About Me
I am an Economics PhD candidate at the University of Michigan, working in Public Finance, Labor, and Environmental and Energy Economics. I study how taxes, mandates, and regulation shape firms’ decisions, wages, employment, and who gets the rents when there is market power. I also look at how environmental and energy policies and incentives to enter the formal economy affect local economies, pollution, and deforestation.
For me, these questions started at home, in Peru, where the history of reforms that opened opportunities for many families shaped my interest in how institutions affect people’s lives. At the same time, coming from the Andes drew me to the tradeoffs between development, energy, and environmental protection in a country rich in minerals, natural gas, and biodiversity. My research path also began there, with a BA in Economics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and work on laboratory and field experiments at GECE-PUCP and IPA. Along the way, I also worked at the Universidad del Pacífico Research Center and as a Predoc at Princeton University before coming to Michigan, bringing those questions with me.
Research
Publications
Perceptions of Own Social Class and Local Affluence: Effects on Preferences for Redistribution
With Javier Olivera, I study how perceptions of own social class and local affluence shape support for economic redistribution in Lima. In an online survey experiment, respondents were randomly informed about either their actual socio-economic status or the true share of affluent households in their district. Respondents substantially overestimated their own socio-economic status and, to a lesser extent, local affluence; correcting these misperceptions generally increased support for redistribution, with no effect on a wealth-tax proposal.
Working Papers
Who Gets the Rents? Mandated Benefits and Labor Market Power
I study Peru’s 2021 agrarian reform to examine who bears the cost of mandated benefits when firms have wage-setting power. The reform increased non-wage labor costs for covered agrarian and agroindustrial firms, while formal employment rose, cash wages stayed roughly flat, and pre-tax profit margins fell. I argue that this pattern is difficult to reconcile with competitive incidence, but consistent with benefit mandates redistributing part of firm rents when cash wages are constrained by a statutory wage floor.
Voice Messages and Early Immunization: A Field Experiment
With Kristian Lopez, Sandro Parodi, and Indhira Ramirez, I study whether pre-recorded voice reminders can improve early immunization behavior in the Dominican Republic. In a field experiment targeting households with pregnant women or young children, we evaluate reminder messages and find significant spillover effects from messages delivered in the Vice-President’s voice.
Do Informal Workers in Small Firms Self-Insure for Retirement?
With Noelia Bernal, I study how workers in small firms in Peru plan and save for retirement. Using original survey data from Lima Metropolitana, we show that informal workers do think about retirement and take steps to finance it, with own-business investment appearing as the most common strategy and formal pension-system saving as the least common.