Felipe Gonzalez

Paper: Non-linear network behavior of protesters during escalating social movements /  by Solomon Hsiang

Felipe Gonzalez has a new working paper Collective Action in Networks: Evidence from the Chilean Student Movement, demonstrating how millions of students across schools in Chile influence one another to participate in a growing social movement.  Felipe demonstrates how the number of individuals in each student's social network, in addition to each student's physical neighborhood, increases the likelihood that specific students will participate in the 2011 student movement. He finds strong evidence of a "tipping point" where if 40% of a student's class is participating, then the entire class "tips" and begins attending the protest.  This is important because it is the first empirical evidence testing classical models of social network dynamics in revolutionary environments.

Locations of over 50,000 student protesters in Santiago, Chile during the 2011 student movement

Locations of over 50,000 student protesters in Santiago, Chile during the 2011 student movement

Paper: Attendance distorts standardized test scores /  by Solomon Hsiang

Felipe Gonzalez has a new working paper Distorted Quality Signals in School Markets, demonstrating that schools in Chile increase their ranking by discouraging low performing students from showing up to class on days when standardized tests are administered. This is important because standardized tests scores determine how competitive schools are ranked and how resources are allocated across schools.

Publication: Drug Trafficking Organizations and Local Economic Activity in Mexico /  by Solomon Hsiang

Felipe González's paper Drug Trafficking Organizations and Local Economic Activity in Mexico was published in PLOS ONE.

(It's the first term paper from our course Spatial Data and Analysis to be published.)

Drug trafficking organizations across space and time. Municipalities colored in black have at least one DTO operating.