Working Papers:
The Role of Composition in Assessing Labor Market Power: Evidence from a Retail Pharmacy Merger (slides)
"I use a large merger to study the effects of a concentration on labor market outcomes. I find that concentration lowers wages, but the effects are different than prior estimates in the literature. I observe a larger reduction in wages of salespeople (low skill) than pharmacists (high skill). Two hypotheses can explain the results: (i) salespeople have strong preferences for jobs or accumulate some industry-specific human capital, and (ii) pharmacists are better organized into unions. Previous studies do not account for changes in labor force composition that are relevant after a merger, which could explain the difference in estimates. I show that changes in labor force composition within establishments are common in the economy over time. "
Why is the College Premium Falling? The Role of Composition (with Ariadna Jou and Beatriz Rache) (slides)
"Recent studies suggest that the increasing supply of college-educated workers in Latin American countries has negatively impacted returns to skill over the last two decades, as evidenced by the decreasing college premium. In this paper, we show that changes in the college premium do not accurately represent shifts in returns to skill, particularly in the context of a significant expansion in the number of college graduates and institutions. Using novel data with approximately one million college graduates from 20 different cohorts in Brazil, we find that returns to skill have not decreased; in fact, they increased by 24\% over 16 years. The supply of college-educated workers has grown, primarily from newer, lower-ranked, and lower-wage-premium universities. Changes in the composition of college workers seem to have driven a decrease in the college premium, even though returns to skill are increasing. Using a simple supply and demand framework (Katz and Murphy, 1992) we show that skill-biased technical change (SBTC) increased by 3\% per year over a 12-year period, in contrast to the apparent -0.1\% yearly decrease indicated by the unadjusted data."
Work in Progress:
Defining Labor Markets from Worker Flows
The Effects of Job Displacement on the Gender Employment Gap (with Ísis Lira)
When the Inspector Knocks at the Door: Effects of Labor Inspections in Brazil (with Ísis Lira, Gustavo Gonzaga, Laura Schiavon and Ricardo Freguglia)
Publications:
Labor Market Concentration and the Gender Wage Gap, with Pedro D'Angelo. 2025. Economic Letters. DOI Open access until September 2025
Returns to Experience across Tasks: Evidence from Brazil, with Gustavo Gonzaga. 2019. Applied Economic Letters. DOI: 10.1080/13504851.2019.1593927
Modernização da Agricultura em Moçambique: determinantes da renda agrícola, with Carlos E. Guanziroli. 2015. Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural, V53, S1. DOI:10.1590/1234-56781806-94790053s01009