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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2012‒04‒03
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Gustavo Canavire-Bacarreza (International Center for Public Policy. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University); Merlin M. Hanauer (Department of Economics, Sonoma State University) |
| Abstract: | Protected areas represent a powerful policy tool for the preservation of ecosystems and their services. The rapid proliferation of protected areas in Bolivia over the past several decades has prompted interest in understanding their impacts on surrounding populations. Recent studies from other developing countries show that protected areas have had positive impacts on poverty. Using rich biophysical and socioeconomic data from Bolivia we nd that municipalities with at least 10% of their area occupied by a protected area established between 1992 and 2000 exhibited dierentially greater levels of poverty reduction between 1992 and 2001 compared to similar municipalities unaected by protected areas. We nd that our results are robust to a number of econometric specications, spillover analyses and a placebo study. Although our overarching results that Bolivia's protected areas were associated with poverty reduction are similar to previous studies, our underlying results dier subtly, but signicantly. Previous studies found that controlling for key observable covariates led to fundamentally antithetical results compared to nave (uncontrolled) estimates. Conversely, our results indicate that nave estimates lead to an over estimation of the poverty reducing impacts of protected areas. Our results expose the heterogeneity of protected area impacts across countries and, therefore, underscore the importance of country-level impact evaluations in order to build the global knowledge base regarding the socioeconomic impacts of protected areas. |
| Date: | 2012–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1208&r=lam |
| By: | Loayza, Norman (World Bank); Rigolini, Jamele (World Bank); Llorente, Gonzalo (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | We revisit the link between poverty, the middle class and institutional outcomes using a newly developed cross-country panel dataset containing detailed information on the distribution of income and expenditures. When the size of the middle class increases (measured as the proportion of people with income above 10 US Dollars a day in PPP terms), social policy on health and education becomes more active and the quality of governance regarding democratic participation and official corruption improves. This does not occur at the expense of economic freedom, as an expansion of the middle class also implies more market-oriented economic policy on trade and finance. The impact of a larger middle class appears to be more robust than those of lower poverty, lower inequality, or higher GDP per capita. |
| Keywords: | poverty, middle class, income, institutions, development |
| JEL: | D3 H5 O1 O4 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6430&r=lam |
| By: | João Barata Ribeiro Blanco Barroso |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates optimal capital flow taxes for Latin American economies based on early warning models for sudden stops. The paper adopts the externality view advanced by Korinek (2010), according to which domestic agents do not internalize the costs of high debt in bad states of nature. Capital flow taxes realign private and social incentives, therefore avoiding credit constraints problems in the future. The early warning estimates of crisis likelihood, severity and amplification dynamics provide new stylized evidence on the externality view. The most relevant and statistically significant conditioning states were found to be international risk aversion, net foreign asset position, international reserves and overvaluation indicators. An interesting rule of thumb that emerged from the empirical estimates is that capital flow taxes should be proportional to the square of the likelihood of an external crisis. |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcb:wpaper:268&r=lam |
| By: | Francisco Javier Correa Restrepo; Juan David Osorio Múnera; Bernardo Andrés Patiño Valencia |
| Abstract: | Este artículo tiene como objetivo realizar una aproximación a la valoración económica de los beneficios de la reducción del ruido generado por infraestructuras de telecomunicaciones en cuatro zonas urbanas del área metropolitana de la ciudad de Medellín (Colombia). Así, mediante el método de transferencia de beneficios, en un horizonte a perpetuidad, se obtuvo un valor económico de $79,40 millones para los beneficios generados por la reducción de los niveles de ruido en hogares de cuatro zonas urbanas de la ciudad de Medellín, Colombia. La conclusión central de este trabajo es que estos valores económicos del impacto del ruido sobre el bienestar social son más confiables cuando se obtienen a partir de la percepción directa que tienen los hogares de las molestias generadas por el ruido, la cual se establece por medio de la disposición a pagar por la reducción de niveles específicos de ruido. |
| Date: | 2011–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:009397&r=lam |
| By: | Ana Corbacho; Rene Osorio Rivas |
| Abstract: | Birth registration is essential to guarantee a child's right to an identity. Without proper documentation of their identity, children have limited access to health, education and social assistance, laying the foundation for lifelong exclusion. Geographic distance to registration facilities is often cited as a significant barrier in qualitative surveys. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) data, this paper quantifies the impact of distance on birth registration in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Peru. The results suggest that increasing the distance to the nearest registry office by 25 kilometers is associated with a 4 percentage point increase in the probability of not registering a child's birth in Bolivia, and 12 percentage points in the Dominican Republic. These effects are as or more important than other socioeconomic characteristics that also affect birth registration, such as maternal education levels and the ability to deliver in a health center. In Peru, distance did not appear to be statistically significant, in line with both the lowest percentage of unregistered births and more even geographic distribution of access to civil registries than Bolivia and the Dominican Republic. |
| Keywords: | Public Sector :: Civil Registration, Economics :: Economic Development & Growth, Rural & Urban Development, global positioning systems, birth registration, civil registries, distance |
| JEL: | O12 R12 R20 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:64458&r=lam |
| By: | Edgar Caicedo García; Evelyn Tique Calderón |
| Abstract: | El objetivo de este documento es explicar el nuevo esquema para la fijación del precio máximo de venta al público de la gasolina automotor, establecido recientemente por el gobierno, y mediante un análisis insumo producto determinar su posible impacto sobre la inflación al consumidor. La nueva fórmula del precio al consumidor de la gasolina contempla una estructura con 4 componentes principales y tres criterios. La estructura no se modificó y está compuesta por el ingreso al productor, los costos de adicionar alcohol carburante, los impuestos y otros costos, incluidos los márgenes de comercialización. Los criterios, que es lo novedoso, contienen la definición de una tendencia, una brecha y topes a los ajustes en el precio local. El impacto inflacionario potencial, tomando los máximos incremento mensuales y anuales permitidos por la nueva fórmula, aumentaría la inflación anual al consumidor, por una sola vez, en 7 puntos base (p.b) en un mes o 91 p.b. en un año completo. |
| Date: | 2012–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000094:009392&r=lam |