I am an ICREA Research Professor and group leader of the Computational Social Science and Humanities unti at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), where I also lead the Welfare and Equity Group. My work integrates AI and data-intensive solutions into public policy, with a particular focus on market design and education policy. I hold a PhD in Economics from Yale University and conduct research that spans theoretical, experimental, and empirical approaches. Together with an interdisciplinary team, I have developed Pentabilities, a methodology for fostering socioemotional learning by integrating behavioral feedback collected in classrooms. Between September 2022 and March 2024, I led the design and implementation of four large-scale RCTs in Catalunya, Andalucía, Ceuta, and Melilla. Three were implemented through Fundació Bofill's Suport Educatiu program, and the fourth through Fundesplai's Hedera program. I am affiliated with the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity group, the Sto
Research interests
Her research focuses on Public Economics with an emphasis on school choice, educational policies, affirmative action, measurement of non-cognitive skills and welfare economics in general. Her work includes theoretical, experimental and empirical analysis. She is currently working very closely with the education sector, promoting the implementation and evaluation of rigurous formative assessment tools for socioemotional learning in primary, secondary, vocational training and college worldwide.
Selected publications
- Arenas A & Calsamiglia C 2025, 'Gender Differences in High-Stakes Performance and College Admission Policies', Management science, 71 - 10.