PRESENTATION

Nicolas Didier Profile

Nicolas is an Industrial/Organizational psychologist interested in the development of workforce policies across the world.

ABOUT ME

Academic Profile

Nicolas Didier is a Ph.D. student at Arizona State University, who is studying his major in Public Administration and Policy in the School of Public Affairs.

Nicolas’ research interest can be structured in three key areas. Firstly, the broad topic of workforce policies, which includes the assumptions and the operation of active labor market policies, frameworks for training schemes and policies, and the coordination between education and labor policies. Secondly, He is interested in the translation of scientific knowledge on actionable knowledge available for policymaking processes, the methodological and analytical tools required to smooth the process, and the opportunities of academia-civil society collaboration with the government. Finally, his third area of interest is on the development of comparative studies regarding policies and public administration arrangements.

Nicolas holds a MSc on Public Policy from the University of Chile (School of Economy), and a Bs in Psychology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (School of Psychology).

E-mail: ndidier@asu.edu

RESEARCH

Articles, Book Chapters, Presentations

The research interests of Nicolas have mutated through time, focusing on diverse topics related first to the psychological dimensions of work experience and identity definitions, and later into public policy interest on training and higher education policies operations. That variety of interest has led Nicolas to publish more than Thirty times, including specialized congresses and a diffusion book. Currently, Nicolas sustains both research areas focus on an attempt to connect the micro and macro levels of the labor realm, job market, and individual decision making. How can we design better workplaces? Do the practitioner community has updated and validated evaluation methods to measure work-related variables? How can we tackle the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution? What are the conditions of knowledge to digital economy transition? How can practitioners identify and eliminate discriminatory practices in organizational settings? Do global policies carry the same consequences for countries with different stages of economic development? Below, five flagship publications are mentioned that help to address some of these questions, by clicking on them you are forwarded to a page with an open access version of the article.

INTERNATIONAL BRIEFING 25: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN CHILE

2012

This briefing is concerned with access to training and development in Chile, focusing upon the country’s economically active population. The structure of this work is to describe the system of training, public policies related to training and the role of the state in terms of provision of training opportunities. It analyzes the characteristics of training provision from 2000 to 2008, showing investment levels and types of training, and identifies the main challenges to Chile’s economic development.

ABOUT THE (NON) EXISTENCE OF A LIFELONG EDUCATION SYSTEM IN CHILE

2018

This article aims to present the lifelong education system of Chile from a functional and institutional point of view, in an attempt to describe its strategy. This paper covers both formal education and graduate studies, which were analyzed systematically from the institutional framework and experience of Chile. A comprehensive review of open access data of Chilean higher education was performed, analyzing human capital investment and access to post-secondary education. The main findings are based on the lack of coordination between the educational levels and postsecondary education which make career progression and integration difficult, obstructing tenure and qualifications valuation by employers. In an ageing society such as that of Chile, workers may be forced to take up continuously training courses to sustain their situation inside the labour market. If there is no coordination between training and educational system, workers will face major difficulties in being considered as employable. This work opens the question of lifelong education policies in less developed countries such as Chile, which is facing the same demographic phenomenon as developed countries, but without the same level of resources or institutional development. This article concludes with the requirements for the design of this kind of educational policy.

ARE WE READY? LABOUR MARKET TRANSIT TO THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

2021

Industrialised countries are currently facing the knowledge-to-digital economy transition. That transition is strictly defined by how the labour market is organised and operates in the national economy. Some old to new phenomena are determinants of those dimensions, such as educational mismatch, credential inflation, and job polarisation. These phenomena affect the relationship between schooling and earnings, carrying consequences for social mobility, household welfare, and an individual’s social progression perspective. Those phenomena remain understudied in the context of Latin America. Chile’s case has gained relevance in the region due to the highly deregulated organisation of its educational market, the quality increase in its higher education institutions, and its funding policies for higher education. This work attempts to provide an extended diagnosis of the Chilean labour market, considering the impact of these emerging issues on the educational market and policymaking. The results show that 83.6% of Chilean employees experience an educational mismatch (overeducation and undereducation); credential inflation has depreciated the value of education over five of the six occupational categories – besides the polarisation index for industrialised countries such as the United Kingdom.

