|
on Development |
| By: | Sarah Cattan; Antonio Dalla-Zuanna; Jan Stuhler; Po Yin Wong |
| Abstract: | Standard intergenerational measures have been shown to understate the long-run persistence of socioeconomic advantages in developed countries. We study theoretically and empirically whether this pattern extends to less developed settings, using Indonesia as a case study. Using the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) and Census data, we study multigenerational correlations in education across three generations. Contrary to previous findings, we observe greater multigenerational mobility than parent-child correlations alone would suggest. We develop a theoretical framework to highlight two key factors influencing multigenerational dynamics in developing countries: (1) financial and credit constraints, and (2) cultural norms related to marital sorting. To confirm their relevance, we exploit regional variations in exposure to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and in marital customs. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, multigenerational persistence, education and financial constraints, Indonesia |
| JEL: | D1 I24 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12611 |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier (University of Bordeaux); Lo Bue, Maria (Trieste University); Palmisano, Flaviana (Sapienza University, Rome) |
| Abstract: | We propose a simple and flexible framework to assess relative intergenerational mobility. The approach defines a dynasty as a parent-child pair, measuring achievement by each individual's rank within their own generational outcome distribution, and mobility by the change in this rank across generations. This measure accommodates both continuous outcomes, such as potential earnings, and discrete or ordinal outcomes, such as education levels. It also allows for dominance characterizations (e.g., the relative progress made by women vs. men) consistent with social references over desirable mobility patterns. We apply the framework to Indonesia using long-panel data linking parents observed in 1993 to their children in 2014. Results show that a large share of the population escaped illiteracy - an instance of absolute mobility possibly driven by major education reforms. However, relative educational mobility was regressive, as dynasties from higher socio-economic backgrounds progressed faster. This pattern limited the overall progressivity of relative earnings mobility. Mobility in both education and potential earnings was markedly more favorable to women. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, education, earnings, social welfare, gender |
| JEL: | J6 J62 O12 I2 D6 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18550 |
| By: | Estefan, Alejandro (University of Notre Dame); Gerhard, Roberto (Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social); Kaboski, Joseph (University of Notre Dame, CEPR, NBER); Kondo, Illenin (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis); Qian, Wei (Haverford College) |
| Abstract: | Using Mexican economic census data from 1994 to 2019, we document a rising trend in domestic outsourcing, particularly among large firms, and a negative association between outsourcing and labor compensation, including profit sharing and social security. We leverage higher-frequency data from a manufacturing panel survey, matched employer-employee data, and a ban on domestic outsourcing in 2021 to show that the ban reduced outsourcing, increased labor's share, and reduced markdowns without raising total labor costs or affecting employment, output, or productivity. We propose a theoretical model in which corporate fiscal incentives drive outsourcing and account for the observed empirical patterns. |
| Keywords: | markdowns, monopsony, outsourcing, developing countries |
| JEL: | J38 J42 J81 M55 O15 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18566 |
| By: | Muñoz, Ercio; Saavedra, Melanie; Sansone, Dario |
| Abstract: | This paper studies socioeconomic disparities in Mexico based on sexual orientation and gender identity using data from a nationally representative survey collected between 2021 and 2022 (N44, 189). It finds pronounced levels of self-reported discrimination and rejection among LGBTQ individuals throughout their lives. It also estimates that these groups rates of labor force participation and unemployment diverge from those of their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. Additionally, a heterogeneity analysis provides novel insights into nuanced disparities within LGBTQ groups. |
| Keywords: | LGBTQ+;Labor force participation;Unemployment |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J71 O15 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:14555 |
| By: | Näslund-Hadley, Emma; Hernández Agramonte, Juan Manuel; Santos Morales, Humberto; Galindo Vivanco, Marcelino |
| Abstract: | This article presents an evaluation of Mate Raymi, an educational program designed to strengthen mathematical and ethnomathematical skills among preschool children in Peru. Implemented through audio lessons and complemented with contextualized materials, teacher training, and pedagogical support, the program was evaluated using a randomized controlled trial in 350 rural intercultural bilingual education (IBE) schools. Results show that both versions of the programbilingual and intercultural bilingualhad positive effects on ethnomathematical skills and on students appreciation of Quechua culture, although only the bilingual version significantly improved conventional mathematical skills (0.24 standard deviations). The intercultural bilingual version produced a stronger effect on ethnomathematical skills (0.59 standard deviations), but its emphasis on content linked to the Quechua worldview and the abstraction of certain concepts may have limited its impact on conventional mathematics. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that program effects were stronger among students who spoke only Quechua or were bilingual, suggesting that proficiency in an indigenous language enhances the effectiveness of interventions aimed at developing ethnomathematical skills and cultural appreciation. For teachers, the program improved perceptions of the work environment, increased the use of bilingual and culturally relevant materials, and strengthened knowledge of Quechua culture under the intercultural bilingual version. Overall, findings indicate that Mate Raymi provides a viable alternative to address the challenges of IBE in Latin America by combining a culturally adapted bilingual curriculum with active learning strategies. Accordingly, the program is currently being scaled up in the departments where it was first implemented. The study contributes evidence on the potential of early childhood programs to strengthen both mathematical learning and cultural identity in Indigenous contexts |
| JEL: | C93 I24 I25 J15 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:14562 |
| By: | Adhvaryu, Achyuta; Nyshadham, Anant; Tamayo, Jorge Andrés; Molina, Teresa; Bhalotra, Sonia |
| Abstract: | Using administrative and survey data from a large restaurant chain in Colombia, we documented gender differences in the managerial approaches most strongly associated with performance. Based on these findings, we designed two customized curricula: a relationship-based curriculum highlighting characteristics exemplified by high-performing female managers and a task- and metric-based curriculum emphasizing characteristics exemplified by high-performing male managers. Both curricula also included training on universally effective practices. We then implemented a randomized controlled trial in which stores were assigned to a control group, a relationship curriculum group, or a task and metric curriculum group. Managers assigned to the relationship-focused curriculum demonstrate significantly larger improvements on relationship-related questions than do those assigned to the task-focused curriculum, while the reverse is true for task-related questions. Importantly, these targeted gains do not come at the expense of general learning: managers in both treatment groups also demonstrate improvements in questions covering content common to both curricula. Follow-up data collection will measure treatment effects on store- and worker-level outcomes. |
| JEL: | L20 M50 J24 L66 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:14570 |
| By: | Chomali, Laura; Campaña, Juan Carlos; Molina, José Alberto |
| Abstract: | Gender inequality in unpaid domestic labor persists despite rising female labor market participation across the developing world. Foodwork, understood as cooking, grocery shopping, and dishwashing, links this inequality to household health, with documented connections to dietary quality in a region facing diet-related chronic disease. Telework offers a pathway toward redistribution of these responsibilities. Using time-use data from four Latin American countries and seemingly unrelated regressions, we show that what matters is not whether telework occurs, but who teleworks. Joint telework raises foodwork by up to 250% (Guatemala) and eating time by up to 32% (Chile). Female-exclusive telework produces the sharpest asymmetry: women's foodwork, eating time, and paid hours change by up to 78%, 35%, and 10.3 weekly hours (Chile). Male-exclusive telework yields a smaller reversal: men's foodwork up to 123% (Guatemala), eating time up to 36% (Chile). Policies should prioritize joint and male-inclusive arrangements to generate redistributive effects within couples. |
| Keywords: | Intra-household allocation, Latin America, time use, working from home |
| JEL: | D13 J16 J22 O54 |
| Date: | 2026–04–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:128883 |
| By: | Alex Bryson; Mari Tanaka |
| Abstract: | The effects of trade unions on firm performance are theoretically ambiguous. The sizable empirical literature on their effects is almost exclusively confined to developed countries, particularly those in North America and Europe. We contribute to the literature by estimating union effects on firm performance in about 40, 000 firms in 77 developing countries between 2002 and 2011. In doing so, we exploit standardized firm level data collected by the World Bank. We find positive partial correlations between unionization and firm labor productivity and wages, especially in lower-income countries. These positive effects persist when we instrument for union presence, consistent with recent evidence of union positive effects on productivity and wages in western industrialized countries. |
| Keywords: | trade unions; productivity; wages; developing countries; enterprise data; union formation |
| JEL: | J51 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2569 |
| By: | Jerg Gutmann; Pascal Langer; Matthias Neuenkirch |
| Abstract: | A major concern about the imposition of international sanctions is that they may permanently deteriorate the quality of institutions in target countries, potentially causing an increase in corruption. While case studies suggest that this is frequently the case, systematic evidence is so far missing. We provide the first cross-country statistical analysis of the impact of sanctions on public-sector corruption. Using a panel difference-in-differences model and an event study approach, we analyze sanctions against 125 countries from 1971 to 2019. Our results show that Western (and UN) sanctions cause a significant decline of corruption in democracies, while non-Western sanctions and those targeting autocracies have no systematic impact. Event study estimates time the reductions in corruption at about three to four years into the sanctions episode. They persist throughout the sanctions period, but once sanctions are lifted, corruption levels revert to their pre-treatment baseline, indicating that the corruption-reducing effect is limited to the duration of the sanctions episode. Further analysis reveals that the effect is stronger when sanctions explicitly target democratization or human rights improvements. |
