CEF.UP – WiP Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – April 18^th, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305 | Online

“Public and Private School Grade Inflations Patterns in Secondary Education”

Pedro Luís Silva – FEP and Cef.up (joint work with Stephen L. DesJardins, Ricardo Biscaia, Carla Sá and Pedro N. Teixeira)

Abstract:

“Grade inflation in high schools is potentially problematic for students, education institutions, and society. We examine the extent of potential grading inflation in courses taken during high school and how such differences vary across student and school characteristics. Utilizing longitudinal, administrative data for the population of high school students in an entire country (Portugal) over ten years, we develop a measure of grade inflation using the position of the student’s high school grade relative to their score on the national standardized admission exam. We analyze differences in this measure across four types of high schools: TEIP schools (public schools located in disadvantaged areas that include children at-risk of social exclusion), public schools (state-funded schools), private schools, and private association schools (owned by private entities but publicly funded).
We find that private association schools exhibit a lower probability of grade inflation when compared to public schools. Additionally, TEIP schools tend to have a higher probability of inflation for students with high grades. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.”

CEF.UP – WiP Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – December 6^th, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305 | Online

“Firm Investment and Liquidity: Evidence from a Natural Disaster”

José Jorge – FEP and Cef.up (joint work with Sujiao Zhao)

Abstract:

“Natural disasters dramatically affect firms, but they also provide for an opportunity to start anew. We exploit information on the 15-16 October 2017 Portuguese wildfires and the ensuing official assistance that subsidized 85% of the losses, applying a differences-in-differences approach. Firms affected by the wildfires increase output and fixed assets, with employment and productivity remaining stable. Their book value of fixed assets increases substantially more than their economic value. Affected firms activate their existing credit lines, borrow long term credit, and increase cash holdings. The evidence is consistent with the theory that firms invest both in scale and in liquidity.”

CEF.UP – WiP Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – November 22^nd, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. | Room 305 | Online

“Universal Basic Income: The Worst Bar All Others?”

Luís Guimarães – Cef.up (joint work with Diogo Lourenço)

Abstract:

“Extant welfare programmes introduce unintended distortions and suffer from low take-up, transfers to ineligible recipients, and administrative costs. A noteworthy alternative, arguably immune to these imperfections, is a Universal Basic Income (UBI), i.e., an unconditional transfer to all citizens. Yet, UBI is a blunt instrument that does not discriminate rich from poor and is useless for incentivizing work or further education. The welfare and other macroeconomic impacts of replacing means-tested welfare programmes with a UBI are therefore far from obvious. To elucidate them, we build a dynamic general-equilibrium model with incomplete markets and heterogeneous agents. We find that replacing a suite of means-tested US programmes with an expenditure neutral UBI would increase the stock of capital, employment, and output, but lower welfare. Further experiments, however, also indicate that if the magnitude of current transfers increased substantially, an expenditure neutral UBI would be welfare-improving.”