Oscar Barrera RodríguezSenior Research Fellow · UCD
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Oscar Barrera Rodríguez

Senior Research Fellow · University College Dublin

Curriculum Vitae

A web version of my curriculum vitae. The PDF has the complete record.

Download full CV (PDF)Updated 2026

Positions

Current

  1. Current

    Senior Research Fellow

    University College Dublin

    School of Politics and International Relations (SPIRe) · ERC project Democracy Challenged · Dublin, Ireland

  2. Current

    Research Fellow

    World Inequality Lab

    Paris, France

Previous

  1. Postdoctoral Researcher

    CY Cergy Paris Université

    THEMA (CNRS) · Cergy-Pontoise, France

  2. 2019–2020

    Economist, Migration

    Centre d'études prospectives et d'informations internationales (CEPII)

    Paris, France

Education

  1. 2014–2020

    Ph.D. in Economics (Analysis and Economic Policy)

    Paris School of Economics – EHESS, Paris, France

    Thesis: “Information and data manipulation in political economy and household contexts”

    Advisor: Flore Gubert. Committee: Oliver Vanden Eynde (discussant); Juan Vargas (Universidad del Rosario); Leopoldo Fergusson (Universidad de los Andes)

  2. 2012–2014

    M.Sc. in Public Policy and Development (PPD)

    Paris School of Economics, Paris, France

  3. 2010–2011

    M.A. in Economic Development and Growth

    Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

  4. 2003–2008

    B.A.

    Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

Job market paper

Sep 2026

Biased Information, Biased Preferences: How Fragmented Media Environments Undermine Support for Redistribution

with Lora Pavlova and Li Yang

Previously circulated as “Confirmation Bias and Asymmetric Political Polarization: Evidence from a Media Experiment in Germany”

A pre-registered experiment with 4,524 German adults separates the effect of reading a narrative about the 2022–23 inflation surge from the choice of what to read. Selection is confirmatory, and a narrative moves preferences for redistribution more when it is chosen than when it is imposed. Only the right-leaning article moves party preference, raising support for a far-right platform by 3.8 points; backfire is confined to the most right-leaning fifth of respondents.

Latest version (PDF)

Publications

  1. 2026

    Texting Parents about Early Child Development: Behavioral Changes and Unintended Social Effects

    with Karen Macours, Patrick Premand, and Renos Vakis

    Journal of Development Economics, 183, 103833

  2. 2025

    Capital vs. labour: The effect of income sources on attitudes toward the top 1 percent

    with Emmanuel Chávez

    European Journal of Political Economy, 88, 102684

  3. 2025

    Second-generation immigrants and native attitudes toward immigrants in Europe

    with Isabelle Bensidoun and Anthony Edo

    Migration Studies, 13(2), mnae010

  4. 2020

    Facts, alternative facts, and fact checking in times of post-truth politics

    with Sergei Guriev, Emeric Henry, and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya

    Journal of Public Economics, 182, 104123

Book chapters

  1. 2021

    Social Inequalities, Identity, and the Structure of Political Cleavages in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, 1952–2019

    with Ana Leiva, Clara Martínez-Toledano, and Álvaro Zúñiga-Cordero

    Political Cleavages and Social Inequalities: A Study of Fifty Democracies, 1948–2020, ed. Amory Gethin, Clara Martínez-Toledano and Thomas Piketty, Harvard University Press, 2021

Working papers

  1. 2025

Work in progress

  1. Profit Taxes and the Accumulation of Billionaire Wealth

    with Aidan Regan and Alba Valquez García

    Work in progress

Teaching

  1. 2018–2022

    Microeconomics

    CY Cergy Paris Université (Fall 2022/23); Sorbonne Université (2021/22); Université Paris-Sud (Fall 2018)

    Undergraduate · in French

  2. 2018–2023

    Macroeconomics

    CY Cergy Paris Université (Spring 2023); Université Paris-Sud (Fall 2018)

    Undergraduate · in French

  3. 2019–2022

    Quantitative Methods and Topics of Economics

    Institut des Hautes Études de l'Amérique latine (IHEAL) (Fall 2022); Institut des Hautes Études de l'Amérique latine (IHEAL) (Spring 2019)

    Master

  4. 2017

    Statistics II

    Sciences Po, Le Havre campus (Spring 2017)

    Undergraduate · in English

  5. 2016

    Master in Public Policy and Development (PPD)

    Paris School of Economics (Spring 2016)

    Master · in English · Tutor assistant

Teaching details

Research grants and scholarships

  1. 2014–2018

    Full scholarship for doctoral studies abroad

    COLCIENCIAS

  2. 2014

    Loan-scholarship

    COLFUTURO

  3. 2012–2014

    Master's scholarship, French National Research Agency (Investissements d'Avenir)

    Paris School of Economics

  4. 2006–2007

    Three teaching-assistant scholarships

    Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Consulting

  1. 2020

    OECD

    External consultant

    Analyses of immigrants from Mali and Senegal living in Côte d'Ivoire.

