mebucca@uc.cl | mebucca.github.io
Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Casilla 306, Correo 22, Macul, Santiago
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2018 Ph.D. in Sociology, Cornell University, United States
Ph.D. Minor in Applied Statistics
Committee: Kim Weeden (chair), Kendra Bischoff, Vida Maralani, Martin Wells (Statistics)
2016 Master of Arts in Sociology, Cornell University, United States
2009 Master’s in Sociology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
2007 Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Professional Sociologist Title · Minor in Philosophy
2010–2011 Analyst, Ministerio Secretaría General de la Presidencia (General Secretariat of the Presidency Ministry), Government of Chile
Intergenerational mobility, social inequality, assortative mating, beliefs about inequality, quantitative methods for policy analysis
Robles, A., Pesando, L.M., Abufhele, A., Bucca, M., Urbina, D.R. (2024). Marrying across Borders in Latin America: Visualizing Intermarriage Flows. Socius (IF: 2.0), 10. doi
Bucca, M. (2024). Colorism Revisited: The Effects of Skin Color on Educational and Labor Market Outcomes in the United States. Sociological Science (IF: 2.1), 11. doi
Bucca, M., Drouhot, L.G. (2024). Intergenerational Social Mobility Among the Children of Immigrants in Western Europe: Between Socioeconomic Assimilation and Disadvantage. Sociological Science (IF: 2.1), 11. doi
Bucca, M. (2024). Are Within-Racial Group Inequalities by Skin Color Really Greater Than Inequalities Between Racial Groups in the United States? Socius (IF: 2.0), 10. doi
Bucca, M., Urbina, D.R. (2021). Lasso Regularization for Selection of Log-Linear Models: An Application to Educational Assortative Mating. Sociological Methods & Research (IF: 6.5), 50(4). doi
Award: American Sociological Association Methodology’s Clifford Clogg Award
Weeden, K.A., Cha, Y., Bucca, M. (2016). Long Work Hours, Part-Time Work, and Trends in the Gender Gap in Pay, the Motherhood Wage Penalty, and the Fatherhood Wage Premium. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences (IF: 3.9), 2(4). doi
Media coverage: New York Times
Bucca, M. (2020). Heatmaps for Patterns of Association in Log-Linear Models. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (IF: 2.0). doi
Molina, M.D., Bucca, M., Macy, M.W. (2019). It’s Not Just How the Game is Played, It’s Whether You Win or Lose. Science Advances (IF: 12.5), 5(7). doi
Media coverage: New York Times, Washington Post, New Scientist, Science Daily, Cornell Chronicle, De Correspondent, Esquire
Bucca, M. (2016). Merit and Blame in Unequal Societies: Explaining Latin Americans’ Beliefs about Wealth and Poverty. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility (IF: 2.0), 44. doi
Linking Absolute and Relative Mobility: A Tractable Framework, a Decomposition Method, and an Application to Black–White Mobility Differences
Status: Under Review · Media coverage: Tercera Dosis
People Reject Unfairness but Normalize Inequality (with Mario D. Molina)
Status: Under Review · Media coverage: Diario El País
High Migration yet Low Intermarriage: Tracing Demographic Profiles of Latin America’s Cross-Border Unions (with Robles, A., Pesando, L.M., Abufhele, A., Urbina, D.R.)
