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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2006‒04‒29
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Ana Carolina Ortega Masagué |
| Abstract: | En los años noventa el diferencial entre las tasas de desempleo femenina y masculina en Argentina aumentó de forma notable. El objetivo de este artículo es estudiar las causas por las que las mujeres, una vez que deciden participar en el mercado de trabajo, tienen menor probabilidad de estar empleadas que los hombres. Al descomponer el diferencial entre las probabilidades medias de estar desempleado se obtiene que mientras las mujeres poseen mejores características productivas, los hombres obtienen mayores rendimientos de ellas. Los resultados indican también que la mayor tasa de desempleo de las mujeres responde a su mayor probabilidad de dejar el empleo para transitar hacia la inactividad y a su menor probabilidad de encontrar empleo si están desocupadas. Sin embargo, los flujos relacionados con la inactividad son similares a los flujos directos entre el empleo y el desempleo. Como consecuencia, se estiman las tasas de salida del empleo y del desempleo, ignorando los flujos relacionados con la inactividad. Por un lado, se encuentra que la probabilidad de transitar del empleo al desempleo es inferior para las mujeres que para los hombres, lo que se explica por diferencias en las características de ambos grupos. Por otro lado, se encuentra que la probabilidad de transitar del desempleo al empleo es mayor entre los hombres, lo que se debe casi exclusivamente a que los efectos que se derivan para hombres y mujeres de unas mismas características son distintos. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2006-08&r=lam |
| By: | Eduardo A. Lora (Research Department, Inter-American Development Bank); Mauricio Cardenas (Fedesarrollo) |
| Abstract: | Fiscal deficits on average only 1.4% of GDP; debt coefficients on the decline; early debt repayments to the International Monetary Fund and massive repurchases of Brady bonds that 15 years ago were the last salvation for overly endebted governments. This doesn't look like Latin America, the region with the strongest tradition of macroeconomic instability in the world and the longest history of noncompliance with its public debt commitments. However, these are some of the fiscal events that have been occurring since the beginning of 2006, a particularly favorable time for the region (Available only in Spanish). |
| Keywords: | Fiscal institutions; budget institutions; decentralization; tax policy; Latin America. |
| Date: | 2006–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:2003&r=lam |
| By: | Gandelman, Nestor; Casacuberta, Carlos |
| Abstract: | The authors use a panel of manufacturing firms to analyze the adjustment process in capital blue collar and white collar employment in Uruguay during a period of trade liberalization when average tariff protection fell from 43 to 14 percent. They calculate the desired factor levels arising from a counterfactual profit maximization in the absence of adjustment costs, generating a measure of factor shortages or surpluses. The average estimated output gap for 1982-95 is 2 percent. The authors ' policy analysis shows that trade openness affected the adjustment functions of all three factors of production. Highly protected sectors adjust less when creating jobs (reducing labor shortages) than sectors with low protection. This may be due to fears of policy reversal in highly protected sectors. Also, highly protected sectors adjust more easily (than low protection sectors) when destroying jobs (reducing labor surpluses), especially in the case of blue collar labor. This suggests that trade protection may in fact destroy rather than create jobs within industries, as firms in highly protected sectors are more reluctant to hire and more ready to fire than firms in sectors with low protection. The results for capital are qualitatively similar but quantitatively smaller, suggesting that trade protection plays less of a role in explaining adjustment costs for capital. Interestingly, export-oriented sectors have lower adjustment costs for blue collar labor but not for white collar employment or capital, suggesting that export-led growth may be particularly successful in reducing blue collar unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory & Research,Labor Markets,Free Trade,Economic Growth,Educational Sciences |
| Date: | 2006–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3891&r=lam |