Email | CV | Research | Teaching
2019 North Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9210, USA
2019 North Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9210, USA
Email: jrc@econ.ucsb.edu
(PDF version available here)
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Ph.D. (c) in Economics, 2022 (expected)
M.A. in Economics, 2017
National University of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
M.S. in Economics, 2012
B.S. in Economics, 2011
Econometrics, Labor Economics
Colombian (F1 Visa with STEMP OPT option)
“Testing for Idiosyncratic Treatment Effect Heterogeneity." (Link here)
This paper provides asymptotically valid tests for the null hypothesis of no treatment effect heterogeneity. Importantly, I consider the presence of heterogeneity that is not explained by observed characteristics, or so-called idiosyncratic heterogeneity. When examining this heterogeneity, common statistical tests encounter a nuisance parameter problem in the average treatment effect which renders the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic dependent on that parameter. I propose an asymptotically valid test that circumvents the estimation of that parameter using the empirical characteristic function. A simulation study illustrates not only the test’s validity but its higher power in rejecting a false null as compared to current tests. Furthermore, I show the method’s usefulness through its application to a microfinance experiment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this experiment and for outcomes related to loan take-up and self-employment, the tests suggest that treatment effect heterogeneity does not seem to be completely accounted for by baseline characteristics. For those outcomes, researchers could potentially try to collect more baseline characteristics to inspect the remaining treatment effect heterogeneity, and potentially, improve treatment targeting.
“At What Level Should One Cluster Standard Errors in Paired and Small-Strata Experiments?" (with Clément de Chaisemartin). Revision Requested in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. (Link here)
In clustered paired experiments, units are matched into pairs, and one unit of each pair is randomly assigned to treatment. To estimate the treatment effect, researchers often regress their outcome on a treatment indicator and pair fixed effects, clustering standard errors at the unit-of-randomization level. We show that the variance estimator in this regression may be severely downward biased: under constant treatment effect, its expectation equals 1/2 of the true variance. Instead, researchers should cluster their standard errors at the pair level. Using simulations, we show that those results extend to stratified experiments with few units per strata.
“The Pandemic Effects on Market Power and Profitability” (with Juan Espinosa-Torres).
Dissertation Committee
Placement Director: Professor Sevgi Yuksel, UCSB,
Email: sevgi.yuksel@econ.ucsb.edu
Graduate Coordinator: Mark Patterson, UCSB,
Email: econ-jobmarket@ucsb.edu
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Lecturer
Teaching Assistant
Los Andes University, Bogotá, Colombia
Lecturer, Macroeconomics I (Undergraduate), Aug-Nov 2013
Teaching Assistant, Financial Markets (Undergraduate), Feb-May 2014
Rosario University, Bogotá, Colombia
Lecturer, International Trade (Undergraduate), Feb-Jun 2011
National University of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
Teaching Assistant
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Research Assistant to Professors Richard Startz, Douglas Steigerwald, and Finn Kydland
Projects: Structural Econometrics, Bayesian Econometrics, Regime
Switching Tests, Andhra Pradesh Priorities, 2017-2019
Newsletter Contributor, LAEF, Summers 2018, 2019, 2020
Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, Jul 2014-Jul 2016
Research Fellow to Eduardo Cavallo, Julian Caballero, Andrés Fernández,
Carola Pessino, and Ernesto Stein
Office of the Colombian Financial Supervisor, Bogotá, Colombia
Senior Analyst, Research and Development Directorate, May 2013-Jun
2014
Fedesarollo, Bogotá, Colombia, Feb 2011-May 2013
Research Assistant to Leonardo Villar, Roberto Steiner, Natalia
Salazar, and Adolfo Barajas
Prize for Scholarship, Teaching, and Service, UCSB, Fall 2020
Research Quarter Fellowship, UCSB, Fall 2019
Costas Fellowship, UCSB, Spring 2019
Gretler Fellowship, UCSB, Summer 2018
Jennifer Jo Williamson Fellowship, UCSB, Fall 2017
UC Regents Fellowship, UCSB, 2016-2017
Distinction in Ph.D. Preliminary Examination in Econometrics and
Microeconomics, UCSB, 2017
Fulbright and Colfuturo’s Excellence Group, 2012
Scholarship for Master Studies, Fedesarrollo, Feb-May 2012
2022: RCEA Econometrics Conference
2020: American Causal Inference Conference (postponed)
2019: Advances in Field Experiments (U Chicago), California Econometrics
Conference (UC Davis), Econometric Society’s Latin American Meetings
(Puebla), Los Angeles Conference in Applied Economics (USC)
American Economic Association, Econometric Society, Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association, Broom Center for Demography, American Society of Hispanic Economists, European Economic Association
Referee for: Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics
Conference Organizer: Southern California Graduate Conference in Applied
Economics, 2020
Discussant: Los Angeles Conference in Applied Economics, 2019
Mentor: Graduate Division Scholars Program, UCSB, 2021
Member of Economics Diversity Task Force, UCSB, 2020
Mentor: Economics Graduate Student Association, UCSB, 2019
Community outreach: California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education
at CSU Channel Islands, 2017
Mentor: National University of Colombia Alumni Program, 2017
Stata Workshop, Broom Center, UCSB, Dec 2020
Stata Skills, UCSB (Undergraduate), Summer 2020
Data Hack in R, UCSB (Undergraduate), Summers 2018, 2019
R, Stata, Matlab, Python, PySpark, RStan, SQL, UNIX, Eviews,
English (Fluent), Spanish (Native), Portuguese (Advanced)
Updated: February 2022