Estimados Académicos y Académicas FEN,

Les extendemos la invitación al seminario que organiza el Departamento de Economía, en el que se presentará el trabajo titulado "The effects of online education on market structure and students' outcomes".

Expone: Nano Barahona, Profesor asistente, Universidad de California, Berkley.

Abstract: We study the impact of a rapid expansion of the online for-profit tertiary education sector in Brazil over the past 15 years on market structure and students' outcomes. We leverage variation across regions with differential exposure to potential entrants induced by a regulatory reform that decreased the cost of opening online degrees in specific fields of study. We find that online degrees' entry to local markets expands access to tertiary education but also diverts students from alternative in-person degrees. Increased competition decreases in-person degrees' market power and deters future entry. We develop and estimate an entry and exit model where institutions choose what degrees to offer and what tuition fees to charge. We use the model to quantify the effects of the rapid expansion in online education supply on students' educational choices and outcomes. We find that in the absence of online education, students' educational value-added would have been 5% larger. We find that policies targeting only older cohorts to attend online can keep young students at in-person degrees, reducing schools' exit and increasing the potential gains in value-added.

El formato será presencial y el seminario se desarrollará en la Sala P-304.

Saludos cordiales,

Dirección de Investigación