Project
Education Costs and Household Labor Responses
Ongoing research on how tuition-free higher education shapes parental labor supply, household adjustment, and informality in Chile.
PhD Student in Economics
Joaquin Varvasino
I'm a PhD Student in Economics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. My research focuses on the intersection between the economics of education and labor economics. My Supervisors are Libertad Gonzalez and Caterina Calsamiglia.
Research
Projects
Project
Peer Effects and Grade Retention: Evidence from Chile
A study of how exposure to retained or at-risk classmates affects the academic outcomes, attendance, and progression of grade-9 students in Chilean secondary schools.
with Gabriel de Campos G. dos Santos and Juan Pal
Project
Voting for School Quality
An ongoing project on the impact of a school competition policy in Chile on electoral outcomes.
with Florencia Pinto and Lara Sofia Cantero
Research
Working Papers
Working Paper
Predoctoral work
Lasting Scars: Unemployment, Inequality, and Structural Transformation in Latin America
This paper studies the long-run effects of adverse labor-market conditions at labor-market entry in Latin America, showing how early-career unemployment can deepen inequality and shape occupational trajectories, especially for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Working Paper
The Educational PPP: Parents, Peers, Prices
This paper studies how financial constraints, peers, and parental exposure to higher education shape enrollment and progression in higher education in Chile.
Teaching
Teaching experience
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
- Data Science and Business Economics Undergraduate
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
- Introduction to Economics and Labor Economics Undergraduate
- Advanced Microeconomics and Labor Economics Graduate
Academic community
Barcelona Applied PhD Seminar
Co-founder & Lead Organizer
I co-founded the Barcelona Applied PhD Seminar with fellow PhD students and serve as one of its lead organizers. The seminar connects PhD students in applied microeconomics across universities in Catalonia.
Each month, it brings together around 40 participants to hear presentations of research in progress, exchange ideas, and provide peer feedback.
AI Project
Applied AI and entrepreneurship
In this period, I became deeply involved in applied AI and decided to launch a company with three partners focused on AI training for administrative staff and university faculty.
Contact
Get in touch
joaquin.varvasino [at] upf.edu