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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2013‒01‒26
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Dante Contreras; Jaime Ruiz-Tagle; Paulina Sepúlveda |
| Abstract: | Los últimos procesos migratorios que ha vivido Chile han despertado el interés respecto a los efectos de la inmigración sobre la economía del país. El objetivo de este trabajo es caracterizar y analizar los efectos de la inmigración sobre el mercado laboral en Chile y la situación de los migrantes en el mercado laboral local. Utilizando los datos de la encuesta CASEN 2006 y 2009, y los datos de Extranjería del Ministerio del Interior y del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, encontramos que si bien existe un aumento de la inmigración al país, el número de inmigrantes en relación al porcentaje total de la población aún es menor. En particular, la participación de los migrantes en el empleo a través de los diferentes sectores económicos del país no supera el 3% en ninguno de ellos. Dada la pequeña participación relativa, no sorprende que los resultados encontrados indiquen que no habría impactos significativos en el mercado laboral como consecuencia del proceso migratorio controlando para otras características que afectan los retornos en el mercado laboral. Por otro lado, no se encuentra evidencia de discriminación salarial hacia los inmigrantes, aunque hay heterogeneidades importantes por nivel educacional. En efecto, los migrantes reciben entre un 15% y un 27% de mayor salario por hora en el año 2006 y 2009 respecto a los no migrantes, aunque este diferencial positivo se concentra en los migrantes de alta educación. En suma, los resultados encontrados indican que la inmigración no está tendiendo efectos significativos sobre el mercado laboral en Chile, el cual ha sido capaz de absorber la mano de inmigrante, y dónde además los inmigrantes parecen no sufrir de discriminación salarial significativa. |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp376&r=lam |
| By: | Carlos Medina; Jairo Núñez; Jorge Andrés Tamayo |
| Abstract: | We assess the effects of the Colombian Unemployment Subsidy (US) program on future labor participation, unemployment, formality, school attendance and earnings of its beneficiaries, on household earnings and school attendance of the household members, and on weight and height of their children at birth. In addition to providing benefits, the program also provides training to some recipients. We use regression discontinuity and matching differences-in-differences estimators and find that both approaches indicate that participation in the labor market, the earnings of beneficiaries, and household income, do not increase, and for some populations decrease during the 18 months after leaving from the Unemployment Subsidy program. Enrollment in formal health insurance falls. The effects on male household heads include larger reductions in their earnings, larger decreases in their labor participation, and greater increases in their unemployment rates. We also find a small though statistically significant positive effect of the program on school attendance of the beneficiaries, but none on their children’s weight or height at birth. The results also are sensitive to the type of training that beneficiaries receive in the Unemployment Subsidy program. Overall, the program serves as a mechanism for smoothing consumption and providing social assistance rather than as a mechanism for promoting a more efficient labor market. |
| Date: | 2013–01–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000094:010393&r=lam |
| By: | Ricardo Argüello; Andrés Felipe García; Daniel Valderrama |
| Abstract: | Resumen: En este trabajo se explora, desde el punto de vista empírico, el comportamiento de la profundización, apertura y cierre de mercados de exportación a nivel sectorial para Colombia durante el periodo 1997-2010, con énfasis en los dos periodos de recesión que presenta la economía durante el mismo. Para ello se emplea una metodología de descomposición de los cambios registrados por el comercio, en sus márgenes intensivo y extensivo, que permite la identificación de estos fenómenos y su observación tanto a lo largo del tiempo como a nivel transversal. Los resultados indican que, en el corto plazo, el margen intensivo del comercio explica la mayor parte de las variaciones en las exportaciones, en tanto que en el mediano plazo se encuentra una importante contribución del margen extensivo a éstas. Adicionalmente, desde el punto de vista sectorial, la crisis de 1997-1999 no presenta un patrón homogéneo en términos del comportamiento de los márgenes del comercio, en tanto que la de 2008-2009 se caracteriza por presentar un patrón más homogéneo a través de los distintos sectores de la actividad económica. Abstract: We explore, from an empirical perspective, the behavior of export markets opening, deepening, and closing at the sectoral level, during 1997-2010 for the case of Colombia, with an emphasis on the two recessions that the economy suffered during this time. For this, we use a trade decomposition technique that allows us to measure each of these market events and trace its behavior along time as well as in the cross-section. Results indicate that, in the short term, the intensive margin of trade largely determines the behavior of exports, while in the medium run an important role is played by the extensive margin. Furthermore, from a sectoral perspective, during the 1997-1999 crisis no uniform pattern is found for the trade margins, while during the 2008-2009 crisis a notoriously homogenous pattern emerges across sectors. |
| Date: | 2013–01–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000092:010391&r=lam |
| By: | Saraly Andrade de Sá (ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Charles Palmer (London School of Economics); Salvatore Di Falco (Universite de Geneve, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | The expansion of a given land use may affect deforestation directly if forests are cleared to free land for this use, or indirectly, via the displacement of other land-use activities from non-forest areas towards the forest frontier. Unlike direct land conversion, indirect land-use changes affecting deforestation are not immediately observable. They require the linking of changes occurring in different regions. This paper empirically assesses the possible indirect effects of sugarcane expansion in Brazil’s state of São Paulo, on forest conversion decisions in the country’s Amazon region. Further, it examines the evidence for a mechanism through which these effects might materialize, namely a displacement of cattle ranching activities from São Paulo state to the Amazon. The results suggest a positive relationship between sugarcane expansion and deforestation. This indirect land-use effect is shown to be a dynamic process materializing over 10 to 15 years. |
| Keywords: | Indirect land-use changes; Dynamic effects; Biofuels; Deforestation |
| JEL: | Q15 Q24 Q42 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eth:wpswif:13-170&r=lam |
| By: | Ignacio Lozano; María Adelaida Martínez |
| Abstract: | This paper provides empirical evidence of the impact of fiscal decentralization on Colombia’s public basic education. Based on the social and economic data available for 1,003 municipalities and 13,670 public schools, for the last decade, we confirmed that decentralization has had a positive and non-monotone effect on education enrollment. Likewise, our results suggest that it has had a positive impact on quality, once several variables, commonly used to explain performance differences, were controlled. Assuming that the effects of decentralization might have been uneven between regions and within them, we specified panel data and cross section econometric models for all municipalities as a whole, for size-based municipal categories, and for the towns which receive education funding directly from the central government or not. |
| Keywords: | Public Goods, Local Taxation, Intergovernmental Relations, Education Expenditures, Government Programs. Classification JEL: H41, H71, H77, I22, I38 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:747&r=lam |
| By: | Borraz, Fernando; Pampillon, Nicolas Gonzalez; Olarreaga, Marcelo |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to explore the impact of Uruguay's privatization and subsequent nationalization of water services on network access and water quality. The results suggest that although the early privatization of water services had little impact on access to the sanitation network, the subsequent nationalization led to an increase in network access at the bottom of the income distribution as well as an improvement in water quality. |
| Keywords: | Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water and Industry,Water Conservation,Infrastructure Regulation |
| Date: | 2013–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6318&r=lam |