Overview
Marcos A. Rangel is an applied microeconomist. His research focuses on the patterns of accumulation of human capital with particular attention to the intra-family decision process (parents and children), to the impact of policies to foment education and health, and to racial differentials. His research has contributed to a better understanding of how the negotiations between mother and fathers, and also how families insert themselves into societies, influence the allocation of resources towards investment in human capital of children.
Recent projects branched out in investigating the impact of prenatal care policies and maternal labor regulations over child outcomes, focusing on the innovative use of data to infer causal effects of policies. Current work takes advantage of a satellite pictures of areas in which agricultural activities rely on the use of fires to compute the impact of agricultural development, environmental regulation and business cycles over health outcomes of infants and mothers-to-be.
Rangel is a research affiliate with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT, the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), the Population Research Center at NORC/University of Chicago, and the Duke Population Research Institute (DuPRI). He is also an associate editor of The Journal of Development Economics.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
A Note From the New Editors of Demography.
Journal Article Demography · August 2025 Full text CiteHeterogeneous Receipt of Social Assistance Programs Among Families with Low Income in the U.S.: The Role of State Policy Design
Journal Article · January 21, 2025 CiteJournal Article · January 21, 2025 Cite
Recent Grants
Property Sales and Residential Displacement of Black and Hispanic Children in the American South: Implications for School Mobility and Educational Inequality
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by Spencer Foundation · 2023 - 2025NextGenPop -- Recruiting the Next Generation of Scholars into Population Research
Inst. Training Prgm or CMECo Investigator · Awarded by University of Wisconsin - Madison · 2021 - 2025Housing market activity, racial-ethnic inequality in housing insecurity and school success
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by William T. Grant Foundation · 2023 - 2024View All Grants