Research

Working Papers

• Perceptions of Race in the Labor Market (with Sulin Sardoschau and Aiko Schmeisser) [Working Paper]
  Abstract

  Empirical studies of racial wage disparities typically rely on self-reported race and treat racial categories as fixed. This paper shows that racial classification in the labor market is produced by social perception, and that modeling this perception process is essential for measuring wage gaps. We combine two large-scale administrative data sets to construct three racial identity measures for 330,000 workers in Brazil between 2003 and 2015: employer classification, self-identification, and an algorithmic skin-tone measure extracted from photographs. In over 20 percent of cases, self-identified and employer-ascribed race do not match, and employers disagree in their classification of the same worker. To quantify how race is constructed, we estimate a "race function" describing how employers map phenotypic cues, self-identification, local context, education, and employment histories into racial categories, showing that productivity-relevant factors shape perceptions. Holding skin tone constant, university graduates are 10 percentage points more likely to be perceived as White. Education whitens even conditional on self-declared race and within firm-by-occupation cells. Measured wage disparities differ depending on whether race is self-reported, employer-ascribed, or skin-tone based, and accounting for racial perceptions substantially changes estimated wage gaps. We show that conventional approaches overstate the role of productivity differences in explaining racial wage gaps.

• Rooting for the same team: Shared social identities in a polarized context (with Nicolás Ajzenman and Bruno Ferman) [Working Paper] [SSRN]
  Abstract

  Can shared social identities help overcome online political divides? We investigate this question through a field experiment with 4,620 unique Twitter users conducted over six months during the 2022 Brazilian elections. Although both political congruence (supporting the same candidate) and social non-political congruence (rooting for the same football team) increase follows and reduce blocks, the positive effect of shared social identity weakens substantially when political identity information becomes available. The effect of political congruence remains strong even after the election and is unaffected by the Brazilian national team's positive results during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, despite the team being a quintessential national symbol. Text analysis of live-streamed tweets of Brazilian nationals during the tournament suggests that this shared national experience failed to reduce political polarization in our setting because polarization had extended to the players themselves. Overall, our results indicate that political polarization can undermine the potential of other shared identities to reduce political divides and foster social cohesion.

  AEA RCT Registry
  Media Coverage: Esto no es Economía

Publications and Accepted

• Discrimination in the Formation of Academic Networks: A Field Experiment on #EconTwitter (with Nicolás Ajzenman and Bruno Ferman) [Published Version] [Working Paper Version], American Economic Review: Insights, 2025
  Abstract

  This paper documents discrimination in the formation of professional networks among academic economists. We created human-like bot accounts that claimed to be PhD students in economics, differing in gender (male or female), race (Black or White), and university affiliation (top- or lower-ranked). The bots randomly followed users who belong to the #EconTwitter community. Follow-back rates were 12% higher for White students compared to Black students; 21% higher for students from top-ranked universities compared to accounts of lower-ranked institutions, and 25% higher for female compared to male students. The racial gap persisted even among students from top-ranked institutions.

  AEA RCT Registry
  Media Coverage: Promarket; Folha de São Paulo

• Elections that Inspire: Effects of Black Mayors on Educational Attainment (with Jorge Ikawa, Clarice Martins, and Rogério Santarrosa; Previously circulated as: “Black Mayors as Role Models: Evidence from close elections in Brazil”) [Working Paper] [SSRN], Accepted, Journal of Public Economics
  Abstract

  We study the impact of the election of a Black mayor in Brazil on Black students’ educational attainment. Using a regression discontinuity design in close elections, we find that Black students in municipalities where Black candidates won are more likely to register for the National High School Examination, attend university, and graduate. Our evidence is consistent with changes in students' aspirations: secondary/tertiary education is not a mayor’s primary responsibility; Black mayors do not perform better in policies that affect our outcomes; and effects are strong for Black students from both public and private schools, while weaker for White students from public schools.

  Media Coverage: Foco Economico

Previous Work

• Crime and Vote: Public Violence and the Election of Law and Order Candidates (with Guilherme Luz). Annals of the 47th National Meeting of Economics, 2019. Available here (in Portuguese)