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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2021‒05‒24
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Sanchez, Alan (Group for the Analysis od Development (GRADE)); Favara, Marta (University of Oxford); Porter, Catherine (Lancaster University) |
| Abstract: | In the last two decades, access to higher education has increased substantially in Latin America. The quantity of new programs available has created concerns about education quality, which has implications for the labor market. We use rich longitudinal data from a Peruvian cohort tracked from ages 8 to 26 (the Young Lives study) to analyze the profile of students enrolled in different 'types' of higher education, and to explore the returns to higher education before and during the COVID-19 crisis. We find evidence of stratification at higher education level: (a) students from the wealthiest households tend to enroll in universities (as opposed to technical institutes), and choose majors and institutions with the highest income rewards; (b) students with higher levels of cognitive skills and socio-emotional competencies tend to attend better quality universities; (c) there are hidden gender gaps: females are more likely to enroll in majors that are the least rewarded in the labor market. In the 2020 labor market, by age 26 we find that: (d) pre-COVID, positive returns to higher education are only observable for those that attended better quality universities; (e) during the pandemic, higher education became a protective factor, with the income premium being higher for everyone that attended this education level; (f) the male income premium doubled during the pandemic. |
| Keywords: | higher education, returns to higher education, COVID-19, Young Lives, Peru |
| JEL: | I2 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14339&r= |
| By: | Blanco, Magdalena; Cabrera, Jose Maria; Carozzi, Felipe; Cid, Alejandro |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of mandatory motorcycle helmet use laws on the severity and volume of road accidents in Uruguay by exploiting a change in the enforcement of the traffic law. Using event-study, differences-in-difference and synthetic control methods, we report a sharp increase in helmet use and a 40 percent reduction in the incidence of serious or fatal motorcyclist accidents as a result of the change in enforcement. The change translates into an increase in minor injuries, indicating a shift in the distribution of accident severity. We find no evidence of other behavioral responses in terms of either the volume or type of accidents. We show that additional costs of enforcement for the relevant government agencies were negligible and estimate the health benefits of the policy. |
| Keywords: | Helmet Use; law enforcement; Traffic Accidents |
| JEL: | H89 I12 I18 R41 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15501&r= |
| By: | Laura Jaitman (Inter-American Development Bank); Nicolás Ajzenman (Sao Paulo School of Economics - FGV) |
| Abstract: | Latin America and the Caribbean is the most violent region in the world, with an annual homicide rate of more than 20 per 100,000 population and with an increasing trend. Yet most evidence of crime concentration, geo-temporal patterns, and event dependencecomes from cities in high-income countries. Understanding crime patterns in the region and how they compare to those in high-income countries is of first-order importance to formulate crime reduction policies. This paper is the first to analyze crime patterns ofcities in five Latin American countries. Using micro-geographic units of analysis, the paper finds, first, that crime in Latin America is highly concentrated in a small proportion of blocks: 50 percent of crimes are concentrated in 3 to 7.5 percent of street segments,and 25 percent of crimes are concentrated in 0.5 to 2.9 percent of street segments. This validates Weisburd’s “law of crime concentration at place” (Weisburd, 2105). These figures are fairly constant over time but sensitive to major police reforms. The secondfinding is that hot spots of crime are not always persistent. Crime is constantly prevalent in certain areas, but in other areas hot spots either appear or disappear, suggesting a possible rational adaptation from criminals to police actions that cause crime displacement in the medium run to other areas. Finally, the paper finds a significant pattern of repeated crime victimization in location and time for property crimes. There are striking similarities with the developed world in crime concentration, although crime levels are much higher and usually increasing. There are also some differences in terms of the persistence of hot spots that pose interesting policy implications and avenues for future research. |
| Keywords: | crime concentration, crime and place, developing countries, displacement,hot spots, Latin America |
| JEL: | K00 K42 R12 |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:71&r= |
