|
on Central and South America |
|
Issue of 2013‒06‒04
twelve papers chosen by |
| By: | Javier Alejo (CEDLAS-UNLP, CONICET); Marcelo Bérgolo (PIECON-UDELAR, CEDLAS-UNLP); Fedora Carbajal (CINVE, CEDLAS-UNLP) |
| Abstract: | In Latin America the inequality of income has declined in the 2000s. This study applies a variant of the noparametric decomposition methodology proposed by Barros et al. (2006, 2007) to assess the relevance of the households’ sources of income, focusing on the importance of public transfers, on changes in inequality of the Southern Cone countries in the 2000s: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The results suggest that the non-labor income of the households had a significant contribution to the inequality changes in the 2000s in those countries, which was mainly explained by the equalizing effect of the public source of income. The changes in that source and their impact on inequality were closely associated with the implementation or expansion of non-contributive cash transfer programs during the last decade. |
| JEL: | C15 D31 I38 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0141&r=lam |
| By: | Luis Eduardo Arango Thomas; Diana carolina Escobar; Emma Monsalve |
| Abstract: | Se estiman los salarios de empleados particulares y servidores públicos catalogados como plenamente ocupados y subempleados por ingresos. De igual manera, se estima la brecha salarial entre ellos, para lo cual se utilizan tanto la ecuación de Mincer como la descomposición Blinder-Oaxaca y la metodología propuesta por Ñopo (2008). Los resultados indican que, aunque existe un diferencial de salarios entre ambos grupos, del orden de 40% a 44%, el componente no explicado del mismo es mucho menor (de 25% a 30% del mismo) que el que sugieren los datos a primera vista y conducen, en ocasiones, a generar alarmas sobre el funcionamiento del mercado de trabajo e incluso a hablar de “condiciones de empleo inadecuado” o “empleo de baja calidad”. Aunque algunos subempleados por ingresos podrían tener argumentos para considerarse como tales, presentamos evidencia que muestra que entre el 70% y el 75% del diferencial de salarios es explicado por variables asociadas a capital humano. Igualmente, encontramos que la brecha se presenta con mayor nitidez en la parte alta de la distribución de los salarios: a más edad y mayor educación, mayor es el componente no explicado de la misma, la cual se presenta con mayor claridad en los sectores de minas, transporte y construcción. |
| Keywords: | Subempleo por ingresos, funcionamiento del mercado laboral, descomposición de la brecha salarial. Classification JEL: J31 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:764&r=lam |
| By: | Muehlen, Henning |
| Abstract: | Foreign direct investment (FDI) projects are assumed to be accompanied by potential external effects - so-called FDI spillovers - which are supposed to affect productivity levels of other firms in a host country. Empirical results on this topic are inconclusive and most studies focus on one country. I contribute to the literature by employing comparable firm-level panel data from ten Latin American (developing) countries in order to estimate the spillover effects from FDI on firms' productivity levels. The impact is assessed as an average effect for the full set of countries as well as for each economy separately. The results indicate that there is a small negative spillover effect from foreign presence within industries across Latin American countries. Furthermore, I find that the negative intra-industry spillover is caused by wholly owned foreign affiliates. The country-specific investigation indicates that the spillover effects differ between the considered economies with a tendency that the presence of FDI in a sector (region) has a negative (positive) impact. |
| Keywords: | Foreign direct investments; Spillovers; Firm-level panel data; Enterprise surveys; Latin America; Developing countries |
| JEL: | F21 F23 O33 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bom:ieewps:196&r=lam |
| By: | David Jaume (CEDLAS-UNLP-CONICET); Leonardo Gasparini (CEDLAS-UNLP) |
| Abstract: | El trabajo lleva a cabo un análisis empírico del nivel y evolución de la segregación escolar socioeconómica entre escuelas públicas y privadas en Argentina entre 1992 y 2010. Con ese fin se proponen dos nuevas metodologías: las curvas de segregación percentílicas y la utilización de micro descomposiciones. Los resultados obtenidos son alarmantes: la segregación se incrementó entre 30% y 100% dependiendo del índice y el nivel educativo analizado. Este aumento guarda una estrecha relación con los cambios en las características de las familias de los alumnos que asisten al nivel primario, no así en el nivel secundario. |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0143&r=lam |
