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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2017‒01‒29
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Ana Ribeiro |
| Abstract: | The main goal of affirmative action (AA) policies is to give opportunities otherwise nonexistent to minorities and underprivileged students. In this paper, I investigate whether the introduction of college affirmative action policy enables AA candidates to obtain a career in Law and to catch up with high scoring candidates who did not get admitted due to the policy (i.e., displaced candidates). To do so, I use a new dataset from a large university in Rio de Janeiro, the first in Brazil to adopt the quota system for both black and public school students. This dataset is combined with the OAB exam passage records, equivalent to the American Bar exam. Preliminary results suggest that the quota policy improves OAB passage rates for beneficiaries. I find that lawyer certification for underprivileged students increases by 33 p.p., even though they underperform by 7.68 p.p when compared to displaced candidates. I also present evidence that displaced candidates do not experience any drop on their OAB exam passage rates due to the policy. Furthermore, I find that public school quota beneficiaries who score close to the admittance cutoff score present an increase in the probability of passing the OAB exam by up to 52 p.p. |
| Keywords: | affirmative action; higher education; policy evaluation |
| JEL: | I28 I38 J78 |
| Date: | 2016–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2016wpecon43&r=lam |
| By: | Elisa Failache (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Gonzalo Salas (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Andrea Vigorito (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the evolution of multidimensional poverty and inequality between 2004 and 2011 in Uruguay, based on data from Estudio Longitudinal del Bienestar en Uruguay (ELBU), which follows a cohort of Uruguayan children enrolled in primary school in primary schools In 2004. Children trajectories are assessed in four basic domains: access to resources (durable goods and income), nutrition, education and housing conditions. Considering the multidimensional poverty indexes developed by Alkire and Foster and inequality indexes (Bourguignon and Maatsumi), we observe how the different deprivations within households are combined, with improvements in both groups of indicators, although improvements are notoriously slower thin the multidimensional case in relation to income. Specifically, the increased access to resources coexisted with a reduction in school attendance for the group of children studied. Disagreggations by sex and ethnicity of the household head uncover strong disparities: Afro-descendant children exhibit levels of income and multidimensional poverty that duplicate the rest of households. The study also revealed that approximately 28% of children remained in multidimensional poverty in both periods (with k = 1), while 50% did so in terms of income. Those who were able to overcome the poverty condition (income or multidimensional) were households with heads of non-Afro-descent, higher educational levels and fewer members. |
| Keywords: | inequality, poverty, children, Uruguay, panel-data |
| JEL: | D31 I31 I32 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-11-16&r=lam |
| By: | Ramón E. López; Gino Sturla Zerene |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se propone un mecanismo concreto para captar una parte significativa de las rentas económicas de la gran minería privada del cobre en Chile (GMP-10), estimadas en USD 120 mil millones, por Sturla, Accorsi, López y Figueroa (2016) para el periodo 2005-2014. Este mecanismo corresponde a una nueva tasa impositiva de largo plazo sobre las utilidades del sector, que asegura que ninguna empresa deje de percibir por lo menos el retorno normal al capital, incluyendo primas de riesgo de diferente índole. Se demuestra que las empresas que explotan estos yacimientos, en caso de ser sometidas a esta nueva tasa impositiva, seguirán invirtiendo y produciendo tal como lo han hecho hasta ahora. Este nuevo impuesto a la gran minería no sería aplicable en el corto plazo debido a la invariabilidad tributaria autoimpuesta por gobiernos anteriores. Sin embargo, se propone un método de extracción de rentas que no vulnera esta invariabilidad y que tiene efectos recaudatorios de corto plazo similares a los esperados por la tasa impositiva propuesta para el largo plazo. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp437&r=lam |
| By: | Henry Willebald (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Javier Juambeltz (Universidad del Trabajo del Uruguay (Uruguay). Ingeniería Tecnológica) |
| Abstract: | Settler economies (Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay) benefited from the consequences of the Second Industrial Revolution as their temperate climate and fertile soils were especially suitable for the production of meat, wheat, wool and other commodities. The main domestic contribution to economic growth was the incorporation of “new” land, of variable quality, into the commercial and productive relationships of the first expansion of the world capitalism. Therefore our aim is to understand this process in the long-run (1830-1950) using the land frontier expansion as pivotal concept. Initially, we discuss the economic theories about the role of land in the economic activity and then, present an analytical model based on the classical Ricardian view to explain the land frontier expansion in terms of extensive and intensive margins in the agrarian production. Our empirical strategy uses a quantification method based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and we consider different agrarian land aptitudes and distances to centres of gravity to test our hypotheses. Our evidence supports the predominance of the extensive margin in the land frontier expansion of Argentina, Uruguay and New Zealand and the intensive margin in the two first economies and Chile but not in the other members of the “club”. |
| Keywords: | settler economies, land frontier expansion, GIS, land quality |
| JEL: | N5 N9 O13 Q24 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-08-16&r=lam |
| By: | Adriana Peluffo (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Ernesto Silva (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | Innovation and export decisions are closely interlinked. Both activities contribute to firm performance in various ways: exporting provides a wider market to sell products, while innovation provides new and better products to supply those markets and/or more efficient ways to reduce costs. The connection of innovation and exporting is of major interest to developing countries aiming to achieve higher growth and wellbeing given foreign markets are both a new challenge and a source of knowledge for firms. This study analyzes how different types of innovation affect export behavior at the firm level, as well as the consequence of exporting on further innovation activities. We use an unbalanced panel of Uruguayan manufacturing firms which provides information from 2000 to 2012. We use logistic regression and matching with difference-in-differences techniques. Using LOGIT models, we find that previous innovation increases the probability of exporting. Unlike other studies, productivity-enhancing (or cost-reducing) innovation shows a stronger correlation than product innovation. However, using Matching and Difference-in-Differences we were not able to establish a causality link from innovation to exporting. We find no consistent evidence of an impact of previous exports on innovation activities. |
| Keywords: | product innovation, process innovation, exporting |
| JEL: | F14 D21 C23 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-07-16&r=lam |