nep-lam 2021-10-11 papers

on Central and South America

Issue of 2021–10–11
two papers chosen by
Maximo Rossi, Universidad de la RepÃÃººblica

Identifying Early Adopters of COVID-19 Vaccines in Latin America By Alejandro Arrieta; Ariadna García-Prado; Juan Pablo Sarmiento; Carmen Paz Castro
Learning to Use Trade Agreements By Kala Krishna; Carlos Salamanca; Yuta Suzuki; Christian Volpe Martincus

Identifying Early Adopters of COVID-19 Vaccines in Latin America

By:	Alejandro Arrieta (Department of Health Policy and Management, Florida International University); Ariadna García-Prado (Department of Economics, Universidad Publica de Navarra, Spain); Juan Pablo Sarmiento (Extreme Events Institute, Florida International University); Carmen Paz Castro (Department of Geography, Universidad de Chile, Chile)
Abstract:	COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is currently one of the main obstacles to worldwide herd immunity and socioeconomic recovery. Because vaccine coverage can vary between and within countries, it is important to identify sources of variation so that policies can be tailored to different population groups. In this paper, we analyze the results from a survey designed and implemented in order to identify early adopters and laggers in six big cities of Latin America. We find that trust in government and science, accurate knowledge about the value of vaccination and vaccine effects, perceived risk of getting sick, and being a student increase the odds to get vaccinated. We also identify potential laggers as women and populations between 20 and 35 years old who are not students. We discuss specific strategies to promote vaccination among these populations groups as well as more general strategies designed to gain trust. These findings are specific to the context of Latin America insofar as the underlying factors associated with the choice to be vaccinated vary significantly by location and in relation to individual-level factors.
Keywords:	Coronavirus, COVID-19, Vaccines, Latin America
JEL:	I12 C13
Date:	2021–09
URL:	https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fiu:wpaper:2120

Learning to Use Trade Agreements

By:	Kala Krishna; Carlos Salamanca; Yuta Suzuki; Christian Volpe Martincus
Abstract:	Free trade or preferential trade areas (PTAs) allow importers who belong to the area to export to each other while paying zero or preferential tariffs as long as Rules of Origin (ROOs) are met. Meeting them is costly not only in terms of production costs but also in terms of documentation costs. We ask if these fixed costs of documentation change over time with the experience of the firm in obtaining preferential tariffs. We explore this using a unique importer-exporter matched transaction-level customs data set on a group of Latin American countries. Our estimating equation is model-based and shows that these fixed costs depend on the history of preference utilization. Most of the effect comes from experience in the same product and same partner, with some spillover to other partners buying the same product. There is little learning from experience in other products and other partners. When considering products that have been under preferences for a while, some learning might have occurred prior to the start of our data. Using a natural experiment in Argentina, where some products were newly brought under preferences, we show that learning is indeed larger for such products. As facilitating preference use today also makes it easier to use preferences in the future, interventions early on in the life of the FTA to reduce such costs would be more effective.
JEL:	F02 F13 F14 F68 N76
Date:	2021–10
URL:	https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29319

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