Education has been considered by political economy and political science literature one of the most important factors explaining political participation: voter turnout, civic engagement, political knowledge, and democratic attitudes. However, only few papers have explored the causal link with...

Does limited access to credit explain some of the gap in schooling attainment between children from richer and poorer families? I present new evidence on this important question using data from two loan programs for college students in Chile. Both programs offer loans to students who score above...

Grade retention is a widely used educational policy promoting human capital. However,its benets and costs are still under debate. Retention may aect learning, cognitive and psychologicalcapacities, educational attainment and the lifetime income (through the timingof entry to the labor market)....

In this paper we estimate the marriage market returns to being admitted to a higher ranked (i.e. more 'elite') university by exploiting unique features of the Chilean university admission system. This system centrally allocates applicants based on their university entrance test score, which...

To estimate causal effects of college choice, we exploit eligibility rules for student loans in a regression discontinuity design. Loan programs induce students to pursue college degrees that are more expensive and prolonged relative to technical education. Although higher education is...