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on Development |
| By: | Brunori, Paolo; Ferreira, Francisco H. G.; Neidhöfer, Guido |
| Abstract: | How strong is the transmission of socio-economic status across generations in Latin America? To answer this question, we first review the empirical literature on intergenerational mobility and inequality of opportunity for the region, summarizing results for both income and educational outcomes. We find that, whereas the income mobility literature is hampered by a paucity of representative datasets containing linked information on parents and children, the inequality of opportunity approach – which relies on other inherited and pre-determined circumstance variables – has suffered from arbitrariness in model selection. Two new data-driven approaches – one aligned with the ex-ante and the other with the ex-post conception of inequality of opportunity – are introduced to address this shortcoming. They yield a set of new inequality of opportunity estimates for 27 surveys covering 9 Latin American countries over various years between 2000 and 2015. In most cases, more than half of the current generation’s inequality is inherited from the past – with a range between 44 and 63%. We argue that on balance, given the parsimony of the population partitions, these are still likely to be underestimates. |
| Keywords: | inequality of opportunity; intergenerational mobility; Latin America |
| JEL: | D31 I39 J62 O15 |
| Date: | 2025–03–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:124533 |
| By: | Guido Neidhofer (ZEW Mannheim); Luis Laguinge (CEDLAS); Leonardo Gasparini (CEDLAS) |
| Abstract: | Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) have become a key antipoverty policy in Latin America inthe last 25 years. The ultimate goal of this kind of programs is to break the intergenerationaltransmission of poverty through the promotion of human capital accumulation of children invulnerable households. In this paper, we explore this issue by estimating the long-run effectsof the largest CCT in Latin America: the Brazilian Bolsa Familia. Through a combinationof the two-stage-two-sample method and a difference-in-differences approach, we find evidenceconsistent with a positive long-run impact of Bolsa Familia among former beneficiaries. Inparticular, we find a significant positive effect on education and labor income, and a negativeeffect on the likelihood of being a current beneficiary of this social transfer. |
| Keywords: | Conditional cash transfers, long term effects, human capital formation, Bolsa Familia, Brazil, Latin America. |
| JEL: | D04 I38 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2025-684 |
| By: | Reichert, Arndt; Simon, Anne; Sowa, Alina; Strupat, Christoph |
| Abstract: | In this study, we investigate the role of matrilineal kinship norms for gender gaps in labor market outcomes. We analyze the implementation of a reform that significantly altered the customary inheritance system by restricting practices within matrilineal ethnic groups, while those of non-matrilineal groups remained unchanged. As a result, men in matrilineal groups are now more likely to inherit from their fathers rather than their maternal uncles, fundamentally reshaping traditional kinship norms. Using cross-sectional survey data over multiple years in a difference-indifferences framework, we find that restricting these norms substantially increases the gender gap in adult labor hours and child labor. These effects are concentrated in land-owning households, with particularly strong impacts on agricultural labor. In contrast, although the reform leads to significantly reduced transfers to women—indicating weakened ties to their extended families—we find no evidence of tighter household budget constraints or declines in female bargaining power. This suggests that the observed labor effects are not driven by reduced support from the matrikin. Instead, the findings point to a mechanism in which improved prospects for male land inheritance increase men's incentives to engage in agricultural work by raising the returns to their labor. |
| Keywords: | Gender Norms, Labor Supply, Child Labor, Inheritance |
| JEL: | J16 J21 J22 D13 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-738 |
| By: | Nguyen-Phung, Hang Thu; Le, Hai |
| Abstract: | This study examines the effects of urbanization on household health expenditure. Using a unique bi-annually household-level dataset from 2012 - 2018 from Vietnam, we obtain key findings as follows. First, urbanization significantly reduces Vietnamese households' inpatient and outpatient health expenses. Second, the self-treatment expenses of households increase as the process of urbanization advances. Our results survive several robustness checks. Furthermore, we propose different ways to explain these results, including health insurance expenses and household income. |
| Keywords: | urbanization, health expenditure, health insurance, instrumental variable, ICT, VHLSS |
| JEL: | D10 I10 I15 I31 O10 O18 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agi:wpaper:02000073 |
| By: | Alvaredo, Facundo; Bourguignon, François; Ferreira, Francisco H. G.; Lustig, Nora |
