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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2016‒05‒21
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Andres Felipe Hoyos Martin |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this dissertation is to measure well-being in South American countries based on equivalent incomes. This measure of well-being has a multidimensional approach, and it respects preferences between individuals. We calculate equivalent incomes of individuals, using the Gallup World Poll in 2007 for six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Additionally, we aggregate by country equivalent incomes as well as incomes and life satisfaction level, through a specific social welfare index with different grades of inequality aversion. We find some differences between country rankings made by incomes and equivalent incomes in spite of their strong correlation at individual level; in addition, the results present no correlations between equivalent incomes and life satisfaction level, as expected. The greatest difference in rankings is presented by Chile, which changes from the first in per capita income ranking, to the fourth in equivalent incomes ranking. Adopting equivalent incomes (based in multiple life dimensions and individual preferences) and introducing different inequality aversion parameters in the analysis lead us to better understand the well-being in Latin America. |
| Keywords: | Equivalent Incomes, Well-being, Latin America, Preference Heterogeneity |
| JEL: | I31 C25 D63 |
| Date: | 2015–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000495:014570&r=lam |
| By: | Marisa Bucheli (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Máximo Rossi (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the factors that explain attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) in 23 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Analyses of IPVAW in LAC are relatively scarce although there is growing concern about this problem in the region. We aim to assess the effect of individual and country characteristics using data from common sources for all countries. This work contributes to the sparse literature dealing with methods that attempt to assess the effect of macro variables. We perform a two-step procedure. We first estimate a logit model at the individual level, we calculate a measure of relative approval of IPVAW at country level and we use this measure as a dependent variable to estimate the effect of macro variables. Our study finds that most LAC patterns at individual level are similar to the international ones: approval of IPVAW is higher among women, people in rural areas, people in a disadvantaged socio-economic situation and individuals with some particular cultural characteristics. Unlikely international evidence, attitudes do not differ between ages. Our findings at country level show that approval of IPVAW increases with poverty, fertility rate and equal gender outcomes. It decreases with internet access and, with a lesser degree of robustness, with the time elapsed since the enactment of women’s suffrage. The most novel contribution of our work is the study of the variables at country level. |
| Keywords: | intimate partner violence, attitudes, Latin America, gender roles, violence |
| JEL: | J12 J19 D03 D19 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:0116&r=lam |
| By: | Elisa Failache (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Matías Giaccobasso (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Lucía Ramírez (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | Asignaciones Familiares – Plan de Equidad (AFAM-PE) is a conditional cash transfer program implemented in Uruguay since 2008. It consists in a cash transfer given to households with children under 18 years old experiencing socioeconomic vulnerability. We analyze the impact of AFAM-PE on theprobability of contributing to social security on the household adults’.To this end, and given that programme entrance is based on a score, we apply the RegressionDiscontinuity approach, using the survey “Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida” tailored for the evaluation of this program. In this survey, information about individuals eligible to participate in the program as well as ineligible with similar characteristics is collected. The main results of the analysis are similar to those found for similar programs implemented in Latin America. We found no evidence of significant impact of AFAM PE neither on participation rate, employment, nor hours worked. However, we find that AFAM PE has a positive effect of eleven percent points on the probability of contributing to social security. These effects fall mainly on those responsible for charging the transfer. Furthermore, heterogeneous effects are found, being young, women and members of nuclear families the most affected. |
| Keywords: | No conditional cash transfers, AFAM-PE, Informality, Impact Evaluation, Uruguay |
| JEL: | H53 J22 O17 I38 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:tpaper:die-01-16&r=lam |
| By: | Jan Trenczek (University of Mainz) |
| Abstract: | In what the authors name “a first pass through the data”, McMillan et al. (2014) have recently addressed the question: what determines the magnitude of growth-enhancing structural change - defined as gains to average labor productivity resulting from a reallocation of labor across sectors? This paper extends their cross-section work to a panel data set of 5- and 10-year intervals from 1970 to 2010 for 29 (mostly developing) countries. Controlling for a wide range of control variables and time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity, the results present support for growth-enhancing structural change to be the outcome of a conditional domestic convergence process towards, what I term, a country’s idiosyncratic state of efficient allocation. The regressions further indicate that the removal of labor market rigidities and improvements in gender equality in education correlate with larger gains from structural change in a statistical and economical meaningful way. However, these relationships are not found in countries with large (gender) inequality in education or strong labor market rigidities, respectively. The study also shines some light on the channels through which the variables potentially affect gains from structural change. |
| Keywords: | Structural change; productivity growth; labor market rigidity; educational inequality |
| JEL: | O10 O14 O47 |
| Date: | 2016–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:207&r=lam |
| By: | Patricia Justino (Institute of Development Studies, UK); Bruno Martorano (Institute of Development Studies, UK) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the role of perceptions of inequality and distributive beliefs in motivating people to engage in protests. The paper focuses on the case of Latin America, where an interesting paradox has been observed: despite considerable reductions in inequality, most countries in Latin America have experienced increases in protests and civil unrest in the last decade. In order to understand this paradox, we analyse the relationship between inequality and protests in recent years in Latin America, using micro-level data on individual participation in protests in 2010, 2012 and 2014. The results show that civil protests are driven by distributive beliefs and not by levels of inequality because individual judgements and reactions are based on own perceptions of inequality that may or may not match absolute levels of inequality. The results also point to the important role of government policy in affecting perceptions of inequality and ensuring social and political stability. |
| Keywords: | Perception of inequality, inequality, distributive beliefs, protests, Latin America |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:218&r=lam |