  2. 2017

    World Bank – Paris School of Economics

    External consultant, field coordinator of data collection in Nicaragua

Academic visits

  1. 2018–2019

    Universidad de San Martín

    Buenos Aires, Argentina

    ECOS-Sud programme with Université Paris 13; project on the potential of crowdfunding in developing countries.

Conferences and seminars

2026
122nd APSA Annual Meeting (American Political Science Association, Boston, MA); 38th Annual SASE Conference (Sciences Po Bordeaux, Bordeaux); Council for European Studies Conference (UCD, Dublin); World Inequality Conference (Paris School of Economics, Paris); Webinar Economía (Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá); Geary Institute for Public Policy Seminar Series (UCD, Dublin); World Inequality Lab Seminar (Paris School of Economics, Paris)
2025
Lunch Seminar, Department of Economics, History and Society (DEHES) (University of Geneva, Geneva); 12th Annual Mannheim Taxation Conference (Leibniz ScienceCampus Mannheim Taxation, Mannheim); Mannheim Taxation on Campus meeting (ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim); Public Economics Seminar (ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim); 11th Conference of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ) (World Bank Group & The George Washington University, Washington, DC); SPIRe Research Seminar Series (School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, Dublin); Behavioural Science and Policy Group Seminar (UCD, Dublin)
2024
Public Economics Seminar (ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim); Behavioural Science and Policy Group Seminar (UCD, Dublin); In_equality Conference 2024 (University of Konstanz, Konstanz)
2023
Workshop on Unveiling Wealth and Income Inequalities (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Berlin); THEMA Seminar (Théorie Économique, Modélisation et Applications) (CY Cergy Paris Université, Cergy-Pontoise); DIAL Seminar (Université Paris Dauphine, Paris); ENS Applied Seminar (École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon)
2022
Research Seminar (Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International (CERDI), Clermont-Ferrand); Seminario CID (CID, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá); Applied Economics Lunch Seminar (Paris School of Economics, Paris); Cátedra París–Francia (Ministerio de Relaciones & Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá); Seminario GEPPC (Grupo de Investigación en Economía, Políticas Públicas y Ciudadanía, Bogotá); Seminario CID (Facultad de Economía, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá)
2021
Virtual Inequality Brownbag (VIB) series (CID (Michigan University), PSE, LSE, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, University of Amsterdam and European University Institute); Behaviors and Preferences Seminar (Paris School of Economics, Paris)
2020
10th Annual International Conference on Immigration in OECD Countries (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris); DIAL Seminar (Université Paris Dauphine, Paris)
2019
Attitudes towards migrants and minorities: The role of (real or imagined) statistical information (Institut national d'études démographiques (INED), Paris); CEPII Seminar (Centre d'études prospectives et d'informations internationales (CEPII), Paris); VIII NCID Research Workshop on Development Economics (Universidad de Navarra, Madrid); Casual Friday Development Seminar (Paris School of Economics, Paris)
2018
14th HiCN Annual Workshop (IDS–EAFIT, Medellín); Seminario CEDE (Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá); Seminario Interno de Economía (Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá); Seminario Interuniversitario Desarrollo Productivo Argentino (SIDPA) (Universidad de San Martín & Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires)

All talks with details and links

Other professional experience

  1. 2016

    Research assistant to Karen Macours

    Paris School of Economics

  2. 2015–2016

    Randomized controlled trial (field intervention)

    World Bank – Paris School of Economics

    Washington, DC and Managua.

  3. 2013–2014

    Research assistant

    DIAL, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)

  4. 2011

    Research assistant, Vice-Rectorate for Research

    Universidad Nacional de Colombia

  5. 2011

    Research assistant

    Ministry of Culture of Colombia

Languages

Spanish (native) · English (fluent) · French (fluent)

References

  • Aidan Regan

    Professor of Political Economy, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin

  • Thomas Piketty

    Chaired Professor, Paris School of Economics, EHESS

  • Oliver Vanden Eynde

    Chaired Professor, Paris School of Economics; Senior Researcher, CNRS