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Daira P

- Research Program Mentor

MPA candidate at University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)

Expertise

gender and labor economics, economic policy and research in Latin America

Bio

Daira MPA’24 is pursuing a Master of Public Administration at the University of Pennsylvania. She was a Lipman Fellow at the Wharton School and worked with Devlab (a research center at Penn) in an impact evaluation of a land governance program in Uganda. Born in Peru, she is passionate about gender and economics research and policy in Latin America. Daira wrote her economics thesis about the effect of motherhood on Peru’s informal labor market and was selected to present at two international conferences. Prior to matriculating at UPenn, she was head of newsletter and company tours at Women Societies Alliance, an organization that helps UK-EU female students build their careers in finance. She also interned for a tech firm in London focusing on data analysis and customer management. Daira holds a B.S. in economics from the University of Warwick in the UK. I have different hobbies: I love working out, reading and writing, and watching soccer games. You will always see me listening to music or dancing Latin American music. I am a big traveler and I have been in more than 20 countries. I like fashion, trying new outfits and taking Instagram photos.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

The effect of the conditional cash transfer “Juntos” on labor market participation in Peru

In the last 20 years, conditional cash transfer programs have become popular measures in Latin America and other developing countries. Their main objective is to reduce poverty and break intergenerational poverty by delivering periodic (usually monthly) payments to families living in extreme poverty conditions to enhance human capital in the vulnerable young population (focus on the children of each household). Literature has shown that these programs have been quite successful in reducing poverty. This paper analyzes the impact of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) “Juntos” on Peru’s labor market participation. The reason behind this study lies in the lack of research on this area for Juntos, while literature about the impact of other Latin American conditional cash transfer programs has given mixed results. Understanding if Juntos produces spillover effects on Peru’s labor market outcomes could be beneficial to improve the program’s target and policies. Potential outcomes for students are a Research Paper and a Policy Brief. Moreover, the student will enhance data analysis and research skills, programming (R or STATA), writing skills.

Analyzing the impact of women's empowerment/ gender equality policy (in the US or somewhere else)

Using quantitative methodologies, this research study analyzes the impact of "gender equality policy" on the community. This proposal allows the student to creative and take ownership to decide with policy he/she/they (are) is interested in analyzing. Moreover, the student will enhance his experience working local/national/international datasets. The student will improve coding skills and writing skills for literature review and quantitative analysis. Additionally, there is always the option to produce a presentation after the research is finished and prepare the student to present in front of an expert and non-expert audience

Coding skills

R, STATA

Languages I know

Spanish (native), French (Intermediate), English (Fluent)

Teaching experience

During college, I was a mentor to 15-20 younger economics students, guiding them through the transition from high school to college, core and optional courses and job/internship applications.

Credentials

Work experience

SEDNA (Tech firm in London) (2022 - 2023)
Intern and part time employee
Wharton School, Lipman Family Prize Fellowship (2023 - 2024)
Fellow
Women Societies Alliance (2021 - 2023)
Head of Newsletter and company tours
The Hub Project (2024 - Current)
Research Intern

Education

University of Warwick
BS Bachelor of Science (2023)
Economics
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
MPA Master of Public Administration candidate
Public Administration, Data Analysis and International Affairs

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