This dissertation presents a collection of three essays on the economics of higher education. Although these essays were conceived as independent research projects, they all concern higher education in Chile. For that reason, I begin in chapter 1 with a general overview of Chile's higher education system. I briefly describe the institutional setting and present some recent trends and international comparisons. I conclude chapter 1 by describing Chile's college admission system, which is the basis for the empirical strategies followed in the essays. Chapter 2 presents the first essay, coauthored with Josefa Aguirre and Ana Maria Montoya. The essay addresses the issue of the low participation of women in the fields of technology and engineering (TE.) One of the main reasons why scholars and policymakers worry about this issue is the belief that a higher participation of women in TE would help reducing the gender wage gap. We investigate this issue by studying the labor market returns to pursuing majors in TE for men and women using data from Chile. We link administrative records on postsecondary application and enrollment to labor earnings and fertility data, and exploit discontinuities in admission generated by Chile's centralized system of admission to higher education. We find that enrollment in TE as opposed to humanities, arts or social science (HASS) increases men's earnings and employment by 74% and 29%, but does not increase earnings or employment for women. The absence of returns for women appears to be the consequence of them failing to fully integrate into the men's club: enrollment in TE increases the probability of employment at high-paying and male-dominated industries for men, but not for women. Finally, we show that enrollment into TE does not affect women's fertility or their partners' test scores and earnings. The second essay, coauthored with Josefa Aguirre is presented in chapter 3. The essay investigates spillovers from older to younger siblings in higher education choices. We link siblings' information using 13 years of administrative records on college application in Chile and exploit discontinuous admission rules generated by the country's centralized admission system to higher education. Our findings reveal strong sibling spillovers in the choice of college but not in the choice of major. Having an older sibling enroll in a given college, induced by a marginal admission offer, increases by 42% the probability of enrolling in that institution. In contrast, an older sibling's enrollment into a given major does not affect the younger sibling's probability of choosing the same major. We show evidence indicating that sibling spillovers in college choice are unlikely to be driven by information sharing or by cost reductions. Instead, spillovers appear to be the consequence of younger siblings deriving direct benefits from attending college together with their older siblings. Despite this, we do not find evidence that attending the same college as an older sibling leads to better graduation outcomes for the younger sibling. In the third essay, presented in chapter 4, I study peer effects in higher education, and their interaction with gender. Specifically, I investigate the effects of quasi-random variation in the average ability of male and female college peers on college graduation of men and women. I find that women's graduation rates are positively affected by the average ability of their female peers. A 10% increase in female peers' math test scores increases the probability of graduating within 10 years of enrollment by 4.1 p.p. (5.9% relative to the mean.) This effect is stronger among women with low math ability, and appears to be present across areas of study. I do not find effects of male peers' ability on women's graduation rates, and male graduation rates appear to be unaffected by the ability of their peers, regardless of their gender. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]