This paper estimates the labor market effects of enrolling in a short-cycle program in Colombia. Following evidence for the U.S., increasing access to short-cycle degrees might attract some students who would not have enrolled in higher education otherwise (i.e., the expansion or democratization...

Short-cycle higher education programs last between one and three years and capture approximately 20 percent of the world's higher education enrollment. Although they hold great promise for the skilling, up-skilling, and re-skilling of the workforce in the current world of work, little is known...

Free college proposals have become increasingly popular in many countries. To evaluate their potential effects, this paper develops and estimates a dynamic model of college enrollment, performance, and graduation. A central piece of the model, student effort has a direct effect on class...

This paper studies the dynamic sorting of workers prior to labor market entry that leads to skill differences across cities of different sizes, as well as its consequences on the estimation of agglomeration effects. Using rich administrative data for young, college-educated workers in Colombia,...

This paper estimates the heterogeneous labor market effects of enrolling in higher education short-cycle (SC) programs. Expanding access to these programs might affect the behavior of some students (compliers) in two margins: the expansion margin (students who would not have enrolled in higher...

Short-cycle higher education programs (SCPs), lasting two or three years, capture about a quarter of higher education enrollment in the world and can play a key role enhancing workforce skills. This paper estimates the program-level contribution of SCPs to student academic and labor market...

Short-cycle higher education programs (SCPs), lasting two or three years, capture about a quarter of higher education enrollment in the world and can play a key role enhancing workforce skills. In this paper, we estimate the program-level contribution of SCPs to student academic and labor market...

Short-cycle higher education programs (SCPs) can play a central role in skill development and higher education expansion, yet their quality varies greatly within and among countries. In this paper we explore the relationship between programs' practices and inputs (quality determinants) and...