@michelatincani
Associate Professor at UCL Economics. Research on college access, information frictions, peer effects. Affiliations: IFS, CEPR, LEAP, CESifo, HCEO. From Lake Maggiore to London via Philly. https://sites.google.com/site/mtincani
Abstract of the paper
@michelatincani.bsky.social, Ranjita Rajan and I are very proud and thrilled that our paper “The Persistent Effect of Competition on Prosociality” has been accepted at @jeeanews.bsky.social
👉 First causal evidence that enduring competition persistently reduces prosociality
doi.org/10.1093/jeea...
It's been 2 years (+ 1 month) since I left academia. In case anyone is wondering, I have zero regrets. Indeed, I'm living my best life and am so happy I made the leap.
If you're considering leaving too, here are some thoughts on how to explore your options/find a job you'll love...
Wonderful news! Congratulations!
This was a fun conversation with Maddy Breen. I spoke about how my life experiences have shaped my research interests, and why access to information is so important for true equality of opportunities.
Thank you @uclpolicylab.bsky.social for the opportunity!
Thanks to @econometric.bsky.social for the invitation!
#EconomicsofEducation #Expectations #StructuralModels #StructuralEconometrics #SubjectiveExpectations
💡Belief data = a powerful tool in structural models of education choices.
They help us understand how people think—and how belief errors shape behavior and education policy outcomes.
Enrico Miglino & I use belief data on effort returns to estimate a dynamic model of pre-college effort.
Belief errors help explain RCT results on preferential admissions.
Simulations suggest: info interventions could reduce disincentive effects of preferential admissions.
4️⃣ To quantify belief errors + welfare impacts
Kapor, Neilson & Zimmerman (2020):
Belief errors about admissions can reverse welfare comparisons across school assignment mechanisms.
Wiswall & Zafar find smaller earnings of major choice elasticities than past work. Why?
Because people who think a major pays more also tend to like it more.
Beliefs and preferences correlate.
Info experiments + belief data help us purge this bias.
3️⃣ To study learning
Beliefs change. Panel data lets us see how they change—and the effects on behavior.
📚 Stinebrickner&Stinebrickner (2014): beliefs about STEM aptitude evolve slowly.
📚 Wiswall & Zafar (2015): info experiments reveal causal effects of beliefs.
2️⃣ To validate the model
Use beliefs on stated choice probabilities to test model fit.
Do model-predicted choices ≈ survey-elicited choices?
🌟 Gonul & Wolpin (1985);
🌟 Delavande & Zafar (2019): validate university choice model using Pakistani student data.
1️⃣ To inform the model
Arcidiacono, Hotz, Maurel & Romano (2020):
Students' beliefs about earnings + occupational choices help test:
Do they act on expected returns?
(ATT > ATE?)
Answer: partly. Non-monetary factors matter too.
➡️ Roy model with non-pecuniary preferences.
We’ve made major progress in understanding how people form beliefs—and how we can use those beliefs in our models.
In the lecture, I outlined 4 ways belief data can be used in structural econometrics:
Education decisions are dynamic.
➡️ Go to college = lose earnings today, hope for better returns later.
But those returns are uncertain.
Structural models assume people form expectations and maximize expected utility.
But how accurate are those expectations?
🎓 Recently gave a lecture at the Econometric Society @econometric.bsky.social Summer School on Dynamic Structural Econometrics.
Topic: how subjective expectations data help us model educational choices.
Link to slides: dropbox.com/scl/fi/qui40...
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I've been working on a new tool, Refine, to make scholars more productive. If you're interested in being among the very first to try the beta, please read on.
Refine leverages the best current AI models to draw your attention to potential errors and clarity issues in research paper drafts.
1/
Delighted our paper on preferential college admissions is part of the NBER SI joint Education & Labor session on Wednesday — joint with Michela Carlana, Sara Chiuri, and Enrico Miglino. Program: www.nber.org/conferences/..., slides: conference.nber.org/conf_papers/.... Come say hi if you’re around!
What a pleasure to teach in the @econometric.bsky.social summer school in structural dynamic econometrics, and in such great company!
All lectures will be made available on YouTube soon.
dseconf.org/dse2025cours...
What a pleasure to teach in the @econometric.bsky.social summer school in structural dynamic econometrics, and in such great company!
All lectures will be made available on YouTube soon.
dseconf.org/dse2025cours...
I'm very excited for #EEA25!
We had 1900 submissions and look set for a fabulous time in Bordeaux.
A HUGE thanks to the leads and graders who allowed us to get the programme together.
See you in Bordeaux!
New results from our study of the long-term impacts of affirmative action in college admissions (with Michela Carlana, Sara Chiuri and Enrico Miglino), using Chile’s PACE program.
How far down the academic achievement distribution can you go while still benefitting the students you target?
📢 Zachary Bleemer (Princeton) presents “College Peer Effects and the Labor Market” with Sahar Parsa, asking: Does grouping high-achieving students together benefit them academically or in the long run? (1/2)
@stoneeconucl.bsky.social
@zbleemer.bsky.social
📢 Viola Corradini (Columbia Business School) presents “Information and Access in School Choice Systems: Evidence from NYC,” asking: Can better information reduce school choice gaps?(1/4)
@stoneeconucl.bsky.social
Preparing a lecture on subjective expectations for the Econometric Society summer school in Dynamic Structural Econometrics, and I found a Wolpin paper from 1985 (!) on the use of expectation data to estimate choice models.
Jack Mountjoy (University of Chicago, Booth School of Business) presents “College as a Marriage Market” to examine assortative marriage by college type and its economic consequences. (1/4)
Great talk by @anaisfabre.bsky.social on the implications, for people and for the economy, of the uneven geographic distribution of universities.
Great talk by @dynarski.bsky.social on the effects of guaranteeing tuition fee coverage for disadvantaged students to attend a selective college.
Results: faster BA completion and more selective college degrees.
The program likely pays for itself through improved job market prospects 👏
Excited to see @dynarski.bsky.social in action at the @stoneeconucl.bsky.social workshop today on inequality.
When asked a question on slide 2, her response: "how can you have a question already?"
A very insightful Stone Centre public lecture and Q&A on the effects of higher education on #inequality. Huge thanks to Susan @dynarski.bsky.social , @gavin-kelly.bsky.social, Bethan Staton and all involved. Stay tuned for a link to the full video.
At a terrific conference on education and economic mobility put on by @stoneeconucl.bsky.social
My sincere gratitude to @zbleemer.bsky.social for pointing out that I am the most senior person in the room 🙄😳
…and am therefore the local model for professional behavior 😂