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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2015‒05‒30
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Emilio Ocampo |
| Abstract: | Argentina’s economic and institutional decline has long posed a conundrum to economists and social scientists. In particular, it challenges theories that seek to explain cross-country growth differences over time. Those theories that claim that institutions have a first-order effect on growth cannot explain the persistent economic decadence of a country that in 1930 was among the most institutionally advanced in Latin America. Theories that claim that that education and growth precede inclusive institutions face a similar problem, since Argentina was one of the most educationally advanced countries in Latin America. The same can be said of theories that claim that social capital is the determinant factor that explains long-term growth. This paper emphasizes the key role played by recurrent cycles of populism in pushing the country into secular decadence and posits that, in Argentina, rising commodity prices have driven the cycles of populism. |
| Keywords: | Populism, commodity cycles, Argentina, inequality, institutions, social capital, economic growth, economic decline. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cem:doctra:562&r=lam |
| By: | Diana Lúcia Gonzaga da Silva; Gervásio Ferreira dos Santos, Ricardo da Silva Freguglia |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to analyze the spatial distribution of the agglomeration effect on wage differentials, from the returns to education in Brazil. To find the agglomeration effect on the returns to education in the 24 metropolitan areas in Brazil, a wage equation was estimated with the control of individual fixed effects and metropolitan areas effects, using a panel of micro data - RAIS-Migra - of formal workers. The results show that there is agglomeration gain of the return to education in Brazil. These gains are more favorable in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. The metropolitan areas of the Center-South tend to generate higher earnings from individual skills of workers |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration Economies; Urban Wage Premium; Education; Wage Inequality; Metropolitan Areas |
| JEL: | J24 J31 R23 C23 |
| Date: | 2015–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2015wpecon7&r=lam |
| By: | Marigen Narea |
| Abstract: | Worldwide, non-maternal child care during the first years of life has gradually become more prevalent. However, there is little evidence for Chile about the benefit of early attendance at centre-based care—especially universal early childhood programs for under-three-year-olds—and child development. This study explores the association between two-year-olds' attendance at day care and child development. Attendance at day care (versus maternal care) between the ages of 24 and 36 months is positively associated with child cognitive development and shows insignificant association with child socio-emotional development. In addition, more daily hours in centre-based care is positively associated with cognitive outcomes, but negatively associated with socio-emotional outcomes. Additionally, the association between attendance at centre-based care and socio-emotional outcomes is more negative for children of lower income households relative to children of higher income households. The analyses use a Chilean panel survey and control for child, maternal, and family characteristics as well as for unobserved individual fixed effects. The results are consistent using both OLS regressions and propensity score matching techniques. Implications for future research and social policies are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Early childhood, Centre-based care, Child care, Child development |
| JEL: | J13 J18 I21 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:case183&r=lam |