Alan Sánchez Jiménez
Senior Researcher
PhD in Economics - University of Oxford
asanchez@grade.org.pe
Alan has a DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford. He also holds a master degree in Economics for Development from Oxford. Currently, he is a Senior Researcher at GRADE, a Senior Researcher at Young Lives Peru, and a Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Department of International Development. He teaches on quantitative methodologies for impact evaluation and social development policies. Prior, he was a Senior Economist in the Economic Research Division of the Banco Central de Reserva del Peru (Central Bank of Peru). His areas of interests are education economics, health economics, labour economics and behavioral economics. In particular, he is interested in meausuring the causes and consequences of accumulating human capital throughout the life cycle, in the evaluation of social programmes through experimental and quasi-experimental methodology, and in the design of surveys.
Publications
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Long-term effects of early life rainfall shocks on foundational cognitive skills: Evidence from Peru
2024 Nicolás Pazos, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez, Douglas Scott, Jere Behrman
Global warming is changing precipitation patterns, particularly harming communities in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Whilst the long-term effects of being exposed to rainfall shocks early in life on school-achievement tests are well-established, there is little population-based evidence from LMICs on the mechanisms through which these shocks operate. Executive functions (EFs) are key for children’s learning […]
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Late-childhood foundational cognitive skills predict educational outcomes through adolescence and into young adulthood: evidence from Ethiopia and Peru
2024 Jennifer López, Jere R. Behrman, Santiago Cueto, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez
We estimate associations between foundational cognitive skills (inhibitory control, working memory, long-term memory, and implicit learning) measured at age 12 and educational outcomes measured at ages 15 and 19–20 in Ethiopia and Peru, using the Young Lives data. The estimates adjust for rich sets of controls and include measurements of children’s baseline abilities. For a […]
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Data matching: construction of COVID-19 – related variables for Young Lives Peru
2024 Alessandra Hidalgo, Alan Sanchez, Santos Zhu
This Technical Note outlines the COVID-19 matched dataset from the Young Lives cohorts in Peru created by the Young Lives team. The matched dataset combines COVID-19 administrative data with the extensive longitudinal data set from the Young Lives study in Peru. The authors document the steps taken to create a set of variables that measure […]
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JournalWorld Development
Does early nutrition predict cognitive skills during later childhood? Evidence from two developing countries
2024 Alan Sanchez, Marta Favara, Margaret Sheridan, Jere R. Behrman
The existing evidence linking early undernutrition to educational outcomes in developing countries is largely focused on assessing its impacts on grade attainment and achievement test scores, with limited evidence on the foundational cognitive skills required to perform well at school. We use unique data collected in Ethiopia and Peru as part of the Young Lives […]
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Las habilidades cognitivas medidas durante la adolescencia predicen los resultados educativos: evidencia de Etiopia y Perú
2023 Jennifer López, Jere R. Behrman, Santiago Cueto, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez
Utilizando datos de Niños del Milenio (NdM), se investiga la asociación entre las habilidades cognitivas medidas a los 12 años y los resultados educativos medidos a los 15 y 20 años. Los y las jóvenes con mayores puntajes en memoria de largo plazo y memoria de trabajo mostraron mejores resultados en las pruebas de vocabulario, […]
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Data matching: construction of COVID-19 – related variables for Young Lives Peru
2024 Alessandra Hidalgo, Alan Sanchez, Santos Zhu
This Technical Note outlines the COVID-19 matched dataset from the Young Lives cohorts in Peru created by the Young Lives team. The matched dataset combines COVID-19 administrative data with the extensive longitudinal data set from the Young Lives study in Peru. The authors document the steps taken to create a set of variables that measure […]
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How early nutrition and foundational cognitive skills interconnect? Evidence from two developing countries
2022 Alan Sanchez, Marta Favara, Margaret Sheridan, Jere R. Behrman
We use unique data collected in Ethiopia and Peru as part of the Young Lives Study to investigate the relationship between early undernutrition and four foundational cognitive skills, the first two of which measure executive functioning: working memory, inhibitory control, long-term memory, and implicit learning. We exploit the rich longitudinal data available to control for […]
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How Early Nutrition and Foundational Cognitive Skills Interconnect? Evidence from Two Developing Countries
2022 Alan Sanchez, Marta Favara, Margaret Sheridan, Jere R. Behrman
While the long-term consequences of early stunting on educational attainment and on school achievement tests are well-known, there is scarce evidence about the specific mechanisms through which early stunting leads to poorer educational outcomes, especially in LMIC contexts. We use unique data collected in Ethiopia and Peru as part of the Young Lives to investigate […]
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The impact of the JUNTOS conditional cash transfer programme on foundational cognitive skills: Does age of enrollment matter?
