Cristóbal Otero
I'm an Assistant Professor in Economics at Columbia Business School and a Faculty Research Fellow at NBER. I hold a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley, where I worked under the supervision of Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman.
I'm interested in health, public, and organizational economics.
My CV is available here, and you can contact me at c.otero@columbia.edu.
Managers and Public Hospital Performance
with Pablo Muñoz
American Economic Review, 2025
[Ungated PDF] [Appendix] [VoxDev Article] [CBS Policy Brief]
Winner of the 2024 Essen Health Conference Best Paper Award
Abstract: We study whether the quality of managers can affect public service provision in the context of public health. Using novel data from public hospitals in Chile, we show how the introduction of a competitive recruitment system and better pay for public hospital CEOs reduced hospital mortality by 8%. The effect is not explained by a change in patient composition. We find that the policy changed the pool of CEOs by displacing doctors with no management training in favor of CEOs who had studied management. Productivity improvements were driven by hospitals that recruited higher quality CEOs.
Featured: [El Mercurio] [CNN Chile] [Pivotes] [Nada es Gratis 1] [Esto No es Economía]
Policy Briefs: [Nada es Gratis 2]
Policy Discussion: [Centro UC Políticas Públicas, video]
The Economics of the Public Option: Evidence from Local Pharmaceutical Markets
with Juan Pablo Atal, José Ignacio Cuesta, and Felipe González
American Economic Review, 2024 (Lead Article)
[Ungated PDF] [Appendix] [AEA Research Highlights]
Abstract: We study the effects of competition by state-owned firms, leveraging the decentralized entry of public pharmacies to local markets in Chile. Public pharmacies sell the same drugs at a third of private pharmacy prices, because of stronger upstream bargaining and market power in the private sector, but are of lower quality. Public pharmacies induced market segmentation and price increases in the private sector, which benefited the switchers to the public option but harmed the stayers. The countrywide entry of public pharmacies would reduce yearly consumer drug expenditure by 1.5 percent.
[NBER WP 30779] [NBER Appendix]
Featured: [Pauta] [The Clinic] [Sonar FM] [Las Últimas Noticias] [Chilevisión Noticias 1, 2] [CNN Chile] [LAPDE Podcast] [Diario Financiero 1, 2]
Policy Briefs: [by Centro de Competencia UAI] [Nada es Gratis] [Columbia Business School]
Twitter Thread
Equilibrium Effects of Food Labeling Policies
with Nano Barahona and Sebastián Otero
Econometrica, 2023
[Ungated PDF] [Appendix]
Abstract: We study a regulation in Chile that mandates warning labels on products whose sugar or caloric concentration exceeds certain thresholds. We show that consumers substitute from labeled to unlabeled products—a pattern mostly driven by products that consumers mistakenly believe to be healthy. On the supply side, we find substantial reformulation of products and bunching at the thresholds. We develop and estimate an equilibrium model of demand for food and firms' pricing and nutritional choices. We find that food labels increase consumer welfare by 1.8% of total expenditure, and that these effects are enhanced by firms' responses. We then use the model to study alternative policy designs. Under optimal policy thresholds, food labels and sugar taxes generate similar gains in consumer welfare, but food labels benefit the poor relatively more.
Featured: [El País] [Pauta] [Radio Usach] [Chilevision] [America Economía] [La Tercera] [CNN Chile] [BBC Sounds] [DiarioConVos] [Cadena 3] [Canal de la Ciudad] [DelSol] [Infobae] [Esto No es Economía] [Pivotes] [Centro Competencia] [La Nación]
Policy Briefs: [Ciper Chile] [Nada es Gratis]
Policy Discussion: [Centro UC Políticas Públicas]
Video: [econimate]
Twitter Thread
National Institutions and Regional Development at Borders: Evidence from the Americas
with Francisco Gallego, César Huaroto, and Alejandro Sáenz
Applied Economics, 2020
Abstract: This paper explores how discontinuities created by national borders can influence development across the Americas. We exploit the discontinuous nature of borders jointly with exogenous variation at the national level to identify discontinuous effects on proxies for economic development at the regional and pixel levels. We separate the effects of national institutions from local historical conditions. Our analysis yields three main findings. First, we find important discontinuities in development across national borders for the Americas. Second, we also show that they are, for the most part, caused by institutional differences at the national level and not for differences at the regional level in geography, climate, endowments, and pre-colonization conditions. Third, we also present evidence that differences in national institutions affect human capital at the regional level.
Food Labeling Policies: Aggregate Impacts and Heterogeneity Across Categories
with Nano Barahona, Sebastián Otero, and Josh Kim
Last update: September 2025
Revision requested at the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Abstract: We study the aggregate and heterogeneous effects of a front-of-package labeling policy implemented in Chile. We find that consumers reduced their sugar and caloric intake by 9% and 6%, respectively. On the demand side, labels prompt consumers to substitute within categories rather than switching between categories. Within-category responses are more pronounced when labels provide new information. On the supply side, we observe bunching at regulatory thresholds, with substantial heterogeneity across categories, consistent with differing costs of product reformulation. We conclude that considering policy-response heterogeneity is key for effective policy design.
Featured: [El Mercurio] [Radio Cooperativa] [Social Science Matrix]
Policy Briefs: [Berkeley Econ] [Centro Competencia CeCo]
Physicians' Occupational Licensing and the Quantity-Quality Trade-off
with Juan Pablo Atal, Tomás Larroucau, and Pablo Muñoz
Last update: July 2025
Abstract: Occupational licensing is a widespread quality regulation that increases the quality of labor but reduces its quantity. We provide a framework to empirically quantify this trade-off and apply it to physician licensing, where both quality and access to care are critical concerns. Using quasi-exogenous variation driven mostly by a recent and unprecedented migration of physicians to Chile, we show that more physicians improve access and patient outcomes in tertiary care, including mortality. We also find that lower quality—as measured by physician performance on the licensing exam—worsens patient outcomes. Building on these findings, we evaluate the implications of locally changing the stringency of the current licensing policy.
Policy Discussion: [Centro UC Políticas Públicas]
Impuestos Justos para el Chile que Viene: Diagnóstico y Desafíos Tributarios para un Nuevo Pacto Fiscal
with Jorge Atria (eds.)
Fondo de Cultura Económica. November 2021 (1st Edition), September 2022 (2nd Edition)
Thomas Piketty
Author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century
This is a fascinating book on inequality and taxation in Chile. This collective volume brings the best experts and a refreshing perspective on this central issue. Chile is one of the most unequal countries in the world, partly due to its unfair tax system and the legacy of the Pinochet regime. At a time when the country is rethinking its basic law and social contract, this is a very timely book and a must-read for all citizens of the world.
Gabriel Zucman
Coauthor of The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay
Taxation is one of the most important political — and even philosophical — issues we face as citizens. This groundbreaking book is a treasure trove of information on taxation and inequality in Chile, a rigorous analysis of the changes in taxation that have taken place over the last century, and a vital contribution to the public debate that will resonate for many years in Chile and in Latin America.
Interview with Gabriel Zucman
with Juan Andrés Guzmán
May 2022, Tercera Dosis
Is Chile richer than Uruguay?
Twitter thread
Has inequality decreased in Chile?
Twitter thread
Amateur political philosophy: Social equality's (in)compatibilities with liberal egalitarianism
Sept 2016 | Dissertation, MSc. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, LSE
Why did I study philosophy? Here is a note on the program
