At CESifo, Marco Castillo will work on projects investigating the production of skills at early ages. In the first project, he and co-authors explore factors conducive to durable early childhood interventions. A unique experimental design allows the researchers to test for the existence of complementarities in early childhood interventions. In a second project, Mr. Castillo explores the role of parental involvement and home environment in the success of early childhood interventions, using data from Australia. The study will provide needed evidence on the effectiveness of alternative early childhood interventions and dosage effects.

Mr. Castillo’s research interests lie primarily in Behavioral Economics, Labor Economics, Economics of Education and Experimental Economics.

At CESifo, Ragan Petrie will work on projects investigating choosing a college major and gender differences in bargaining. In the first project, she and her co-authors examine how beliefs on potential earnings, teaching quality and climate and inclusion interact with survey information on earnings and peer-provided information on climate and teaching to affect final major choice in college. In the second project, she and her co-author examine the effect of communication architecture on bargaining outcomes. Women tend to face worse outcomes than men in negotiations, and this may partially explain the observed gender wage gap.

Ms. Petrie is an applied microeconomist who uses behavioral and experimental approaches to study topics in public and labor economics, including motives for charitable giving and other prosocial behavior, gender differences in bargaining and competition, discrimination, social media and the economic preferences of children and their impact on long-run educational outcomes.