|
on Central and South America |
|
Issue of 2019‒02‒11
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Martha Tepepa |
| Abstract: | This paper is a comparison between two programs implemented to combat poverty in Latin America: Prospera (Prosper) in Mexico and Asignación Universal por Hijo (Universal Assignment for Child) in Argentina. The first section offers a review of the emergence of the welfare state, examining economic and urban development in both countries and the underlying trends of social policy instruments. The analysis is based on the political nature of social problems and the actions undertaken to confront them. The paper offers a theoretical perspective, often questioning the very foundation of the social policy that serves as the main framework for the social programs, in order to present the policies' scope, successes, and disadvantages with reference to social equity and the well-being of their participants. |
| Keywords: | Social Policy; Welfare State; Conditional Cash Transfers; Argentina; Asignación Universal por Hijo; Plan Jefes y Jefas de Hogar Desocupados; Mexico; Prospera; Latin America |
| JEL: | H75 I30 I38 O18 O19 O57 P52 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_921&r=all |
| By: | Paulo Cesar Morceiro; Joaquim Jose Martins Guilhoto |
| Abstract: | In Brazil and in the world, diagnoses of deindustrialization are concentrated in aggregate manufacturing, so policies can be ineffective if deindustrialization has a sector-specific component. This study quantifies and analyzes deindustrialization for the individualized manufacturing sectors. In order to do so, unpublished series from 1970 to 2016 of the manufacturing sectors' share in the Brazilian GDP were created based on official IBGE data. The results show that the manufacturing sectors have deindustrialized at different intensities and periods of aggregate manufacturing, and a sectoral approach reveals traces ignored by the literature on the quality of deindustrialization. It is concluded that the Brazilian deindustrialization is normal (and expected) for the labor-intensive manufacturing sectors, but premature (and undesirable) for the technology-intensive sectors. Therefore, it has negative consequences for the future scientific and technological development of the country. |
| Keywords: | Sectoral deindustrialization, industrial development, sectoral heterogeneity, structural change |
| JEL: | O14 L6 L16 |
| Date: | 2019–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2019wpecon1&r=all |
| By: | Ana Inés Balsa; Patricia Triunfo |
| Abstract: | In 2007 the Uruguayan government launched a reform aimed at expanding social health insurance to family-members of formal workers and to retirees. The policy increased insurance generosity -relative to the safety net alternative- and increased competition by allowing new beneficiaries to choose care from a set of private providers. Exploiting the phased-in implementation and the geographic variation in the intensity of the reform, we find that the expansion of social health insurance had a negligible effect on perinatal health and health care among adolescent mothers and their newborns. Our results do not support prior research showing health care quality improvements in settings with increased choice. We hypothesize that health care rationing by private providers due to rising wages, a smaller primary care infrastructure of private providers in low-income neighborhoods, and cultural and financial barriers may have accounted for the lack of positive effects. |
| Keywords: | social health insurance, provider choice, competition, birthweight, prenatal care, health reform, Latin America |
| JEL: | D12 H51 I11 I12 I13 I14 I18 J13 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mnt:wpaper:1803&r=all |
| By: | Nuevo-Chiquero, Ana (University of Edinburgh); Pino, Francisco J. (University of Chile) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of free-of-charge availability of emergency contraception on contraceptive behaviour in Chile. Using a survey of individuals 15 to 29, we exploit variation in availability at the municipality level as a consequence of legal and judicial decisions in the late 2000s. We find an increase in the use of emergency contraception in municipalities in which it was available through the public health system, but also an increase in the use of other methods of hormonal, pre-coital contraception, and a decrease of more traditional contraceptive methods. This effect is concentrated among groups with a low starting use of contraceptives, who may benefit from the contact with the health services. Unlike previous results for developed countries, our results indicate that there is scope for an effect of emergency contraception in settings with low starting levels of contraceptive use, and a significant potential for policies to increase adoption of regular contraception. |
| Keywords: | emergency contraception, youth, contraceptive behaviour, risky behaviour |
| JEL: | I15 I18 J13 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12076&r=all |
| By: | Paula Pereda; Andrea Lucchesi, Carolina Policarpo Garcia, Bruno Toni Palialol |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the effects of a carbon tax in the Brazilian economy using an input-output framework. First, we consider the impacts of a carbon tax of US$ 10 and US$ 50/metric ton of CO2 equivalent. As usual, the adoption of the carbon tax generates adverse effects on GDP, wages and jobs in the short term, but reduces emissions and generates new government revenues, especially in the case of the greater tax. Second, we consider a broader tax system reform. In this reform, we replace distortionary taxes by a tax on value added. To compensate for the loss of government revenue, we assume a carbon tax with equivalent revenue. We find that the net effect is a GDP increase of 0.47%, the creation of 533 thousand jobs and reduction of 1.6 million tons of CO2 emissions. Both scenarios exempt exports and levy imports to correct adverse effects on the country’s competitiveness. |
| Keywords: | carbon tax; input-output analysis; revenue-recycling effect; neutral tax burden |
| JEL: | H22 Q52 Q58 |
| Date: | 2019–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2019wpecon02&r=all |