The recent wave of terrorist attacks has increased the attention paid to money laundering activities. Using several methodologies, this paper investigates empirically the determinants of money laundering and its regulation in over 80 countries by assembling a cross-country dataset on proxies for...

(Disponible en idioma inglés únicamente) Los críticos de la privatización sostienen que una reestructuración insuficiente de la fuerza laboral es una inquietud clave y que los gobiernos deberían crear mejores programas de reducción. Ponemos a prueba, empleando datos nuevos de una muestra...

(Disponible en idioma inglés únicamente) Durante los últimos 20 años, México ha redefinido el papel del Estado en su economía a través de un vigoroso programa de apertura del comercio, promoción de la eficiencia y reducción del tamaño y alcance del sector propiedad del Estado. La...

Privatization is under attack. Criticisms run from corrupt deals to abuse of market power and social welfare losses. We evaluate the empirical record on privatization relying on recent comprehensive studies from Latin America. There are four main results. First, the increased profitability of...

The objective of this paper is twofold. On one hand, we undertake an analysis of the recent evolution of capital markets and their effect on the availability of external financing in Mexico in the last two decades. On the other hand, based on a newly assembled firm-level data set on corporate...

This paper analyzes recent trends in Latin America’s institutional development regarding to investor protection. In spite of the underdevelopment of the region’s financial markets, there is slow movement towards legal reforms intended to protect investors and make regional markets more...

Over the last 20 years, Mexico redefined the role of the state in its economy through an ambitious program to liberalize trade, promote efficiency and reduce the size and scope of the state-owned sector. In Mexico, privatization led to a significant improvement in firm performance, as...

Critics of privatization argue that poor labor force restructuring is a key concern and that governments should establish better retrenchment programs. Using new data from a random sample of 400 companies in the world, we test competing theories about the wisdom of retrenchment programs and...

Este documento analiza las recientes tendencias del desarrollo institucional de América Latina en relación a la protección del inversionista. A pesar del subdesarrollo de los mercados financieros de la región, hay un movimiento lento hacia reformas legales con la intención de proteger a los...