Sergio Urzua is a Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on labor economics, especially the role of abilities, skills, and uncertainty as determinants of schooling decisions, labor market outcomes, social behavior, and inequality. In addition, his applied research analyzes selection models with unobserved heterogeneity and the impact evaluation of social programs in developing and developed countries. His work has been published in leading academic journals. He is also Director of the Lacea Labor Network; Research Director of The Research Institute for Development, Growth, and Economics (RIDGE); Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA); and International Research Fellow at Clapes-UC.
Professor Urzua teaches Labor Economics at the Ph.D. level and Policy and Program Evaluation at the undergraduate level. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Chile and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Areas of Interest
- Applied Econometrics
- Development
- Labor
CV: June 2023
Personal Website
Degrees
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Degree TypePhDDegree DetailsUniversity of Chicago, 2007
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Degree TypeBADegree DetailsUniversity of Chile, 2000.
| Course Name | Course Title | Semester | Syllabus |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECON708 | Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics | Fall 2024 | |
| ECON375 | Economics of Poverty and Discrimination | Fall 2024 | |
| ECON708 | Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics | Spring 2024 | |
| ECON375 | Economics of Poverty and Discrimination | Spring 2024 | |
| ECON708 | Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics | Fall 2023 | |
| ECON771 | Advanced Labor Economics: Theory and Evidence | Fall 2023 | |
| ECON417 | Estimating Policy and Program Impact | Fall 2023 | |
| ECON175 | Inequality: Determinants and Policy Remedies | Spring 2023 | |
| ECON708 | Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics | Spring 2023 | |
| ECON708 | Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics | Fall 2022 | |
| ECON771 | Advanced Labor Economics: Theory and Evidence | Fall 2022 | |
| ECON771 | Advanced Labor Economics: Theory and Evidence | Fall 2022 | |
| ECON417 | Estimating Policy and Program Impact | Fall 2022 | |
| ECON175 | Inequality: Determinants and Policy Remedies | Spring 2022 | |
| ECON708 | Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics | Spring 2022 | |
| ECON423 | Advanced Topics in Econometrics | Fall 2021 | |
| ECON708 | Advanced Topics in Applied and Theoretical Microeconomics | Fall 2021 | |
| ECON771 | Advanced Labor Economics: Theory and Evidence | Fall 2021 | |
| ECON175 | Inequality: Determinants and Policy Remedies | Spring 2021 |
- Birth Order, Education, and Family Size, , The Economic Journal, June .
- The (Un)expected Economic Consequences of the Recent Expansion of Higher Education in Latin America , , Latin American Policy Journal, June .
- One Size Does Not Fit All: Multiple Dimensions of Ability, College Attendance and Earnings, , Journal of Labor Economics
- Heterogeneous Economic Returns to Postsecondary Degrees: Evidence from Chile, , Journal of Human Resources 51(2 ), April .
- Implementing Factor Models with Unobserved Heterogeneity in Stata: The heterofactor command , , Stata Journal 156(1 ), January .
- Early Exposure to Hazardous Waste and Academic Achievement: Evidence from a Case of Environmental Negligence, , Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 2, 527-563, December .
- Cost benefit analysis of an integrated ECD program in a low-income country, , Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1308, 129-138, June .
- Economic Perspectives on Integrating Early Child Stimulation with Nutritional Interventions , , Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1308, 139-148
- Economic Perspectives on Some Important Dimensions of Early Childhood Development in Developing Countries , , Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy, Rebello, P., Engle, P., and Super, C. (Eds). Oxford University Press, 2013
- The Labor Market Return to an Attractive Face: Evidence from a Field Experiment, , Economics Letters 118(1 ), 170-172, January .
- The Demand and Supply of Early Education in Chile, , Estudios Públicos 126, 46-86, September .
- The Economic Returns to Higher Education in Chile: Revising the Foundations of 30 Years of Public Policies, , Estudios Públicos 125, 2-52, November .
- The Effects of Participation in Public Child Care Centers: Evidence from Chile, , Journal of Human Capital 6(1 ), 1-34
- Comparing IV With Structural Models: What Simple IV Can and Cannot Identify, , Journal of Econometrics 156(1 ), 27-37, May .
- Testing the Correlated Random Coefficient Model, , Journal of Econometrics 158(2 ), 177-203, October .
- The Education-Health Gradient, , American Economic Review (P&P) 100(2 ), 234-238, May .
- Measuring the Impact of Financial Intermediation: Linking Contract Theory to Econometric Policy Evaluation, , Macroeconomic Dynamics 13(S2 ), 268-316, September .
- Instrumental Variables in Models with Multiple Outcomes: The General Unordered Case, , Les Annales d’Economie et de Statistique 92, 151-174, December .
- Racial Labor Market Gaps: The Role of Abilities and Schooling Choices., , Journal of Human Resources 43(4 ), 919-971, October .
- Use of Instrumental Variables in the Presence of Heterogeneity and Self-Selection: An Application in Breast Cancer Patients, , Health Economics 16(11 ), 1133-1157, November .
- The Effects of Cognitive and Noncognitive Abilities on Labor Market Outcomes and Social Behavior, , Journal of Labor Economics 24(3 ), 411-482, July .
- Understanding Instrumental Variables in Models with Essential Heterogeneity, , Review of Economics and Statistics 88(3 ), 389-432, August .
- Should I Stay or Should I Go? Career Choices for Young Workers in Latin America, , Economic Inquiry, January .
Former Students
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Maria F. PradaInter-American Development Bank
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Miguel SarzosaPurdue University
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Giordano PalloniInternational Food Policy Research Institute
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Ricardo EspinozaOECD
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Cristian SanchezITAM, Mexico
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Fernando SaltielMcGill University
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Cynthia BoruchowiczInter-American Development Bank
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Sai LuoShangai University of Finance and Economics
Related Students (Listed by Student on Student's Profile)
- Sebastian Montano Correa
- Cristina Riquelme
