The Economics of Kidney Transplantation in Latin America / The Importance of Peers in Education: Evidence from Chile

“The Economics of Kidney Transplantation in Latin America”
This lecture explores the economics of kidney transplantation in Latin America, applying the economic approach to analyze organ procurement systems, their history, and evolution in the region. We will examine the social costs associated with the organ shortage and the accessibility challenges that affect kidney transplantation in the region. The session will also discuss potential solutions to address these issues. The lecture highlights the effects of altruistic versus incentive-based policies and the ethical complexities surrounding organ donation systems.
Julio J. Elias is Professor of economics at Universidad del CEMA (UCEMA), Argentina, and the Executive Director of the UChicago/UCEMA Joint Initiative for Latin American Experimental Economics (JILAEE). He earned his BA from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina, and his MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago. Elias’s research focuses on organ donation, exploring financial incentives, strategies to alleviate organ shortages, and the associated moral aspects. He also studies Creativity Economics and its relation to economic development, particularly in Latin America. Together with Casey B. Mulligan and Kevin M. Murphy, he edited a collection of Gary Becker’s unpublished writings, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2023.
“The Importance of Peers in Education: Evidence from Chile”
How do classmates influence a student’s academic success? While peer effects are widely recognized as important, measuring their true impact is challenging. Students are not randomly assigned to classrooms, making it difficult to separate peer influence from other factors like family background or school quality. This talk explores new evidence from Chile’s centralized school admissions system, which uses a lottery-based mechanism to assign students, providing a unique opportunity to study peer effects more rigorously. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for designing policies that promote equitable access to quality education. The discussion will highlight key findings, the challenges of measuring peer effects, and what these results mean for school admissions policies and educational equity in Chile and beyond.
Juan Matta is a professor of economics at Universidad Diego Portales in Chile, specializing in the economics of education. His research uses empirical methods to study the causes and effects of educational choices, with a particular focus on gender and social mobility. Juan is currently a Luksic Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Center for Latin American Studies.
Livestream: tinyurl.com/CLAS041825