| Abstract: | Drawing on a comprehensive compilation of quantile shares and inequality measures for 34 countries, including over 5600 estimated Gini coefficients, we review the measurement of income inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last seven decades. We find that there is quite a bit of uncertainty regarding inequality levels for the same country/year combinations. Differences in inequality levels estimated from household surveys alone are present, but they derive from differences in the construction of the welfare indicator, the unit of analysis or the treatment of the data. With harmonized household surveys, the discrepancies are quite small. The range, however, expands significantly when—to correct for undercoverage and underreporting, especially at the top of the distribution—inequality estimates come from some combination of surveys and administrative tax data. The range increases even further when survey-based income aggregates are scaled to achieve consistency not only with tax registries but with national accounts. Since no single method to correct for underreporting at the top is fully convincing at present, we are left with (often wide) ranges, or bands, of inequality as our best summaries of inequality levels. Reassuringly, however, the dynamic patterns are generally robust across the bands. Although the evidence roughly until the 1970s is too fragmentary and difficult to compare, clearer patterns emerge for the last 50 years. The main feature is a broad inverted U curve, with inequality rising in most countries prior to and often during the 1990s, and falling during the early 21st century, at least until around 2015, when trends appear to diverge across countries. This pattern is broadly robust but features considerable variation in timing and magnitude depending on the country. |
| Keywords: | income inequality; measurement; Latin America and the Carribean |
| JEL: | D31 D63 O54 |
| Date: | 2025–03–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:124532 |
| By: | Costa, Francisco J M (FGV EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance); Lima, Francisco Luis; Nunes, Letícia |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the rapid adoption of mechanical harvesting in São Paulo’s sugarcane industry between 2000 and 2010, following a law banning pre-harvest burning. Using land slope as an instrument for mechanization, we find that mechanization triggered structural transformation --- reducing agricultural and increasing manufacturing employment. However, labor reallocation occurred only in agriculture-related industries, not broadly across sectors. A one-standard-deviation increase in mechanization raised employment in linked manufacturing by 3.5 percentage points, primarily among unskilled workers. This shift generated substantial local economic gains: household incomes rose 19 percent, and poverty fell 14 percent. These findings challenge the view of structural transformation as a shift from agriculture to diverse industries. Instead, technological gains in farming strengthen sectoral linkages, deepening the agro-industrial economy rather than diversifying it. Our results also highlight how environmental regulation can shape industrialization by driving sectoral labor reallocation. |
| Date: | 2025–04–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:upxkb_v1 |
| By: | Pinilla Alarcón, Diana (Universidad de los Andes) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of narrow changes in temperature exposure during pregnancy on maternal morbidity in Colombia. Using administrative individual-level health service records and high-resolution daily weather data at the municipality level, I find that the rate of healthcare utilization during pregnancy and delivery increases monotonically with temperature. Services like hospitalizations increase by 1.69% with each additional day above 29◦C compared to the reference bin of [21, 23)◦C. In contrast, services requiring less time under direct observation or that are primarily outpatient (i.e., emergency room visits, consultations, and medical procedures) increase by 1%. In a two-month exposure window, each additional day in the highest temperature bin is associated with nearly a 2% increase in hospitalizations, which is double the impact observed for other health services. Women from low socioeconomic conditions and living in rural areas seem to be more affected by temperature shocks, especially in high-level morbidity outcomes, like hospitalizations. |
| Keywords: | temperature; climate change; maternal health; pregnancy |
| JEL: | I10 I12 I18 Q50 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025–05–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:021370 |
| By: | Sreelakshmi Papineni; Paula Lorena Gonzalez Martinez; Markus Goldstein; Jed Friedman |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the direct and spillover effects of cash transfers paid in a rural and low-income setting. In the short run, an unconditional cash transfer program for ultra-poor households in Northern Nigeria led to a 12 percentage point increase in micro-enterprise formation for program recipients. Moreover, benefits continued to increase in magnitude after program cessation and also extended to nearby non-beneficiary households when compared to counterparts in other villages where no cash transfers were paid. One year after program cessation, beneficiary women increased their enterprise ownership rate by 20 percentage points, while the rate for non-beneficiary women increased by 13 percentage points. Both groups of households enjoyed higher consumption and food security, and shifted away from husband-centered toward joint intrahousehold decision-making. One mechanism for this growth spillover is a boost to aggregate demand for local goods, in part identified by the positive link between the (randomly determined) neighborhood density of cash transfer households and enterprise creation. The increase in local female entrepreneurial activity translates to a partial income multiplier of at least 0.32. Women face restrictive social norms around work in this context and the slack productive resource brought into activity by the cash transfer is female labor, specifically female-led entrepreneurship near the home. |
