This paper proposes some changes to the official methodology that is currently in use to measure the state of poverty in Mexico. Among other suggestions, it is recommended the use of bootstrapping to estimate confidence intervals for the poverty statistics, as well as the use of dominance...

This paper extends the methodology first proposed by Ahmad and Stern for the design of tax reforms that are optimal at the margin. The extension centers on a sharper approximation of welfare measures. The original approach and its variant are illustrated in the case of the current Mexican tax...

This paper extends the methodology first proposed by Ahmad and Stern for the design of tax reforms that are optimal at the margin. The extension centers on a sharper approximation of welfare measures. The original approach and its variant are illustrated in the case of the current Mexican tax...

This paper estimates the distributive and regional effects of firms with market power in the case of Mexico. It presents evidence that the welfare losses due to the exercise of monopoly power are not only significant, but also larger, in relative terms, for the poor. Moreover, the losses are...

This note warns about the careless computation of poverty indexes when the welfare of each household is measured by its net income, since this can be negative. As is illustrated in the case of Mexico, even if only a handful of households report negative incomes, the resulting poverty aggregates,...

This paper describes a GAUSS program that can be used, among other things, to find equilibria for computable general equilibrium models, and fix price equilibria for general non Walrasian models. Simple applications for those two cases, as well as for linear and quadratic programming, are also...

This paper evaluates the indirect tax reforms that took place in México in 1995 and 1998, focusing on their impact on welfare at the household and social levels. The empirical analysis is based on the estimation of an Almost Ideal Demand system, using its correct nonlinear version and by means...

This paper examines the sustainability of the Mexican current account deficit prior to the December 1994 crisis. It tests whether or not the Mexican economy was satisfying its intertemporal budget constraint, and finds that signals of possible trouble without a change in policies were present...