LABOR DISCRIMINATION FROM HUMAN RESOURCES: A PENDING TECHNICAL DEBATE

2019

Labor discrimination is one of the most challenging problems in management sciences. This is mainly due to the difficulties to establish technical and discursively which elements correspond or are indicative of discriminatory practices. Therefore, to face the challenge and the debate on this topic, it is necessary to establish reasonable and applicable criteria to the reality of national organizations and more comprehensive and transdisciplinary analysis than management sciences. The purpose of this article is to present a criterion to
identify discriminatory practice and an applied structure of human resource decision-making processes based on this option. In this way, it’s intended to generate an understanding of the problem of discrimination at work as part of the daily decisions of administrators and therefore focuses on intervention at that level.

OVER-EDUCATION IN CHILE: RETURN ON EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT SITUATION

2018

This study analyzes the incidence of overeducation and its economic effects on workers’ income using data from the “Encuesta de Caracterizacion Socioeconomica” between 1994 and 2015. Using as a base the general equation developed by Mincer, the variable of over education was added to isolate the non-linear effect that it generates, at the same time that the analysis was carried out in a specific way according to the type of position in which the workers performed. The results show that over time, the unskilled, semi-skilled and qualified workforce generates incentives for over education; while for technical, professional and managerial jobs, the effect of over education is consistently negative. These results would be worrisome considering that part of the educational policies of Chile have expanded the base of students in higher education, and currently through reforms, seeks to continue guaranteeing this situation through free education.

TEACHING

Nicolas has diverse experience in teaching, mainly methodological and applied classes on organizational behavior. At Universidad Andres Bello (UNAB) (2013-2016), Nicolas taught class bibliographic, academic, and applied research methods. At the University of Arts, Sciences and Communications (UNIACC) and the Professional Institute AIEP (2016-2017), Nicolas taught administrative theory, social security, and organizational behavior. As a lecturer at the Autonomous University of Chile (2018), Nicolas taught methods and organizational research classes. In his last experience as a lecturer in Chile, Nicolas taught Statistics for the University of Valparaiso (2019).

UPCOMING: PRESENTATION ON DATA REPRODUCIBILITY AT UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Abstract: Evidence-based policymaking has turned into a high priority for governments across the world. The possibility of gaining efficiencies in the public expenditure and linking the policy design to the desired outcomes have been presented as significant advantages for the field of comparative policy. However, the same movement that supports the use of evidence in public policy decision making has brought a great concern about the sources of the supposed evidence. How should policymakers evaluate the evidence? The possibilities are open and depend on the institutional arrangements that support governmental operation and the possibility of properly judging the evidence’s nature. The movement of science reproducibility could enlighten the discussion about the quality of the evidence by providing a structured approach towards the source’s validity based on the possibility of reproducing the logic and analysis proper of scientific communication. This paper attempts to analyze the nature and quality of civil society organizations’ contributions to develop evidence for the policymaking process from a reproducibility perspective.

CV

Academic Resume

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

PhD in Public Administration and Policy

2019-2023

UNIVERSITY OF CHILE

MSc in Public Policy
Dissertation Title: Training and Income: A decision-making effectiveness comparison.

2015-2016

PONTIFICAL CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF CHILE

BA in Psychology

2004-2009

Full CV

CONSULTANCY

Nicolas has been involved in diverse consultancy projects in the topics of Labor Market forecasting (OTIC PROFORMA and Factoria MUN), Higher education employability (CDO Consulting Group), program redesign and update on financial education (FOSIS and IEP), Judiciary academy training (Academia Judicial), NGO program evaluation (Fundacion para la Superacion de la Pobreza), among others.

Consultancy can include, for instance, data collection and analysis using surveys and/or survey experiments, process design, process formalization, mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative analysis) for public programs assessment, and elaboration of program handbooks and reports.

Relevant government reports include: Evaluation of Graduate loans by CORFO and Evaluation of SUR-SUR Cooperation Program by AGCID.

AWARDS AND HONORS

2019- 2023 Fulbright BIO Scholarship for Doctoral Studies in the United States.

2015-2016 Scholarship for master’s studies by CONICYT, national call.

ON SOCIAL MEDIA: LINKS

Tempe, AZ, USA