Research | mariaalopera

Research Statement

I am an applied microeconomist focusing on topics related to Development Economics and Impact Evaluation. My research to date draws on insights from behavioural economics and employs econometric as well as field experiments.

Papers and Publications

Peer Effects and Risk-Taking Among Entrepreneurs: Lab-in-the-Field Evidence

with Steeve Marchand (download PDF)

This paper obtained the best PhD student paper prize at the fourth Annual International Association for Applied Econometrics Conference held in June 2017 in Sapporo, Japan.

We study how social interactions influence entrepreneurs' attitudes toward risk. We conduct two risk-taking experiments with young Ugandan entrepreneurs. Between the

two experiments, the entrepreneurs participate in a networking activity where they build relationships and discuss with each other. We collect data on peer network formation and on participants' choices before and after the networking activity. We find that participants tend to become more (less) risk averse in the second experiment if

the peers they discuss with are on average more (less) risk averse in the rst experiment. This suggests that even short term social interactions may affect risk preferences.

Impact Evaluation in Transport

with René A. Cortez, Oscar A. Mitnik and Patricia Yañez (download PDF)

Impact Evaluation in Transport

with René A. Cortez, Oscar A. Mitnik and Patricia Yañez (download PDF)

This brochure is a pedagogical tool that presents the core concepts of impact evaluation using examples from the transport sector. Although the direct benefits of transport interventions are well known, impact evaluation reveals a new ways in which transport projects improve lives. The evidence shows that paved roads encourage preventive healthcare and increase employment opportunities, mass transport systems improve air quality and reduce crime, and satisfaction of road maintenance increases when services are provided by local communities.

Impact Evaluation Using Stata

with Habiba Djebbari (download PDF)

This document "interactive" document is a pedagogical tool to guide researchers on the use of the statistical software Stata. The document contains links to a series of audio podcasts, command files (executable with Stata) and datasets.

This initiative was undertaken in the context of the PEP "Policy Impact Evaluation Research Initiative" (PIERI) - one of the four programs through which PEP resources contribute to building capacities for high quality research in developing countries, using different methods, techniques and approaches.

Working Papers

Fatigue, Rest, Productivity, and Work Schedule: An Empirical Analysis Using Personnel Records

with Charles Bellemare and Bruce Shearer (download PDF)

We measure the relationship between worker fatigue, rest, and productivity using payroll records of a tree-planting rm operating in British Columbia. We treat accumulated fatigue and rest as potentially endogenous variables. We estimate a linear panel data model using an instrumental variable strategy, exploiting national public holidays and the relocation of workers to planting sites as natural instruments. We nd that an extra day of rest signicantly increases average productivity by 4:2% or 5:8% depending on the specification estimated. An additional day of work is predicted to signicantly reduce productivity by 9.8% or 9.1%. We use our estimates to predict productivity of workers under different work schedules. We nd that the ve consecutive work day schedule is not optimal for the firm. In particular, workers' earnings can be increased by up to 6:5% when days of rest are interspersed between shorter work spells.

Evidence of Conditional and Unconditional Cooperation in a Public Goods Game: Experimental Evidence from Mali

This paper measures the relative importance of conditional cooperation and unconditional cooperation in a large public goods experiment conducted in Mali. I use expectations about total public goods provision to estimate a structural choice model with heterogeneous preferences. While unconditional cooperation can be captured by common preferences shared by all participants, conditional cooperation is much more heterogeneous and depends on unobserved individual factors. My structural model, in combination with two experimental treatments, suggests that leadership and group communication incentivize public goods provision through different channels. First, I find that participation of local leaders effectively changes individual choices through unconditional cooperation. A simulation exercise predicts that even in the most pessimistic scenario in which all participants expect zero public good provision, 60% would still choose to cooperate. Second, allowing participants to communicate fosters conditional cooperation. The simulations suggest that expectations are responsible for around 24% of the observed public good provision and that group communication does not necessarily ameliorate public good provision. In fact, communication may even worsen the outcome when expectations are low.

Work in Progress

Mobility in Port-au-Prince

with Pablo Guerrero and Gilles Mori

I am currently working on mobility study in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Pince, Haiti. This project includes data collection on the supply of public transport, interviews with drivers, direct observation of the public transport services and an Origin-Destination survey to 2,500 households.