2022 Douglas Scott, Jennifer López, Alan Sanchez, Jere R. Behrman
This paper studies the relationship between the age of enrolment in Peru’s conditional cash transfer programme, JUNTOS, and the foundational cognitive skills of a sample of children aged between 5 and 12 years old. Using a difference-in-differences approach and exploiting within- household variation, the authors show that younger siblings in recipient households display significantly higher […]
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Late-childhood foundational cognitive skills predict educational outcomes through adolescence and into young adulthood: evidence from Ethiopia and Peru
2022 Jennifer López, Jere R. Behrman, Santiago Cueto, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez
The authors estimate the associations between a set of foundational cognitive skills (inhibitory control, working memory, long-term memory, and implicit learning) measured at age 12 and educational outcomes measured at ages 15 and 19-20 in Ethiopia and Peru (the Young Lives study). The estimates adjust for a rich set of lagged controls and include measurements […]
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Long-term effects of early life rainfall shocks on foundational cognitive skills: Evidence from Peru
2024 Nicolás Pazos, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez, Douglas Scott, Jere Behrman
Global warming is changing precipitation patterns, particularly harming communities in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Whilst the long-term effects of being exposed to rainfall shocks early in life on school-achievement tests are well-established, there is little population-based evidence from LMICs on the mechanisms through which these shocks operate. Executive functions (EFs) are key for children’s learning […]
-
Late-childhood foundational cognitive skills predict educational outcomes through adolescence and into young adulthood: evidence from Ethiopia and Peru
2024 Jennifer López, Jere R. Behrman, Santiago Cueto, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez
We estimate associations between foundational cognitive skills (inhibitory control, working memory, long-term memory, and implicit learning) measured at age 12 and educational outcomes measured at ages 15 and 19–20 in Ethiopia and Peru, using the Young Lives data. The estimates adjust for rich sets of controls and include measurements of children’s baseline abilities. For a […]
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JournalWorld Development
Does early nutrition predict cognitive skills during later childhood? Evidence from two developing countries
2024 Alan Sanchez, Marta Favara, Margaret Sheridan, Jere R. Behrman
The existing evidence linking early undernutrition to educational outcomes in developing countries is largely focused on assessing its impacts on grade attainment and achievement test scores, with limited evidence on the foundational cognitive skills required to perform well at school. We use unique data collected in Ethiopia and Peru as part of the Young Lives […]
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JournalFood Policy
Employment and wage effects of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes and front-of-package warning label regulations on the food and beverage industry: Evidence from Peru
2023 Juan Jose Diaz, Alan Sanchez, Francisco Diez-Canseco, Jaime Miranda, Barry M. Popkin
Peru increased its sugar-sweetened beverage tax by 8 percentage points (from 17% to 25%) in 2018 and in 2019 imposed front-of-package warning labels on processed and ultra-processed foods and beverages high in sugar, saturated fats, and sodium or containing trans fats. We assess the pre-COVID-19 impacts of these two policies on aggregate formal employment and […]
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JournalHigher Education Quarterly
‘Marketization’ of higher education in Peru: Who attends private institutions and what are the perceived advantages (disadvantages)?
