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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2010‒03‒28
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Mark R. Rosenzweig (Economic Growth Center, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | I illustrate the variety of approaches to development issues microeconomists employ, focusing on studies that illuminate and quantify the major mechanisms posited by growth theorists who highlight the role of education in fostering growth. I begin with a basic issue: what are the returns to schooling? I discuss microeconomic studies that estimate schooling returns using alternative approaches to estimating wage equations, which require assumptions that are unlikely to be met in low-income countries, looking at inferences based on how education interacts with policy and technological changes in the labor and marriage markets. I then review research addressing whether schooling facilitates learning, or merely imparts knowledge, and whether there is social learning that gives rise to educational externalities. I next examine studies quantifying the responsiveness of educational investments to changes in schooling returns and assess whether and where there exist important barriers to such investments when returns justify their increase. |
| Keywords: | schooling, development, growth |
| JEL: | O11 O15 O33 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egc:wpaper:985&r=lam |
| By: | Mattia Makovec; Alejandra Mizala; Andrés Barrera |
| Abstract: | We study parental choice focusing on the transition between primary and secondary school, taking advantage of the fact that most Chilean students have to switch school at the end of the 8th grade, the last year of primary school. Using a recursive probit model we estimate jointly the probability of attending private voucher versus public school, taking explicitly into account the endogeneity of the school choice at primary level. We find that parents caring more about school academic performance are more likely to have their children enrolled in public schools at the secondary school level, while parents taking into account peers’ socioeconomic background and school values are more likely to select voucher schools. We also show that while private voucher schools “cream skim” the best students from the socioeconomic standpoint, this does not necessarily hold for high ability students. JEL classification: I2. Key words: parental choice, primary-secondary school transition, cream skimming, Chile. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edj:ceauch:269&r=lam |
| By: | Alejandra Mizala; Pilar Romaguera; Sebastian Gallegos |
| Abstract: | Using matching methods, we estimate the public-private wage gap in seven Latin American countries—Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Uruguay—for the years 1999 and 2007. These methods do not require any estimation of earnings equations and hence no validity-out-of-the-support assumptions; furthermore, this approach allows us to estimate not only the average wage gap but also its distribution. Our main findings indicate that the average public sector worker earns more than his/her private counterpart. This differential has increased over the 1999-2007 period. Our results also show that there are important differences along the wage distribution. In particular, we find that the public sector wage premium declines as it moves up the conditional wage distribution, becoming a public sector wage penalty for the higher percentiles. Over the 1999-2007 period, the public-private wage gap changes from positive to negative at higher percentiles of the distribution, but still the most qualified public sector workers do face a wage penalty. Therefore, the profitability of public sector employment seems to be at its greatest at the lower end of the wage distribution. JEL Classification: J31, D31. Key words: Public-private Wage Gap, Matching, Public Sector, Latin America. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edj:ceauch:268&r=lam |
| By: | Claudio A. Agostini (ILADES-Universidad Alberto Hurtado.); Mariel C. Siravegna (Programa de Postgrado ILADES-Universidad Alberto Hurtado – Universidad Santo Tomas.) |
| Abstract: | La Reforma al Mercado de Capitales de 2001 en Chile (MK I), estableció la exención del impuesto a la renta para las ganancias de capital provenientes de la enajenación de acciones con presencia bursátil mayor al 25%. Los objetivos de la reforma eran aumentar la participación, la profundidad y la liquidez en el mercado local de acciones. Sin embargo, no es evidente cuál es el efecto que tiene una rebaja tributaria en el precio de las acciones ya que hay dos efectos que actúan en sentido contrario. Por un lado, hay un efecto de capitalización que lleva a un aumento en los precios. Por otro lado, hay un efecto lock-in que lleva a una reducción en los precios. Determinar cuál efecto domina es, por lo tanto, una pregunta que debe responderse empíricamente. Este trabajo contribuye a responder esa pregunta, determinando empíricamente los efectos que tuvo la exención tributaria introducida en 2001 en el precio de las acciones en Chile. Utilizando un estimador de diferencias en diferencias, los resultados muestran un impacto anticipado promedio de alrededor de -14% en el precio de las acciones que se cotizan en la Bolsa de Santiago frente a la futura exención tributaria. La elasticidad del precio respecto a la tasa de impuesto, entre 0.006 y 0.01, es mucho menor a la estimada en la literatura económica para otros países a partir de reformas similares, donde la elasticidad fluctúa entre 0.20 y 0.27. Sin embargo, es de magnitud similar a la elasticidad estimada para períodos de tiempo donde el efecto lock-in domina. |
| Keywords: | Ganancias de Capital, Incidencia Tributaria, Mercado de Capitales, Precio de Acciones. |
| JEL: | C23 H24 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:svs:svssdt:2010-7&r=lam |