| Date: | 2025–05–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11112 |
| By: | Fernanda Marquez-Padilla; Susan W. Parker; Tom S. Vogl |
| Abstract: | Mexico’s pioneering conditional cash transfer program Progresa, later renamed Prospera, operated over two decades in a shifting policy landscape. We exploit the program's sudden and unexpected rollback to estimate whether, two decades after rollout studies documented its initial impacts on schooling and labor, the program still raised enrollment and reduced work in youth. Comparing areas with high and low program penetration before and after rollback, we find that rollback immediately reduced school enrollment, especially in boys of high school age. Effects on enrollment were larger at rollback than they were at rollout, albeit shifted from middle school ages to high school ages. Rising work mirrored falling enrollment in boys of high school age. Our results suggest the program had successfully adapted to the rise of high school, but Mexico's poor were unable to protect their children from its unexpected demise. |
| JEL: | I25 J22 O15 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33527 |
| By: | Akuffo Amankwah; Hibret Belete Maemir; Pauline Castaing; Amparo Palacios-Lopez; Attah-Ankomah, Richmond; Diego Zardetto; David C. Francis |
| Abstract: | This paper compares two widely used methods for surveying informal enterprises: household surveys, which collect data on enterprises through household interviews, and area-based enterprise surveys, which directly target businesses in specific geographic areas. By implementing both survey approaches simultaneously in two urban centers in Ghana, this study examines key differences and similarities in the characteristics of informal enterprises across these cities. The analysis reveals substantial variation in estimates of the number of informal enterprises between the two methods, with the household survey approach reporting a significantly higher count. The paper explores potential reasons for these differences, focusing on design and implementation factors. The findings also suggest that both survey methods yield consistent statistics for characterizing informal businesses and identifying factors that drive their performance. Characteristics such as bank account ownership, sector of operation (retail), phone usage, and operating in a fixed premise outside the household are associated with higher productivity across both surveys. |
| Date: | 2025–05–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11119 |
| By: | Oliveira, Savio Luan da Costa (Doutorando em Economia pela UFPB. Instituto Mauro Borges – IMB); Souza, Wallace Patrick Santos de Farias (Professor do PPGE e do Departamento de Economia da UFPB); Araújo, Jevuks Matheus de (Professor do PPGE e do Departamento de Economia da UFPB) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we investigate whether dynastic mayors are more or less likely to engage in corruption when compared to non-dynastic mayors. Using data from random government audits conducted in the Brazilian municipalities, we use RDD on close elections to compare municipalities that barely had a dynastic candidate elected as mayor to those that did not. The identification of relatives in politics is based on the matching of their last names. We find that dynastic mayors are more likely to engage in practices of over-invoicing compared to non-dynastic mayors. |
| Keywords: | Political dynasties; Corruption; Regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | C10 D73 |
| Date: | 2025–05–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nereus:2025_004 |
| By: | Finnegan, Amy |
| Abstract: | Unmet need for family planning puts women at risk for unintended pregnancies; however, unmet need is made up of both women who have never used a method of family planning and those who have used a modern method but subsequently discontinued. Understanding patterns of discontinuation can inform policies and practices to reduce unmet need for family planning and therefore promote gender equity and maternal and infant health. In this paper, we explore seasonal contraceptive patterns in Kenya, Uganda, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Nepal using the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) contraceptive calendar from the most recent survey in each country prior to Covid-19. Specifically, we investigate contraceptive discontinuation associated with major holidays – times when women may travel or health facilities may close. Even after accounting for recall bias, major holidays appear to drive contraceptive discontinuation in a subset of countries and could serve as a powerful point for intervention. |
| Date: | 2025–05–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:xhpyb_v1 |
| By: | Jon Denton-Schneider; Eduardo Montero |
