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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2009‒04‒13
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Lehrer, Evelyn L. (University of Illinois at Chicago); Lehrer, Vivian L. (Urban Justice Center); Krauss, Ramona (University of Illinois at Chicago) |
| Abstract: | The Catholic Church has had a strong influence on the Chilean legal and social landscape in ways that have adversely affected victims of intimate partner violence; e.g., it succeeded until just five years ago in blocking efforts to legalize divorce. At the same time, quantitative studies based on survey data from the United States and other countries show a generally favorable influence of religion on health and many other domains of life, including intimate partner violence. The present study explores the puzzle posed by these seemingly opposing macro- and micro- level forces. Results based on data from the 2005 Survey of Student Well-Being, a questionnaire on gender based violence administered to students at a large public university in Chile, show that moderate or low levels of religiosity are associated with reduced vulnerability to violence, but high levels are not. This non-linearity sheds light on the puzzle, because at the macro level the religious views shaping Chile's legal and social environment have been extreme. |
| Keywords: | intimate partner violence, religion |
| JEL: | Z12 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4067&r=lam |
| By: | László Á. Kóczy (Budapest Tech); Alexandru Nichifor (Department of Economics, Maastricht University); Martin Strobel (Department of Economics, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | The quality of publications, approximated by the containing journal's quality indicator, is often the basis for hire and promotion in academic and research positions. Over the years a handful of ranking methods have been proposed. Discussing the most prominent methods we show that they are inherently biased against journals publishing short papers.gáljuk. |
| Keywords: | quality ranking, paper length, impact factor, invariant method, LP method |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pkk:wpaper:0902&r=lam |
| By: | Joana Costa (International Poverty Centre); Elydia Silva (International Poverty Centre); Fábio Vaz (Institute for Applied Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This Working Paper investigates the possible link between gender inequalities in the labour market and significant economic outcomes such as income growth, poverty and inequality indicators. Our analysis is based on microsimulations for eight Latin American countries. We consider four aspects of gender inequalities: differences in labour market participation, differences in occupational status, wage discrimination and differences in characteristics. Our findings highlight the relevance of gender equality, especially an increase in women?s access to the labour market, in bringing about a reduction in poverty and inequality. |
| Keywords: | The Role of Gender Inequalities in Explaining Income Growth, Poverty and Inequality: Evidence from Latin American Countries |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:52&r=lam |
| By: | Sandra García; Jennifer Hill |
| Abstract: | During the last decade, conditional cash transfer programs have expanded in developing countries as a way to increase school enrollment and deter youth from dropping out of school. However, despite evidence of these programs’ positive impact on school enrollment and attendance, little is known about their impact on school achievement. Thus, using data from the Colombian conditional cash transfer program Familias en Acción, this study estimated the effect of the conditional subsidy on school achievement. It found that the program does have a positive effect on school achievement for children aged 7 to 12 living in rural areas but practically no effect for the same population living in urban areas. Moreover, the program may actually have a negative effect on the school achievement of adolescents, particularly those living in rural areas. Possible mechanisms of these effects are explored and discussed. |
| Date: | 2009–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:005403&r=lam |
| By: | Catherine Rodríguez; Fabio Sánchez T. |
| Abstract: | Using a unique combination of household and violence data sets and a duration analysis methodology, this paper estimates the effect that exposure to armed conflict has on school drop-out decisions of Colombian children between the ages of six and seventeen. After taking into account the possible endogeneity of municipal conflict related events through the use of instrumental variables, we find that armed conflict reduces the average years of schooling in 8.78% for all Colombian children. This estimate increases to 17.03% for children between sixteen and seventeen years old. We provide evidence that such effect may be induced mainly through higher mortality risks, and to lesser extent due to negative economic shocks and lower school quality; all of which induce a trade-off between schooling and child labor. |
| Date: | 2009–02–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:005400&r=lam |
| By: | Philippe Aghion; Mathias Dewatripont; Caroline M. Hoxby; Andreu Mas-Colell; André Sapir |
| Abstract: | We investigate how university governance affects research output, measured by patenting and international university research rankings. For both European and U.S. universities, we generate several measures of autonomy, governance, and competition for research funding. We show that university autonomy and competition are positively correlated with university output, both among European countries and among U.S. public universities. We then identity a (political) source of exogenous shocks to funding of U.S. universities. We demonstrate that, when a state's universities receive a positive funding shock, they produce more patents if they are more autonomous and face more competition from private research universities. Finally, we show that during periods when merit-based competitions for federal research funding have been most prominent, universities produce more patents when they receive an exogenous funding shock, suggesting that routine participation in such competitions hones research skill. |
| JEL: | H0 H52 I2 I23 I28 O3 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14851&r=lam |