Status: Working paper
Class-Based Name Giving Patterns in 20th Century Chile (with Mario Molina, Luca Pesando, Roberto Cantillán)
Status: Working paper · Media coverage: Radio Bío Bío
Black–White Differences in Intergenerational Mobility in the U.S.: Evidence from Heterogeneous Sibling Correlations
Status: Working paper
Once in a Blue Moon: Barriers to Intermarriage among Second-Generation Muslims in France (with Lucas Drouhot)
Status: Working paper
Educational Assortative Marriage and Income Inequality among Black and White Families in the U.S., 1976–2017
Status: Working paper
Intersectional Dynamics of Intermarriage and Migration in Latin America (with Luca Pesando, Alejandra Abufhele, Daniela Urbina)
Status: In preparation
The Impact of Air Pollution and Extreme Weather on Educational Achievement by SES in Chilean Schools (with Risto Conte)
Status: In preparation
Intergenerational Mobility and Occupational Plans (with Kim Weeden)
Status: In preparation
2026 Fondecyt Regular — New Approaches to the Study of Social Mobility: Expanding Theory, Data, and Methods
2022–2025 Núcleos de Ciencias Sociales — Millennium Nucleus for Labor Market Mismatch: Causes and Consequences (Principal Investigator)
2022–2025 Fondecyt Iniciación — Inequality of Outcomes and Opportunity and Its Effects on the Legitimacy of Inequality and Social Cohesion (Principal Investigator)
2018 Max Weber Fellowship, European University Institute (EUI)
2010 Beca Chile Doctorado, Fondecyt, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID), Government of Chile
2010 Fulbright Equal Opportunities Scholarship, Fondecyt, ANID, Government of Chile, Fulbright Commission
2025 — “Why Do Some Groups Experience More Mobility than Others?” COES Future of Social Mobility Conference, PUC Chile · “Why Do Some Groups Experience More Mobility than Others?” International Conference LM2C2 · “People Reject Unfairness but Normalize Inequality.” ECSR Annual Conference, University of Cologne · “Class-Based Name Giving Patterns in 20th Century Chile.” Sociological Science Conference, Cornell University
2024 — “People Reject Unfairness but Normalize Inequality.” ISUC Colloquium, PUC Chile · “People Reject Unfairness but Normalize Inequality.” Sixth Annual Conference on Experimental Sociology, Università di Torino · “Class-Based Name Giving Patterns in 20th Century Chile.” Chilean Congress of Sociology, Universidad Alberto Hurtado
2023 — “People Reject Unfairness but Normalize Inequality.” School of Government Colloquium, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez · “Workflow: Best Practices for Efficient and Reproducible Data Work.” Invited Speaker, Centre for Demographic Studies, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona · “Once in a Blue Moon.” Invited Speaker, Social Research and Public Policy Cluster, NYU Abu-Dhabi · “Online Experiments in the Social Sciences.” Keynote Speaker, Summer Institute in Computational Social Science · “Inequality of Opportunity and Outcomes.” Workshop on Experiments on Social Inequality
2022 — “White-Black Differences in Intergenerational Transmission.” Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Atlanta (×2) · “Educational Assortative Mating and Income Inequality among Black and White Families in the US.” PAA Annual Meeting · “Once in a Blue Moon.” PAA Annual Meeting · “Inequality of Opportunity and Outcomes.” Annual Meeting of the International Network of Analytical Sociologists · “Inequality of Opportunity and Outcomes.” Summer Institute of Computational Social Science · “How Adolescent Plans Affect Social Mobility.” ASA Annual Meeting
2021 — “Intergenerational Social Mobility Among the Second Generation in Europe.” CLIC Research Centre · “Colorism Revisited.” Population Association of America Annual Meeting · “Once in a Blue Moon.” ASA Annual Meeting
Undergraduate
Graduate
Other
Completed Master’s Thesis Supervision
Master’s Thesis Committee Participation
Karina Maldonado (2022–2026) · Alonso Gonzalo Quintero Contreras (2024–2025) · Catalina Belén Alarcón Barbe (2023–2025) · Josefina Teresa Manns Soto (2023–2025) · Cristobal Karle (2022–2024) · Constanza Cabrera (2022–2024) · Eleonora Jotz (2021–2023) · Natalia Yañez (2021–2023) · Martín Aranzaes (2020–2023) · Lya Rogers (2019–2023) · Marlene Rivas (2019–2022) · Gregorio Hernandez (2018, 2021) · William Baeza (2018, 2021)
Doctoral Dissertation Direction
2026–Present Associate Editor, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility
Reviewer: American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, International Migration Review, Sociology of Education, Work & Occupations, Sociological Science, Sociological Methods and Research, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Social Science Research, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Acta Sociologica, Population Research and Policy Review, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, European Sociological Review
Evaluator: ANID (National Agency for Research and Development)
Memberships: RC28 · American Sociological Association · Population Association of America
2023–Present Expert, Inclusive Policy Lab, UNESCO
2024–Present Social Programs Evaluation Expert, Budget Office, Government of Chile
Service at UC
Spanish (Native) · English (Fluent) · Italian (Fluent)
Kim Weeden
Jan Rock Zubrow ‘77 Professor, Department of Sociology, Cornell University , USA
+1 (607) 254-4904 · kw74@cornell.edu
Fabrizio Bernardi
Professor of Sociology, SPS Department (Head), European University Institute , Italy
+39 (055) 4685-316/3491 · fabrizio.bernardi@eui.eu