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Tag Archives: Puerto Rico
Endogeneity in the Decision to Migrate: Changes in the Self-Selection of Puerto Rican Migrants before, during, and after the Great Recession
By Aasha Reddy
Migrants self-select on characteristics such as income. We use the U.S. Census’ ACS and PRCS to study changes in selection patterns of Puerto Rican migrants to the to the U.S. mainland (50 states) before, during, and after the Great Recession (2005 to 2016). We construct counterfactual income densities to compare incomes of Puerto Rican migrants to the mainland versus incomes of island residents under equivalent returns to skill. We examine where Puerto Rican migrants to the mainland tend to fall in the island’s income distribution and find that Puerto Rican migrants tend to come from the top 20% of the island’s income distribution. This pattern remained stable with little to no effect of the Great Recession on selectivity patterns.
Advisors: William Darity and Michelle Connolly | JEL Codes: J15, J61, O15
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO: DOES CLASS SIZE MATTER?
by Eddy V. Leal
Abstract
Even though there is a large literature concerning the effects of class size on
educational achievement, no previous research has formally examined the class size
reduction policy in Puerto Rico. The evidence in this paper suggests that class size does
not have a causal effect on student achievement in Puerto Rico. As a result, this paper
points to a failure of the policy that Puerto Rico’s government has invested heavily in for
the last few decades in order to improve the quality of public education. Policy makers in
Puerto Rico should seek alternatives in order to improve the quality of public education
and consider innovations such as incentive based reforms now prevalent in the United
States.
Professor Thomas Nechyba, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: O54,
