Nico Ajzenman

Paper just accepted to be published in the Journal of Politics :)

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Humans versus Chatbots: Scaling-Up Behavioral Interventions to Reduce Teacher Shortages | Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics: Vol 0, No ja

And this is the link to our first paper (with great Bluesky-less coauthors, of course) www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

From human counselors to AI agents: What We Learned From Scaling Career Guidance in Chile - Enfoque Educación Scaling effective educational interventions remains a major policy challenge. Programs that succeed at a small scale often lose impact when expanded—a phenomenon researchers call the "voltage effect."...

About tone: We're now analyzing empathy—are AI bots more or less empathetic than humans? And how persuasive is Kai?

Coming soon: Did Kai perform as well as human counselors in increasing applications to teaching programs?

More about what we've learned here blogs.iadb.org/educacion/en...

About content:

- Most Kai’s interactions were factual queries (course info, scholarships), while human counselors handled more subjective questions (e.g. "Am I patient enough to teach?").

Students did not interact the same way with humans or bots

Some early learnings analyzing conversations:
- Kai led with 35% initial engagement > than human counselors (28%)
- Kai responded faster & more factually focused. Kai and humans covered = number of topics per conversation.
- Kai seems more efficient: simillar info, similar engagement, shorter time

FF: now there are AI-powered bots. We created Kai—a 2024 generative AI chatbot on WhatsApp designed for more tailored, adaptive interaction. We trained them for many months. In a new RCT with 43,000+ students, we compared: Human counselor versus Kai (AI agent) vs control.

It's very human intensive. In the same experiment (2020) we used the technology available back then to try to scale it up: scripted bots. They achieved only ⅓ to ½ of those results and they were insignificant.

They lack the engagement and personalization essential in counseling.

Elige Educar’s “Quiero Ser Profe” program in Chile tackles teacher shortages by offering personalized WhatsApp counseling to highschoolers, encouraging them to pursue teaching.

It works (JPE Micro forthcoming). It increased actual enrollement in teaching majors.

BUT...

Scaling successful human-centered programs often encounters the “voltage effect”—they lose impact when expanded to more people. Generative AI may help bridge that gap. Here's a story:

Only 2 days left. Send your papers and come to London!

Deadline coming soon!

🚨Call for papers!

We will be hosting this great workshop next autumn, organized by @clpennec.bsky.social, @nicolasajz.bsky.social and our own Cevat Aksoy.

Submit your best political economy work!

Call for papers! The second edition of the Transatlantic Political Economy Conference (T-PEC) will be held in London on Nov 6-7, 2025. Organized by @nicolasajz.bsky.social, Cevat Aksoy and myself.

The submission deadline is July 4. Apply here (and share widely):

sites.google.com/view/tpec-mo...

🚨 Call for papers! The second edition of the Transatlantic Political Economy Conference (T-PEC) will be in November in London. Organized by @clpennec.bsky.social Cevat Aksoy and me.

The submission deadline is July 4, 2025. Apply here (and RT!):

sites.google.com/view/tpec-mo...

The paradox of anticorruption messaging: Evidence from a tax reform in Honduras How should governments communicate reforms to fight corruption without reinforcing citizens’ negative perceptions? A carefully designed information intervention in Honduras provides a promising approa...

Our piece on corruption and tax compliance in developing countries.

voxdev.org/topic/instit...

Our "(Successful) democracies breed their own support" is out on the last edition of Restud :)

academic.oup.com/restud/artic...

With R Perez Truglia, G Cruces, D Tortarolo and G Vazquez Bare

New piece on the effects of a progressive tax reform in 🇦🇷. Do you pay more or less taxes when you realize the reform is progressive? Does it depend on how it affects your own tax? Do you put your money where your mouth is? All you wanted to know.

All you wanted to know.

cepr.org/voxeu/column...

Most Latin American migrants no longer go to the United States Can the region cope with a new wave?

Very nice piece on immigration in Latin America.

And they happen to mention a nice paper on immigration and crime perceptions in Chile by some cool Southamerican researchers :)

www.economist.com/the-americas...

Our "Discrimination in the Formation of Academic Networks: A Field Experiment on #EconTwitter" with Pedro Sant'Anna and @brunoferman.bsky.social is now forthcoming in the

😀😀

American Economic Review Insights (@AEAjournals )

😀😀 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

🚨 New WP with RP Truglia D Tortarolo G Vazquez Bare and G Cruces

Do progressive reforms affect compliance?

Does learning that other people's tax are increasing/decreasing affect our own compliance?

Take a look below.

www.nber.org/system/files...

Behavioural strategies to reduce teacher sorting in Peru Low-income students are more likely to attend schools with less-qualified teachers widening achievement gaps. The Peruvian government’s novel and low-cost nationwide strategy was successful at encoura...

🆕 Behavioural strategies to reduce teacher sorting in Peru

Today on VoxDev, new article by @nicolasajz.bsky.social @mcgill.ca, Eleonora Bertoni @ec.europa.eu, Gregory Elacqua IDB, Luana Marotta IDB & Carolina Mendez Vargas IDB:
voxdev.org/topic/educat...

🚨🚨 We are hiring!! 🚨🚨

Come work with us at McGill Econ Department in Montreal!

Apply here:
econjobmarket.org/positions/11...

please RT #EconTwitter
(below a picture of a friend of mine on campus)

Estereotípicos #43

Recomiendo mucho a @nicolasajz.bsky.social, siempre:

www.noeseconomia.com/p/estereotip...

Something you see quite often on here and on X the Everything App is that "people vote for right wing reactionaries with good economies, and for the left with bad ones" when basically all available evidence points to the opposite - people become far right when the economy is bad, not good

🙋‍♂️

uh a ver!

Well, so I am seeing a lot of activity here lately.

Is #EconTwitter a thing here? Who should I follow?

Glad to see our paper "Immigration, Crime, and Crime (Mis)Perceptions" with P. Dominguez and R. Undurraga finally in print in AEJ: Applied Economics!

link: www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...