We examine whether the Colombian government, when instituting and expanding social programs in the early nineties, inadvertently created incentives for people to become informal. We use data from repeated cross-sections of the Colombian Household Survey for periods before and after...

We analyze the effect of Colombia's ambitious "Free Housing" program on children's educational outcomes. The program was generous, giving free housing to beneficiaries in desirable areas. We evaluate the program by leveraging housing lotteries and linking applicants to their children. We find...

The purpose of this article is to identify to what extent there is a causal relationship between wealth and non-cognitive skills for children in Colombia. This article contributes to the existing literature of skills formation in three ways. First, methodological shortcomings of previous works...