2022 Amrit Thapa, Alejandra Miranda, Alan Sanchez, Jere R. Behrman
Debate continues on the effects of the global proliferation of private higher-educational institutions, especially for-profit institutions. The authors examine two related questions for Peru using mixed methods: Who attends private institutions and what are their perceived advantages/disadvantages? Longitudinal quantitative data suggest higher-educational segmentation starting early in life, whereby young people from wealthier households attended private […]
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Trayectorias educativas a lo largo del ciclo de vida: el rol de la pobreza, el área de residencia y las brechas de género
El Perú pendiente: ensayos para un desarrollo con bienestar2022 Alan Sanchez
The paper documents the evolution of educational gaps throughout the life cycle, analyzes the links between poverty and gender gaps, and attempts to identify the factors that mediate this relationship in order to propose policy recommendations for children, adolescents and youth.
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La transición hacia el mercado laboral y los estudios postsecundarios en Perú: evidencia del estudio Niños del Milenio
Millennials en América Latina y el Caribe: ¿trabajar o estudiar?2018 Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez
Durante las últimas dos décadas, Perú ha sido uno de los países con mayor crecimiento económico de Latinoamérica, y ha tenido una de las reducciones más importantes en pobreza monetaria, así como mejoras en los niveles de acceso a la educación. Sin embargo, a pesar de estos avances, la calidad de los trabajos a los […]
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Diez años Juntos: un balance de la investigación del impacto del programa de transferencias condicionadas del Perú sobre el capital humano
Investigación para el desarrollo en el Perú: once balances2016 Alan Sanchez, María Gracia Rodríguez
Juntos is the Peruvian government’s conditional cash transfer program. In recent years, a number of impact evaluations have been carried out with the aim of measuring the effect of Juntos on its conditionalities (the use of health and education services), as well as on the human capital accumulated by the beneficiaries. This study seeks to […]
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Productividad y apertura comercial en el Perú
Productividad en el Perú: medición, determinantes e implicancias2016 Nikita Céspedes, Maria E. Aquije, Alan Sanchez, Rafael Vera-Tudela
Sorry, this entry is only available in European Spanish.
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Productividad sectorial en el Perú: un análisis a nivel de firmas
Productividad en el Perú: medición, determinantes e implicancias2016 Nikita Céspedes, Maria E. Aquije, Alan Sanchez, Rafael Vera-Tudela
Sorry, this entry is only available in European Spanish.
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Las habilidades cognitivas medidas durante la adolescencia predicen los resultados educativos: evidencia de Etiopia y Perú
2023 Jennifer López, Jere R. Behrman, Santiago Cueto, Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez
Utilizando datos de Niños del Milenio (NdM), se investiga la asociación entre las habilidades cognitivas medidas a los 12 años y los resultados educativos medidos a los 15 y 20 años. Los y las jóvenes con mayores puntajes en memoria de largo plazo y memoria de trabajo mostraron mejores resultados en las pruebas de vocabulario, […]
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El impacto del COVID-19 sobre la salud mental de jóvenes en el Perú
2023 Alan Sanchez, Marta Favara, Kath Ford, Annina Hittmeyer, Catherine Porter, Richard Freund, Douglas Scott
Sorry, this entry is only available in European Spanish.
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El impacto de JUNTOS en las habilidades cognitivas fundamentales: ¿importa la edad de incorporación del niño o niña al programa?