| By: | Oscar Barrera (WIL - World Inequality Lab , PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Ana Leiva (UiO - University of Oslo); Clara Martínez-Toledano (WIL - World Inequality Lab , Imperial College London); Álvaro Zúñiga-Cordero (WIL - World Inequality Lab , PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This paper combines electoral surveys to analyze the transformation of the structure of political cleavages in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico and Peru over the last decades. We document that Latin American countries are characterized by personalist leaderships (e.g., Fujimori in Peru, Uribe in Colombia) and important historical cleavages (e.g., anti vs. pro-PLN in Costa Rica) that blur class-based voting patterns and have led in some cases to the emergence of competing pro-poor and ethnic-based competing coalitions (e.g., PRN-PLN in Costa Rica, Fujimori-Humala in Peru) over the last decades. The party systems of Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru have thus generated volatile political socioeconomic cleavages, while in the more institutionalized party systems of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico they have been less volatile. |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03215948&r= |
| By: | Eduardo Levi Yeyati (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella); Luca Sartorio (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella) |
| Abstract: | In the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and containment measures were a fundamental tool to control the spread of the virus. In this article, we analyze data from 120 countries seeking to assess the stringency of de jure lockdown policies, comparing them with their de facto compliance and empirically analyzing the determinants of social distancing noncompliance. We find that, from a de jure perspective, almost all the strictest and longest lockdowns took place in emerging or developing economies. However, when analyzing its de facto compliance, we document a generalized and increasing non-compliance over time, which is significantly higher in emerging and developing economies. We show that lockdown compliance declines with time, and is lower in countries with stricter quarantines, lower incomes and higher levels of labor precariousness.. |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:15&r= |
| By: | Fernando Antonio Ignacio González (Universidad Nacional del Sur/CONICET); Juan Antonio Dip (Universidad Nacional de Misiones); Silvia London (Universidad Nacional del Sur/CONICET) |
| Abstract: | La actual pandemia por COVID-19 representa una seria amenaza a nivel global. Mientras que sus efectos de corto plazo son evidentes, los de largo plazo son materia de análisis. En este trabajo se analiza la existencia de efectos negativos duraderos derivados de la exposición en útero (hipótesis de origen fetal) a una gran pandemia -pandemia de influenza 1918- para el caso argentino. Los resultados de interés incluyen al logro educativo y al estatus de desempleo en la adultez -50 años después de la pandemia-. A partir de un análisis de regresión, se explotan diferencias temporales en la propagación de la pandemia y entre cohortes de nacimiento próximas entre sí. Los resultados indican una significativa reducción en el logro educativo para las personas expuestas en útero a la pandemia. En la región con mayor incidencia de casos (Noroeste) esta reducción es de casi 0.5 años de estudio. No se observan cambios significativos en las chances de encontrarse desempleado. Estos resultados constituyen un claro llamado de atención en favor de la implementación de políticas de protección a la niñez desde la gestación. |
| Keywords: | Pandemia Gripe española Persistencia Educación Desempleo Argentina |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:22&r= |
| By: | Jorge Paz (Conicet-IELDE/UNSa.) |
| Abstract: | En este documento se analiza la importancia de la segmentación laboral en la segregación ocupacional por género en la Argentina. Se analizan los determinantes de la segregación en los segmentos formal e informal y se estima el peso de cada grupo de determinantes sobre la segregación tanto por rama de actividad como por jerarquía ocupacional. Luego de evaluar los niveles de segregación en cada segmento del mercado laboral y el contexto macroeconómico en el que se encuadran estos hechos, se descompone la diferencias entre ambos segmentos destacando los factores más estrictamente ligados a la persona y los más estrictamente ligados al puesto laboral. Con datos de la Encuesta Permanente de Hogares se estiman regresiones beta para cuantificar el grado de masculinidad de las ramas y de las ocupaciones. La importancia de los determinantes para cada segmento se calcula usando las técnicas habituales de descomposición de Blinder (1973) y Oaxaca (1973). |
| JEL: | D10 J12 J16 J24 J62 J71 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:10&r= |