This three-paper thesis aims at contributing to the education economics literature by analyzing determinants of educational outcomes in Elementary, Secondary and Post-Secondary education.

While school electrification in developed economies is total, only 34% of schools in the least developed countries have power. To address this issue, installing off-grid panels has gained popularity as a policy solution; however, evidence of its associated gains is limited. The first chapter of this thesis studies the impact of installing solar panels in unelectrified Latin American schools on an extensive collection of students´ educational outcomes, their health and social vulnerability, and their family well-being.

The second chapter focuses on the gender differences in Math achievement. Although these differences are insignificant in the middle of the distribution of abilities, they are concentrated in the right tail, meaning that boys outperform girls at the highest levels of achievement.

Chapter two dives into one of the explanations in the literature accounting for the achievement gap: the gender self-confidence gap. Using data for students in Elementary and Middle education, this paper sheds light on the school factors that contribute to more self-confident female students in Math courses.

Lastly, chapter three concerns the low share of female students in STEM fields. Females represent about 35% of students in these areas, being particularly underrepresented in most Math-intensive fields (such as computer science programs and engineering). The lack of female presence in STEM contributes to the prevailing gender wage gap and diminishes aggregate productivity through the loss of talent.

This last chapter - coauthored with Professors Lídia Farré and Andreu Arenas -, addresses the gender gap in STEM (especially in Math-intensive fields) by analyzing intra-individual comparative advantages during Secondary school. Our premise suggests that the gender gap in STEM fields begins to get defined years before students enter University.