2023 Douglas Scott, Jennifer López, Alan Sanchez, Jere Behrman
Utilizando datos longitudinales de pares de hermanos de Niños del Milenio (NdM), se explora la importancia de la edad de exposición inicial al programa JUNTOS en el desarrollo de un conjunto de habilidades cognitivas fundamentales. Los hermanos menores beneficiados por JUNTOS desde una edad temprana alcanzan mejoras significativas en la habilidad de control inhibitorio –es […]
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Do More School Resources Increase Learning Outcomes? Evidence from an Extended School-Day Reform
2021 Jorge M. Agüero, Marta Favara, Catherine Porter, Alan Sanchez
Sigue siendo un debate abierto si la asignación de más recursos mejora los resultados de aprendizaje de los alumnos de las escuelas públicas de bajo rendimiento. Nos centramos en el efecto del aumento del tiempo de instrucción, que es teóricamente ambiguo debido a posibles cambios compensatorios en el esfuerzo de los estudiantes, los profesores o […]
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The power of believing you can get smarter the impact of a growth-mindset intervention on academic achievement in Peru
2020 Ingo W. Outes-Leon, Alan Sanchez, Renos Vakis
This paper evaluates the academic impact of a growth-mindset intervention on students starting the secondary level in public schools in urban Peru. ¡Expande tu Mente! is a 90-minute school session aimed at instilling the notion that a person´s own intelligence is malleable. Students in schools randomly assigned to treatment showed a small improvement in math […]
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¿Qué hemos aprendido del estudio longitudinal Niños del Milenio? Síntesis de hallazgos
2018 Santiago Cueto, Javier Escobal, , Nicolás Pazos, Mary Penny, Vanessa Rojas, Alan Sanchez, Claudia Felipe
The Young Lives Peru Country Report presents a summary of the main findings that emerge from analysing the Young Lives data from Peru across a longitudinal study following two cohorts of children in various situations from remote rural areas to urban communities, as a component of a larger multicountry project. The study relates conditions early […]
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Habilidades, formación para el trabajo y subempleo juvenil: un enfoque de ciclo de vida
2019 Alan Sanchez
This study uses longitudinal data from the Young Lives study to establish which are the most important aspects that predict access to job formation and the labour market at age 22. Results highlight the role of cognitive skills, socio-emotional competencies, and the socio-economic level of the household to explain access to higher education institutions and […]
Projects
- Young Lives Peru round seven: data cleaning, analysis and researchApril 2024
- The Making of a Public Sector Worker: The Causal Effects of Temporary Work Assignments to Poor AreasSeptember 2023
- Young Lives Round 7 : surveys and analysisApril 2023
- Risk and protective factors for young people’s mental health and well-being: Young Lives Peru’s round 7.April 2023
- Analysis of factors associated with overweight and obesity and validation of the instrument of frequency and quantity of food consumptionOctober 2019
- Impact evaluation course for the Superintendency of Banking and InsuranceMay 2019
- Searching for evidence that conceptualize and structure the public problem for designing a comprehensive protection policy for children and adolescentsApril 2019
- Inequality of opportunity in Peru: How can young people develop relevant skills and find decent employment in a rapidly changing job market?December 2018
- Measuring the prevalence of physical and psychological violence against children and teenagers: evidence of Young Lives PeruNovember 2018
- Commercialization of higher education in Peru: economic and equity implicationsNovember 2018
Media
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Agencia Andina highlights study by Niños del Milenio on the impact of JUNTOS on fundamental cognitive skills
February 6, 2023 Poverty and equality
Agencia de Noticias Andina highlighted the findings of a recent study by Douglas Scott, Jennifer López, Alan Sánchez y Jere Behrman, that explores the relevance of the age of initial exposure to the JUNTOS program in the development of a set of fundamental cognitive skills. Using longitudinal data from Young Lives Peru, Scott et al. (2022) study […]
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Studies by GRADE researchers on the minimum wage are quoted by IPE via El Comercio
October 18, 2021 Employment, productivity and innovation
The Peruvian Institute of Economics explains why the results found by David Card, 2021 Nobel Laureate in Economics —that a minimum wage increase does not necessarily generate unemployment— would not be applicable for Peru. In the article, he quotes the work of our senior researchers Alan Sánchez, Miguel Jaramillo, and Hugo Ñopo.
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Oswaldo Molina highlights Alan Sanchez and Marta Favara findings on the impact of JEC on teenage pregnancy
July 22, 2019 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
An op-ed by Oswaldo Molina, director of the Master in Economics at the Universidad del Pacífico, in El Comercio, highlights the findings of Alan Sanchez, Senior Researcher at GRADE and Young Lives Peru, and Marta Favara, Researcher at the University of Oxford, on the impact of the Peruvian extended school-day reform (Jornada Escolar Completa, JEC) on several […]
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Alan Sánchez shares the main quantitative findings of Niños del Milenio/Young Lives Peru
July 24, 2018 Education and learning, Poverty and equality, Health and nutrition
We share a Southern Voice article by our senior researcher, Alan Sánchez, on the main quantitative findings of Niños del Milenio/Young Lives Peru. After tracking 2,750 children for 15 years in Peru, unique evidence about the role of social programs, differences in nutritional and educational trajectories, and skills formation, has been collected.
