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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2024‒05‒06
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Andrés César (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Guillermo Falcone (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET) |
| Abstract: | We study the causal impact of export growth on Chilean local economic development during 2000–2006 by exploiting spatial and temporal variations in local exposure stemming from the interaction of past differences in industry specialization across local labor markets and the evolution of tariffs cuts and exports across industries. We find that growing exports implied a significant reduction in labor informality and labor income gains in more exposed local markets, driven by job creation and wage growth in the formal sector. These effects concentrate on senior skilled workers. Exposed locations also exhibit a greater relative decline in the poverty rate. |
| JEL: | F14 F16 J23 J31 O17 Q02 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0329&r=lam |
| By: | Britto, Diogo (University of Milan Bicocca); Rocha, Roberto Hsu (University of California at Berkeley); Pinotti, Paolo (Bocconi University); Sampaio, Breno (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of having a child on parents' criminal behavior using rich administrative data from Brazil. Fathers' criminal activity sharply increases by up to 10% during the pregnancy period, and by up to 30% two years after birth, while mothers experience only a transitory decline in criminal activity around childbirth. The effect on fathers lasts for at least six years and can explain at least 5% of the overall male crime rate. Domestic violence within the family also increases after childbirth, reflecting both increases in actual violence and women's propensity to report. The generalized increase in fathers' crime stands in sharp contrast with previous evidence from developed countries, where childbirth is associated with significant and enduring declines in criminal behavior by both parents. Our findings can be explained by the costs of parenthood and the pervasiveness of poverty among newly formed Brazilian families. Consistent with this explanation, we provide novel evidence that access to maternity benefits largely offsets the increase in crime by fathers after childbirth. |
| Keywords: | crime, parenthood, maternity benefits |
| JEL: | D10 J13 K42 H55 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16910&r=lam |
| By: | Jaime Arellano-Bover (Yale University/IZA/CESifo); Fernando Saltiel (McGill University/IZA) |
| Abstract: | We present evidence that is consistent with large disparities across firms in their onthe-job learning opportunities, using administrative datasets from Brazil and Italy. Wecategorize firms into discrete “classes”—which our conceptual framework interprets asskill-learning classes—using a clustering methodology that groups together firms withsimilar distributions of unexplained wage growth. Mincerian returns to experience varywidely across experiences acquired in different firm classes. Four tests leveraging firmstayers and movers, occupation and industry switchers, hiring wages, and displacedworkers point towards a portable and general human capital interpretation. Heterogeneousemployment experiences explain an important share of wage variance by age 35, thus contributing to shape wage inequality. Firms’ observable attributes only mildlypredict on-the-job learning opportunities. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:317&r=lam |
| By: | Daniel Gama e Colombo (Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), Brazil); Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (International Center for Public Policy (Georgia State University) and Governance and Economics Research Network (GEN)) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the expectation of a future lifetime survivor pension affects the educational choices of individuals and their families, focusing on the case of military daughters in Brazil. To assess this effect, we exploit a policy reform in the early 2000s that eliminated permanent pensions. The empirical analysis is based on microdata on daughters of different cohorts, and the impact of the permanent pensions is estimated using the average treatment effect (ATE) and the inverse-probability-weighted regression-adjusted estimator (IPWRA). The findings indicate that eligibility for lifetime pensions induced a 12.4-percent reduction in the average number of years of education, thus supporting the argument that generous social security benefits can act as a disincentive to education. The findings have relevant implications for the design of survivor pensions and other social security benefits, while also highlighting an inefficiency stemming from the Brazilian pension system. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper2403&r=lam |