nep-lam New Economics Papers
on Central and South America
Issue of 2025–02–24
two papers chosen by
Maximo Rossi, Universidad de la RepÃúºblica
  1. The influence of the Viveza in the Latin American Business Environment:Exploring and mapping a regional psychological construct By Alexis SANDES; Tomoki SEKIGUCHI
  2. Including the Rich in Income Inequality Measures: An Assessment of Correction Approaches By Nora Lustig; Andrea Vigorito
  1. By: Alexis SANDES; Tomoki SEKIGUCHI
    Abstract: Reported news on high-profile business-people engaging in unethical acts frequently headlines Latin American media. Local individuals agree that the Viveza, a Latin American indigenous phenomenon based on prioritizing individual benefits over the ethicality of the acts, promotes dishonest behaviors in the Latin American business environment. Despite its importance for Latin American Societies Despite its importance for individuals who want to conduct business in Latin America, there is a lack of empirical research about the Viveza phenomenon. Through 45 semi-structured interviews with native individuals from 20 Latin American countries who have lived in Japan in the past two years, this study aims to explore and map the Viveza construct and its consequences for Latin American individuals. This research reveals that the Viveza is an institutionalized behavioral pattern in Latin American societies that shapes local social norms, allowing individuals to justify unethical behaviors easily. Moreover, this research also reveals that Viveza significantly influences the daily social interactions between Latin American individuals and the Latin American business environment. This study contributes to the literature by establishing a common ground for a relevant factor in the studies of Latin American societies. In addition, this study provides useful insights for non-Latin American practitioners who engage in business in the Latin American region.
    Date: 2025–02
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kue:epaper:e-24-008
  2. By: Nora Lustig (Tulane University); Andrea Vigorito (Universidad de la Republica)
    Abstract: Inequality measures based on household surveys may be biased because they typicallyfail to capture incomes of the wealthy properly. The "missing rich" problem stems fromseveral factors, including sampling errors, item and unit nonresponse, underreporting of income, and data preprocessing techniques like top coding. This paper presents and compares prominent correction approaches to address issues concerning the upper tail of the income distribution in household surveys. Correction approaches are classified based on the data source, distinguishing between those that rely solely on within-survey information and those that combine household survey data with external sources. We categorize the correction methods into three types: replacing, reweighting, andcombining reweighting and replacing. We identify twenty-two different approaches that have been applied in practice. We show that both levels and trends can be quite sensitive to the approach and provide broad guidelines on choosing a suitable correction approach.
    Keywords: income inequality, top incomes, household surveys, correction methods, tax records
    JEL: C18 C81 C83 D31
    Date: 2025–02
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2025-681
This nep-lam issue is ©2025 by Maximo Rossi. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at https://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.
This page is being maintained by Thomas Krichel. It was last updated on 2025‒03‒17 at 11:33.