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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2024‒08‒12
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Celhay, Pablo (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile); Gallegos, Sebastian (Universidad Adolfo Ibañez) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new evidence on schooling mobility across three generations in six Latin American countries. By combining survey information with national census data, we have constructed a novel dataset that includes 50, 000 triads of grandparents, parents, and children born between 1890 and 1990. We estimate five intergenerational mobility (IGM) measures, finding that (i) the empirical multigenerational persistence in our six countries is twice as high as in developed countries, and 77% higher than what the theoretical model by Becker & Tomes (1986) predicts; (ii) Clark's (2014) theory of high and sticky persistence provides a better approximation for describing mobility across multiple generations in our sample; (iii) Even with high persistence, we uncover significant mobility improvements at the bottom of the distribution by estimating measures of absolute upward mobility (Chetty et al., 2014) and bottom-half mobility (Asher et al., 2022) over three generations. This novel evidence deepens our understanding of long-term mobility, and we expect future research to replicate it as more multigenerational data becomes available in different contexts. |
| Keywords: | developing countries, Latin America, intergenerational mobility, educational policy, multiple generations, compulsory schooling |
| JEL: | J62 N36 I24 I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17072 |
| By: | John H.Y. Edwards (Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of education quality on income inequality among men and on female labor force participation. I introduce a new dataset on local education expenditures for a 64-year period. By matching education spending to the time and place where each person went to school, the data allow for a much more granular measurement of human capital differences than measures like level of schooling or years of school attainment. They also permit measurement of human capital differences and evolution over a much longer time period than the data that are typically available. I show that differences in the quality of education received during childhood become significant determinants of income differences among fully employed adult men. In a finding that is new to the literature, I report that school quality differentials are significant determinants of how adult women allocate their time between domestic labor and formal wage work. |
| Keywords: | Female Labor Force Participation, Women and Economic Development, Brazil, Education Quality, Income Distribution, Education |
| JEL: | I24 I25 O15 J24 J16 D31 D63 H75 N16 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:2409 |
| By: | Emiliano Toni; Pablo Paniagua; Patricio \'Ordenes |
| Abstract: | The Latin American region has suffered an economic slowdown since the end of the commodities boom. Within this context, Chile was the poster child of economic growth and development up until 2014. Since then, Chile has also been trapped in a decade of slow economic growth. Chile's sudden slowdown and recent growth path divergence have posed a puzzle for economic growth and development economics. This paper examines this slowdown from an empirical perspective and determines how much can be attributed to internal and external causes. Using a synthetic control approach and a structural time series Bayesian estimation, our findings suggest that at least two-thirds of the Chilean slowdown is attributable to internal causes driven by a policy regime change in 2014, with external factors playing a secondary role. The net effect of this set of internal reforms resulted in a nearly 10% reduction in real GDP per capita over five years and led to a 1.8% decline in average GDP growth rates from 2015 to 2019. Our results are consistent with the literature that establishes that external shocks can explain only a small fraction of the poor economic performance of developing countries, suggesting that internal factors are the primary source of subpar performance. This research sheds light on the potential effects of policy regime shifts in economic growth, thus providing valuable insights for development economics and, more specifically, emerging economies. |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2407.02003 |