| By: | Waldo Mendoza Bellido (Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) |
| Abstract: | Este artículo tiene como propósito central mostrar el desempeño macroeconómico de América Latina y el Perú, durante el periodo 1980-2012, en su conexión con la evolución de la economía internacional y las respuestas de política macroeconómica adoptadas por los bancos centrales y los ministerios de hacienda de la región. Se ha encontrado que el pésimo desempeño macroeconómico de los ochenta, el desempeño regular en los noventa y el excelente desempeño macroeconómico de los últimos 12 años, está asociado con el contexto externo sumamente adverso en los ochenta, un contexto regular en los noventa, y un contexto externo mucho más favorable en los últimos 12 años. |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to show main macroeconomic performance in Latin America and Peru during the period 1980-2012, in connection with the evolution of the international economy and macroeconomic policy responses taken by central banks and finance ministries of the region. It is found that the dismal macroeconomic performance of the eighties, the moderate performance in nineties and excellent macroeconomic performance of the past 12 years, is associated with extremely adverse external environment in the eighties, a moderate external context in the nineties, and a much more favorable external environment in the last 12 years. |
| Keywords: | Desempeño macroconómico, contexto internacional: América Latina y Perú. |
| JEL: | F36 F41 F42 Y F43 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pcp:pucwps:wp00351&r=lam |
| By: | Rafael Guerreiro Osorio (International Poverty Centre); Pedro H. G. Ferreira de Souza (Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA)) |
| Abstract: | The Bolsa Família Programme (Programa Bolsa Família ? PBF) is a monthly cash transfer from the Brazilian federal government to poor and extremely poor families enrolled in the Single Registry of Social Programmes. Since 2009, transfers last for a minimum period of two years, regardless of changes in household income. However, a family may no longer receive transfers if it fails to abide by certain conditions, such as ensuring that children and adolescents in the family go to school and achieve attendance rates of least 85 per cent during the school year for beneficiary children aged 6-15 and 75 per cent for teenagers aged 16-17. These characteristics classify the PBF as a targeted and conditional cash transfer programme. (?) |
| Keywords: | Bolsa Família after Brasil Carinhoso: an Analysis of the Potential for Reducing Extreme Poverty |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:pbrief:41&r=lam |
| By: | Ronaldo Seroa da Motta (IPEA); Jorge Hargrave (IPEA); Gustavo Luedemann (IPEA); Maria Bernadete Sarmiento Gutierrez (IPEA) |
| Abstract: | Current levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations are already worryingly high, and scientists predict that the average temperature on the planet could rise between 1.8°C and 4°C by 2100, which would cause drastic damage to the environment. (?) |
| Keywords: | Climate Change in Brazil: Economic, Social and Regulatory Aspects |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:153&r=lam |
| By: | Mario D. Tello (Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) |
| Abstract: | Este trabajo resume la política en Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (CTI) en el Perú, particularmente en el sector de servicios. Dicha política no has sido prioritaria para los gobiernos de las últimas dos décadas. Adicionalmente, los indicadores CTI están entre los más bajos de América Latina (AL). El sistema nacional CTI (SINACYIT) es desarticulado y basado en programas que promueven actividades de innovación en los sectores primarios y manufacturados sin ninguna estrategia específica de innovación que la sustente. En el caso de servicios, la política fue orientada en proveer infraestructuras para las herramientas de tecnologías de información y comunicaciones (TIC) bajos los principios de acceso universal, asequibilidad, fomento de la competencia privada, y convergencia tecnológica y de servicios en concordancia con la evolución y desarrollo de las tecnologías de información y comunicación. Estos hechos conjuntamente con las magnitudes inadecuadas de los indicadores CTI sugieren la necesidad de replantear la estrategia de la política STI y de sus arreglos institucionales. |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes the science, technology and innovation (STI) policy in Peru focusing in the services