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Sergio Pinheiro Firpo

Insper, Brazil, and IZA, Germany

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Instituto Unibanco Professor of Economics at Insper Institute of Education and Research, Brazil

Research interest

Econometrics, program evaluation, labor economics, empirical political economy, education economics

Website

https://www.insper.edu.br/pesquisa-e-conhecimento/docentes-pesquisadores/sergio-pinheiro-firpo/

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Consultant to: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, Brazil); Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU, Brazil); Confederação Nacional das Indústrias (CNI, Brazil); United Nations Development Program (UNDP); World Bank; Fundação Itaú Social (Brazil); OI Futuro (Brazil); SPTrans (Brazil); Hospital Samaritano; Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)

Past positions

Associate Professor, São Paulo School of Economics FGV, 2008-2015; Assistant Professor, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), 2004-2008; Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, 2003-2006

Qualifications

PhD Economics, University of California Berkeley, 2003

Selected publications

  • “Decomposition methods in economics.” In: Card, D., and O. Ashenfelter (eds). Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 4. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2011; pp. 1–102.

  • “Identification and estimation of distributional impacts of interventions using changes in inequality measures.” Journal of Applied Econometrics 31:3 (2016) 457–486 (with C. Pinto).

  • “Unconditional quantile regressions.” Econometrica 77 (2009): 953–973 (with N. Fortin and T. Lemieux).

  • “Efficient semiparametric estimation of quantile treatment effects.” Econometrica 75 (2007): 259–276.

  • “Measurement errors in quantile regression models.” Journal of Econometrics (Forthcoming 2017) (with A. Galvao and S. Song).

article(s)

  • The labor market in Brazil, 2001–2022 Updated

    Brazil’s long-lasting recession has hurt the poor and has reversed inequality trends

    Sergio Pinheiro FirpoAlysson Lorenzon Portella, April 2024
    In the first decade of the 21st century, the Brazilian economy experienced an important expansion followed by a significant decline in inequality. The minimum wage increased rapidly, reducing inequality with no negative effects on employment or formality. This resulted from economic growth and greater supply of skilled labor. However, from 2014-2021, real wages were stagnant, and unemployment rates surged. Inequality rose again, although only marginally. Some positive signs emerged in 2022, although it is still too early to know whether they mark a return to past trends or a recovery from the pandemic.
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  • Identifying and measuring economic discrimination

    Using decomposition methods helps measure both the amount and source of economic discrimination between groups

    Sergio Pinheiro Firpo, March 2017
    Differences in wages between men and women, white and black workers, or any two distinct groups are a controversial feature of the labor market, raising concern about discrimination by employers. Decomposition methods shed light on those differences by separating them into: (i) composition effects, which are explained by differences in the distribution of observable variables, e.g. education level; and (ii) structural effects, which are explained by differences in the returns to observable and unobservable variables. Often, a significant structural effect, such as different returns to education, can be indicative of discrimination.
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