| Keywords: | international sanctions, corruption, governance |
| JEL: | D73 F51 K33 K42 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12620 |
| By: | Caitlin Brown; Denni Tommasi |
| Abstract: | We study quality upgrading in informal street food markets - where food safety is a credence attribute and transactions are frequent, low-value, and weakly regulated - using two linked experiments with consumers and vendors in Kolkata, India. We firstly define and measure upgrading through a context-specific framework based on observable sanitation-related inputs and food-safety practices. Using a discrete choice experiment with consumers, we document a large willingness to pay for visibly cleaner kiosks and more hygienic vendors, highlighting the central role of observable signals. We then conduct a clustered randomized trial with vendors that subsidizes sanitation infrastructure and hygiene supplies, and cross-randomizes on-site training. The intervention increases the use of provided equipment and improves observed hygiene during the subsidy period, but effects fade after support ends and training adds little. Business outcomes improve through higher customer volume yielding increased profits, yet prices do not change. Moreover, untreated vendors near treated peers experience worse outcomes, consistent with demand reallocation and positional returns rather than market expansion. Follow-up surveys and qualitative evidence point to binding constraints from informal price coordination norms and a precarious operating environment, consistent with a moral hazard mechanism in which cleanliness is difficult to verify and not privately profitable to sustain. |
| Keywords: | Quality upgrading; street food; informal markets; food safety; randomized experiment; consumer preferences; hygiene practices; moral hazard; subsidy effectiveness; signaling; developing countries. |
| JEL: | D82 I18 L15 L31 O12 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25163 |
| By: | Rocco Macchiavello; Josepa Miquel-Florensa; Nicolas de Roux; Eric Verhoogen; Mario Bernasconi; Patrick Farrell |
| Abstract: | Do the returns to quality upgrading pass through supply chains to primary producers? We explore this question in the context of Colombia's coffee sector, in which market outcomes depend on interactions between farmers, exporters (which operate mills), and international buyers, and contracts are for the most part not legally enforceable. We formalize the hypothesis that quality upgrading is subject to a key hold-up problem: producing high-quality beans requires long-term investments by farmers, but there is no guarantee that an exporter will pay a quality premium when the beans arrive at its mills. An international buyer with sufficient demand for high-quality coffee can solve this problem by imposing a vertical restraint on the exporter, requiring the exporter to pay a quality premium to farmers. Combining internal records from two exporters, comprehensive administrative data, and the staggered rollout of a buyer-driven quality-upgrading program, we find empirical support for the key theoretical predictions, both the lack of pass-through of quality premia under normal circumstances and the possibility of a buyer-driven solution through a vertical restraint. Calibration of the model suggests that one-third to two-thirds of the (substantial) gains from the program accrue to farmers, with the vertical restraint playing a critical role. The results are consistent with the hypotheses that quality upgrading can provide a path to higher incomes for farmers, but also that it is unlikely to be viable under standard market conditions in the sector. |
| Keywords: | Quality Upgrading, Relational Contracts, Vertical Restraints, Buyer-Driven Voluntary Standards. |
| JEL: | O12 F61 L23 Q12 Q13 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25167 |
| By: | Ellora Derenoncourt; Francois Gerard; Lorenzo Lagos; Claire Montialoux |
| Abstract: | How do minimum wages affect informality? We study the near-doubling of the real minimum wage from 2000 to 2009 in Brazil, where 46% of the workforce is informal. Using labor force surveys covering the informal sector, we show the minimum wage exhibits near full passthrough to informal employees working in formal firms, about half of all informal employees. The formal-to-informal reallocation elasticity with respect to the formal wage is small: -0.28. Our findings illustrate how minimum wages can positively affect living standards for workers thought beyond the reach of labor law, a sizable share of the workforce in developing economies. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wage; informality; labor demand; public policy |
| JEL: | J23 J46 J88 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2598 |
| By: | Horta-Saenz, Daniela (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Tami-Patiño, Anderson (Dept. of Economics, KIMEP University) |
| Abstract: | Do coercive efforts to dismantle illicit economic activity promote development, or can they inadvertently undermine it? We study this question in the context of Colombia’s large-scale aerial eradication of coca crops using glyphosate. We digitize detailed geographic data on sprayed areas and exploit quasi-random variation in exposure to eradication flights to estimate effects on human capital and socioeconomic outcomes. In the short term, aerial eradication increases school dropout, primarily through negative income shocks to affected households. Over time, exposed villages exhibit lower educational attainment, higher child labor, earlier marriage, and poorer living conditions even after spraying ceased. |
| Keywords: | Drug Control Policies; Human Capital; Rural Development |
| JEL: | I25 K42 O15 |
| Date: | 2026–04–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2026_005 |