Carlos Flores

Professor

Contact Information

Email: cflore32@calpoly.edu
Phone: 805-756-1553
Office Location:  03-314
Personal Website: https://sites.google.com/view/carlosaflores

Dr. Flores’ main fields are econometrics and labor economics. His research focuses on the development and application of new econometric methods for program evaluation and causal inference to assess the effects of policies, programs, and interventions. His current research concentrates on two broad areas. The first is the study of econometric methods to evaluate multiple, multi-valued, and continuous interventions or treatments. The second is the analysis of estimation problems in which it is necessary to adjust for a variable that has been affected by the treatment of interest.

In his applied work, he has analyzed several aspects of Job Corps, the largest federally-funded job training program for disadvantaged youth in U.S., including (i) its effect on participants’ future wages; (ii) the effect of the length of exposure to academic and vocational instruction in Job Corps on future earnings; (iii) the mechanisms or channels through which Job Corps works; in particular, what part of its effect on earnings is due to the attainment of a high school or vocational degree, and what part is due to other channels (e.g., counseling and health services).

Dr. Flores has also applied new econometric methods in other areas, such as education (e.g., to analyze the effect of attaining an academic degree on labor market outcomes), health (e.g., to analyze the effect of smoking during pregnancy on birth outcomes), and environmental economics (e.g., to analyze the relationship between economic growth and pollution).

His work has been published in journals such as the Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Human Resources, American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), and Econometric Reviews. Some of his work has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Flores has taught several courses both at the graduate and undergraduate levels, including Probability and Statistics for Econometrics (graduate), Applied Microeconometrics (graduate), Principles of Microeconomics (undergraduate), andMathematical Methods for Economists (graduate and undergraduate). He has also served in several Ph.D. dissertation committees, including some for which he was the main advisor.

Dr. Flores joined the Cal Poly faculty in 2013 after eight years at the University of Miami. He received his Ph.D. in Economics and M.A. in Statistics from UC Berkeley. He is originally from Veracruz, Mexico. When he is not working, he loves to spend time with his wife (who was also his childhood friend and first love) and his two kids (who are adorable—most of the time).