Four proposals won in CAF's 12th annual research contest

In the3 12th edition of the annual research contest held by CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, the jury awarded four proposals from a total of 125 from 19 countries:  Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, United States, Guatemala, Honduras, England, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Following are the four winning proposals, which will be presented in an academic seminar in July: 

• "Early Impacts of College Aid", by Julio Cáceres-Delpiano (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain) and Eugenio P. Giolito (ILADES/ Universidad Alberto Hurtado and IZA, Chile). This project proposes to measure the impact of a state guaranteed loan granted by the Chilean government for higher education on the results of students in high school and on teenage pregnancy. 
• "Signalling Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills: Education and Mismatch in Latin America",by Leandro Arozamena, Hernán Ruffo and Martín Santamaría (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina). This project proposes a theoretical and empirical study of the implications of education as a signalling technology of the quality of workers, and quantify the inefficient allocation generated if education does not transmit precise information regarding the cognitive and noncognitive skills of a worker. 
• "Skills for the First Job", by Emilia Abusada, Pablo Lavado, and Gustavo Yamada (Universidad del Pacífico, Peru). Through a structural model and using Peruvian data, this study proposes to identify the cognitive and noncognitive skills that increase a worker's probability of being hired for a first quality job. 
• "The effect of the Kangaroo Mother Care program (KMC) on wages: A structural model", by Orazio Attanasio (UCL and IFS, London, England), Darwin Cortés (Universidad del Rosario, Colombia), Juan Gallego (Universidad del Rosario, Colombia), and Darío Maldonado (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia). The objective is to research, through a structural model, the possible mechanisms behind per hour salary differences between children who were part of the Madre Canguro Program in Colombia, and those who were not assigned to that Program. 

Relevance, originality, and a rigorous methodology in public policies were the criteria considered by the evaluating committee, which included Felipe Barrera-Osorio (Harvard University), Raquel Bernal (Universidad de los Andes), Sergio Urzúa (University of Maryland) and CAF's socio-economic research team. 

Each proposal will receive USD 15 thousand for its implementation, and will contribute to the 2016 Economy and Development Report about skills for life and work (2016 RED).