEM university programs.

Labor Market Returns under Educational Expansion in the Americas

Authors: Francisco Cerón and Andrea Canales

This study examines whether educational expansion in Latin America has led to a devaluation of university degrees, using comparative data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). It highlights variations in labor market returns by country, gender, and economic sector.

Gender Pay in the Teaching Profession

Author: Paola Bordón et al.

This paper examines gender pay gaps among public school teachers in Mexico. It finds a 1% gap in base salaries, which widens to 5% when bonuses and structural conditions are taken into account.

The Leaky Pipeline: How academic preparation and financial aspects shape gender differences in STEM Major dropouts?

Authors: Andrea Canales and Paola Bordón

Explores how academic and financial challenges contribute to higher dropout rates among women in STEM university programs.

Labor Market Returns under Educational Expansion in the Americas

Authors: Francisco Cerón and Andrea Canales

This study examines whether educational expansion in Latin America has led to a devaluation of university degrees, using comparative data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). It highlights variations in labor market returns by country, gender, and economic sector.

Gender Pay in the Teaching Profession

Author: Paola Bordón et al.

This paper examines gender pay gaps among public school teachers in Mexico. It finds a 1% gap in base salaries, which widens to 5% when bonuses and structural conditions are taken into account.

Inequality and Mobility in the Labor Market

This research line explores how social origin, education, and institutions shape career trajectories and social mobility. Using national and international data, it examines wage inequality, intergenerational mobility, and how shifts in education and employment impact the distribution of opportunities.

Do People Really Prefer Unequal Societies?

Authors: Mauricio Bucca and Francisco Molina

An experimental study on how individuals perceive and justify economic inequality revealing tensions between normative beliefs about fairness and the tolerance of unequal outcomes.

Class-Based Name Giving Patterns in 20th Century Chile: A Network Approach

Authors: Mauricio Bucca, Francisco Molina, Chiara Pesando, and Daniel Cantillán

It uses a network analysis approach to examine how naming patterns in 20th-century Chile reflect and reinforce class-based social divisions over time.

Black-White Differences in Intergenerational Mobility

Author: Mauricio Bucca

Uses sibling correlation data to identify persistent intergenerational mobility gaps between White and African American populations in the United States.

Educational Assortative Marriage and Income Inequality

Author: Mauricio Bucca 

Explores how educational assortative marriage patterns contribute to income stratification across racial groups in the United States.

Once in a Blue Moon: Barriers to Intermarriage Among Natives and Second-Generation Muslims in France

Authors: Mauricio Bucca and Lucas Drouhot

Examines how social norms and institutional factors hinder integration through intermarriage between native French citizens and second-generation Muslims in France.

Intersectional Dynamics of Intermarriage and Migration in Latin America

Authors: Mauricio Bucca, Alejandro Abufhele, Chiara Pesando, and Catalina Urbina

Investigates how gender and nationality shape marriage patterns within the context of high mobility and migration in Latin America, highlighting the intersectional dynamics that influence partner selection.

Intergenerational Mobility and Occupational Plans

UC–Cornell Collaboration with Kim Weeden

This project analyzes how intergenerational occupational plans are formed. It is part of a research collaboration between Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Cornell University, and a research visit is scheduled for 2025.

Do People Really Prefer Unequal Societies?

Authors: Mauricio Bucca and Francisco Molina

An experimental study on how individuals perceive and justify economic inequality revealing tensions between normative beliefs about fairness and the tolerance of unequal outcomes.

Class-Based Name Giving Patterns in 20th Century Chile: A Network Approach

Authors: Mauricio Bucca, Francisco Molina, Chiara Pesando, and Daniel Cantillán

It uses a network analysis approach to examine how naming patterns in 20th-century Chile reflect and reinforce class-based social divisions over time.

Black-White Differences in Intergenerational Mobility

Author: Mauricio Bucca

Uses sibling correlation data to identify persistent intergenerational mobility gaps between White and African American populations in the United States.

Educational Assortative Marriage and Income Inequality

Author: Mauricio Bucca 

Explores how educational assortative marriage patterns contribute to income stratification across racial groups in the United States.

Once in a Blue Moon: Barriers to Intermarriage Among Natives and Second-Generation Muslims in France

Authors: Mauricio Bucca and Lucas Drouhot

Examines how social norms and institutional factors hinder integration through intermarriage between native French citizens and second-generation Muslims in France.

Intersectional Dynamics of Intermarriage and Migration in Latin America

Authors: Mauricio Bucca, Alejandro Abufhele, Chiara Pesando, and Catalina Urbina

Investigates how gender and nationality shape marriage patterns within the context of high mobility and migration in Latin America, highlighting the intersectional dynamics that influence partner selection.

Intergenerational Mobility and Occupational Plans

UC–Cornell Collaboration with Kim Weeden

This project analyzes how intergenerational occupational plans are formed. It is part of a research collaboration between Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Cornell University, and a research visit is scheduled for 2025.

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