Research

Gender-specific patterns in educational attainment create dual sources of talent misallocation. Using Portuguese administrative data (1995-2021), we document that women systematically underenroll in STEM fields (2.2 % vs 4.4 % for men) but overenroll in non-STEM college education (14 % vs 6.8 % for men), while men disproportionately avoid higher education altogether. These patterns, together with the underperformance of female entrepreneurs across all educational levels, generate aggregate costs to the economy. We develop a general equilibrium model where agents make endogenous educational and occupational choices, incorporating both gender-specific education costs and entrepreneurial productivity differentials. Our quantitative experiments reveal the relative importance of each distortion. Equalizing women's education costs to male levels reduces GDP by 0.9 %, as lower college participation offsets gains from increased female STEM enrollment, while just increasing men's participation in non-STEM college fields increases GDP by 2.4 %. The STEM channel does not seem quantitatively relevant, since equalizing women's participation to men only increases GDP by 0.02 %. However, equalizing entrepreneurial productivity parameters across genders increases GDP by 5.3 %, highlighting the relevance of the distortions that make female entrepreneurs underperform relative to men.

This paper studies how financial frictions prevent economies from fully exploiting productivity gains from rising human capital. Using Portuguese matched employer-employee and firm balance sheet data for 2011-2022, I document three empirical facts: (1) intangible capital and skilled labor are complements in production, (2) financially constrained firms underinvest in intangibles and R&D labor, and (3) constrained firms underexploit the complementarity: during Portugal's skill supply expansion, wage premia declined more sharply at constrained firms despite hiring skilled workers at similar rates. I develop a quantitative heterogeneous-firm model with nested CES production, endogenous intangible accumulation through R&D, and collateral constraints with differential pledgeability. The model rationalizes the empirical patterns and reveals a skill-biased stagnation mechanism: when skilled labor becomes more abundant, unconstrained firms exploit the complementarity by investing in both intangibles and skills, while constrained firms hire skilled workers but cannot finance complementary intangible investments, leading to underexploitation and muted aggregate productivity gains. Counterfactual experiments quantify the role of financial frictions in limiting returns to human capital accumulation.