sector. Consistent with some other survey studies, STI policy in Peru has not been a priority for the different government administrations of the last two decades. Further, STI indicators are among the lowest ones of Latin American Countries (LAC). The national STI system (SINACYIT) has been built in a disarticulated way and STI policy was concentrated on some particular programs and funds oriented basically to foster firms’ innovation activities of primary and manufactured sectors without a specific and previously designed innovation strategy. In the case of services, policy was oriented in providing information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure under the principles of universal access, affordability, fostering private competition, technological convergence in concordance with the evolution and development of ICT. These facts together with the inadequate figures of STI indicators suggest the need to rethink STI policy strategy and its institutional arrangement. |
| Keywords: | Innovación, productividad laboral, ciencia, tecnología e innovación. |
| JEL: | O14 O54 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pcp:pucwps:wp00353&r=lam |
| By: | Thiago Fonseca Morello (Socioenvironmental Economics Centre, University of São Paulo, Department of Economics); Vitor Schmid (Socioenvironmental Economics Centre, University of São Paulo, Department of Economics); Ricardo Abramovay (Socioenvironmental Economics Centre, University of São Paulo, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | A Goldman Sachs study (2008) estimates that between 60 and 80 million people are introduced to the consumer market of durable goods annually, forming a kind of new worldwide middle class. The environmental impacts of these new consumers are not insignificant, and motivate important international negotiations regarding limits to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is a matter of concern even if the technological innovations aimed at the ?decarbonisation? of economies advance faster in the future than currently. Typically, one would expect that improving the living standards of poor people would almost unavoidably result in an increase in GHG emissions. However, this relationship may not be valid for all types of changes in consumption, especially those observed at lower income levels. (?) |
| Keywords: | The Trade-off Between Poverty Alleviation and GHG Mitigation: Is it True for all Income Levels in Brazil? |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:156&r=lam |
| By: | Patrícia Helena Gambogi Boson (Representative of CNT in the National Environmental Council (Conama)) |
| Abstract: | A discussion of road transportation in Brazil is of significance in the context of climate change due to its status as the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, about 7 to 9 per cent of the national total, and its responsibility for 90 per cent of the diesel oil consumed in the transport sector, or 80 per cent of total domestic consumption. (?) |
| Keywords: | Road Transport and Climate Change in Brazil |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:158&r=lam |
| By: | Ronaldo Seroa da Motta (IPEA) |
| Abstract: | Through the Copenhagen Accord and the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in Cancun, Brazil has confirmed its national voluntary reduction targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with reductions between 36.1 per cent and 38.9 per cent of projected emissions by 2020. These targets were defined in the National Climate Change Policy (PNMC, in Portuguese) approved by the National Congress (Law No. 12.187, dated 29 December 2009). These national targets focus on controlling deforestation, which represents a comparative advantage for Brazil. Reducing deforestation is certainly less restrictive to economic growth than mitigation actions related to energy consumption and industrial activities that other emerging economies would have to adopt. (?) |
| Keywords: | The Brazilian Policy on Climate Change: Regulatory and Governance Aspects |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:154&r=lam |
| By: | Guillermo Cruces (CEDLAS-UNLP); Leonardo Gasparini (CEDLAS-UNLP) |
| Abstract: | Este trabajo obtuvo el Premio Fundación Vidanta 2012 “Contribuciones a la reducción de la pobreza y la desigualdad en América Latina y el Caribe”. El material utilizado para este documento fue producido en el marco del proyecto de investigación “Mercados de Trabajo para el Crecimiento Inclusivo en América Latina”, desarrollado en el CEDLAS con el apoyo del Centro Internacional de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo (IDRC-Canadá). |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0142&r=lam |