2014

In this edition four proposals were favored, with a total of 125 that were received from 19 countries. Each will receive USD 15,000 for its realization.

In the 12th edition of the annual CAF Research Program, the jury decided to award four proposals out of 125 received from 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, United States, Guatemala, Honduras, England, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

• "Early Impacts of College Aid",by Julio Cáceres-Delpiano (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain) and Eugenio P. Giolito (ILADES / Universidad Alberto Hurtado and IZA, Chile). They propose to measure the impact of a loan granted by the Chilean government for higher education, Crédito con Aval del Estado, on outcomes for students in secondary school and on teen pregnancy.

• "Signalling Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills: Education and Mismatch in Latin America",​​by Leandro Arozamena, Hernán Ruffo and Martín Santamaría (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina). This research project plans to study both theoretically and empirically the implications of education as a signaling technology on job quality and to quantify the mismatch generated if education fails to convey accurate information about the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of an employee.

• "Skills for the First Job",by Emilia Abusada, Pablo Lavado and Gustavo Yamada (Universidad del Pacífico, Peru). This document targets to identify the cognitive and non-cognitive abilities that increase the probability of being hired at a quality level first job.

• "The effect of the Kangaroo Mother Care program (KMC) on wages: A structural model", by Orazio Attanasio (UCL and IFS, London, England), Darwin Cortés (Universidad del Rosario, Colombia), Juan Gallego (Universidad del Rosario, Colombia) and Dario Maldonado (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia). The aim is to investigate, through a structural model, the possible mechanisms behind the differences in hourly wages among children who were part of Kangaroo Mother Program in Colombia and those who were not assigned to it.

Innovation and a rigorous methodology in public policies were some of the aspects considered by the selection committee, which included Felipe Barrera-Osorio (Harvard University), Raquel Bernal (Universidad de los Andes) and Sergio Urzúa (University of Maryland).

Each winning proposal will receive USD 15 thousand for its development and will be presented in an academic seminar in July.