| Abstract: | In Latin America—the world's most unequal region—non-white rural populations disproportionately suffer from Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease (NTD) that causes weeks of acute symptoms and can lead to chronic heart problems decades later. We demonstrate that Brazil's post-1983 campaign to eliminate the transmission of this disease significantly reduced (racial) income inequality, the intergenerational transmission of low human capital, and burdens on the world's largest government-run health care system. Exploiting the pre-treatment presence of Chagas disease's main vector, we find that controlling this NTD increased municipalities' GDP per capita by 11.1% and reduced their Gini coefficients by 1.1% in the long run. Furthermore, averting childhood exposure to Chagas disease increased the share of non-white adults with above-median incomes by 1.4 percentage points (p.p., or 2.8%) and their children's literacy rates by 0.4 p.p. (0.5%). Coinciding with the expected reduction in chronic heart problems, we also find that public spending on circulatory disease hospital care declined by 16%, contributing to a 24% internal rate of return and an infinite marginal value of public funds. These results suggest that NTD control can improve the economic and fiscal health of developing countries while mitigating (racial) disparities and intergenerational cycles of poverty. |
| JEL: | D31 H51 I14 I15 J15 J62 O15 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33518 |
| By: | Violeta Cvetkoska (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Faculty of Economics – Skopje); Filip Peovski (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Faculty of Economics – Skopje); Damjan Stojkovski (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Faculty of Economics – Skopje); Mihael Joshua Vlaisavljevikj (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Faculty of Economics – Skopje); Jasna Joanidis (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Faculty of Economics – Skopje); Anastasija Kopcharevska (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Institute of Economics – Skopje); Nemanja Marikj (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Faculty of Economics – Skopje) |
| Abstract: | Investigating the impact of socioeconomic factors on infant mortality rates (IMRs) is of key importance to sustainable economic development. The lack of global studies is notable, with previous publications exploring these relationships only in specific regions or countries. Utilizing data from the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), we fit a multiple linear regression model to examine the impact of individual variables such as the number of doctors per 1000 people, female literacy rate over 15 years, corruption index, and health expenditure per capita. Our findings reveal significant relationships between the natural logarithm of IMR and the natural logarithm of health expenditure per capita, as well as the number of doctors, suggesting that higher levels of health care expenditure and greater availability of medical workers significantly influence the level of infant mortality rates globally. This research deepens the understanding of the multifaceted determinants of IMR and highlights the importance of targeted interventions to improve health care. Consequently, policymakers and stakeholders can develop more effective strategies to promote long-term sustainable economic development and improve infant health outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Regression, Infant mortality, Socioeconomic factors, Health care system, Sustainable development, Health expenditure |
| JEL: | I15 C20 |
| Date: | 2024–12–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoh:conpro:2024:i:5:p:229-243 |
| By: | Fidel Bennett (Ministry of Labor, Chile); Dante Contreras (University of Chile); Matias Morales (Tulane University); Felipe Subiabre (Stanford University School of Medicine) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact on academic achievement of attendance of a private voucher school (PVS), a type of privately managed but publicly funded institution in Chile. We leverage the centralized school choice system (CSCS), which randomizes assignment of seats to both traditional public schools (TPSs) and PVSs when they are oversubscribed and there are ties among applicants. Consecutive iterations of the algorithm allow us to recover the probability of a PVS assignment; conditional on this probability, receipt of a PVS seat offer is as good as random. We find no performance differences four years after assignment between TPS and PVS 4th graders. We do find positive effects of PVS attendance for students who, at the end of 8th grade, must switch schools due to grade configuration and reapply through the CSCS to enter 9th grade in a new school. We observe the outcomes of these students in 10th and 12th grades; those in PVSs perform better by between 0.06 and 0.17\sigma than their TPS peers. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that these results are driven by the fact that students who fail to gain access to a PVS opt for the fully private sector, thus inducing negative selection in the comparison group of students in TPS. |
| Keywords: | private schools, centralized school choice system, vouchers system |
| JEL: | I22 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:2504 |