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Stories about children. Oswaldo Molina writes about the 15 years of Young Lives Peru
June 23, 2018 Education and learning, Poverty and equality, Health and nutrition
What is it like to be a poor child in Peru? Oswaldo Molina, director of the Master’s in Economics at Universidad del Pacífico, writes in El Comercio about the findings of Young Lives Peru during 15 years of research. Although, in general terms, the study shows that the welfare of families has improved in these […]
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Alan Sánchez shares the main quantitative findings of Niños del Milenio/Young Lives Peru
July 24, 2018 Education and learning, Poverty and equality, Health and nutrition
We share a Southern Voice article by our senior researcher, Alan Sánchez, on the main quantitative findings of Niños del Milenio/Young Lives Peru. After tracking 2,750 children for 15 years in Peru, unique evidence about the role of social programs, differences in nutritional and educational trajectories, and skills formation, has been collected.
No se han encontrado novedades de Alan Sanchez en la categoría Comment
No se han encontrado novedades de Alan Sanchez en la categoría Interview
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Agencia Andina highlights study by Niños del Milenio on the impact of JUNTOS on fundamental cognitive skills
February 6, 2023 Poverty and equality
Agencia de Noticias Andina highlighted the findings of a recent study by Douglas Scott, Jennifer López, Alan Sánchez y Jere Behrman, that explores the relevance of the age of initial exposure to the JUNTOS program in the development of a set of fundamental cognitive skills. Using longitudinal data from Young Lives Peru, Scott et al. (2022) study […]
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Studies by GRADE researchers on the minimum wage are quoted by IPE via El Comercio
October 18, 2021 Employment, productivity and innovation
The Peruvian Institute of Economics explains why the results found by David Card, 2021 Nobel Laureate in Economics —that a minimum wage increase does not necessarily generate unemployment— would not be applicable for Peru. In the article, he quotes the work of our senior researchers Alan Sánchez, Miguel Jaramillo, and Hugo Ñopo.
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Oswaldo Molina highlights Alan Sanchez and Marta Favara findings on the impact of JEC on teenage pregnancy
July 22, 2019 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
An op-ed by Oswaldo Molina, director of the Master in Economics at the Universidad del Pacífico, in El Comercio, highlights the findings of Alan Sanchez, Senior Researcher at GRADE and Young Lives Peru, and Marta Favara, Researcher at the University of Oxford, on the impact of the Peruvian extended school-day reform (Jornada Escolar Completa, JEC) on several […]
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Stories about children. Oswaldo Molina writes about the 15 years of Young Lives Peru
June 23, 2018 Education and learning, Poverty and equality, Health and nutrition
What is it like to be a poor child in Peru? Oswaldo Molina, director of the Master’s in Economics at Universidad del Pacífico, writes in El Comercio about the findings of Young Lives Peru during 15 years of research. Although, in general terms, the study shows that the welfare of families has improved in these […]
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Peru: If You Think You Can Get Smarter, You Will
June 20, 2017 Education and learning
Get a closer look at the evidence on the impact of “Expand your Mind”, a low-cost and short-term innovation conducted by researchers Ingo Outes from University of Oxford, Alan Sánchez from the Group for the Analysis of Development, and Renos Vakis from the World Bank, with the aim to conveying to students the idea that intelligence can grow […]
Selected Publications
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Young Lives, interrupted: short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents in low- and middle-income countries
2022 Marta Favara, Richard Freund, Catherine Porter, Alan Sanchez, Douglass Scott
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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety and depression symptoms of young people in the global south: evidence from a four-country cohort study
2021 Alan Sanchez, Catherine Porter, Marta Favara, Annina Hittmeyer, Douglas Scott, Michelle G Craske, Revathi Ellanki, Tassew Woldehanna, Le Thuc Duc, Alan Stein
