This paper analyzes the effects of labor regulation on employment for Bolivian registered manufacturing firms during 1988 to 2007. By estimating job flows we find that firms with high temporary worker rates (as a proxy of lower labor regulation costs) are those with both higher job reallocation...

This paper studies the extent to which increases in bank credit supply available for small and medium firms can foster formal employment in Mexico. We use a detailed dataset containing loan-level information for all loans extended by commercial banks to private firms in Mexico during the...

Colombia tuvo la más alta tasa de desempleo de Latinoamérica en el año 2011, 10.8% en promedio. Al interior del mercado laboral, la tasa de desempleo de las mujeres fue 1.7 veces más alta que la de los hombres para el periodo 2007 – 2011, se evidencia que los indicadores empeoran cuando se...

In this paper, we evaluate a series of minimum wage hikes implemented in the early XXIst century in Argentina using administrative records of registered employment. We identify the effect of raising the minimum wage on job separations via a regression discontinuity design. More specifically, we...

Minimum wage (MW) policies are widespread in the developing world and yet their effects are still unclear. In this paper we explore the effect of national MW policies in Latin America's six largest economies by exploiting the heterogeneity in the bite of the national minimum wage across local...

This paper documents the changes in the income distribution in Argentina from the mid-1970s to the mid-2000s. Over the period inequality increased substantially. Two types of episodes have shaped this upward trend: deep macroeconomic crises and periods of sudden and intense economic...

This paper documents patterns and recent developments on different dimensions of inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). New comparative international evidence confirms that LAC is a region of high inequality, although maybe not the highest in the world. Income inequality has fallen...

We present a detailed description of the drastic changes in many aspects of the distribution of income in Argentina, complementing a recent study by Gasparini and Cruces (2009), who focus mostly on inequality. We use modern descriptive tools to provide a complete map of the changes in many...

En este trabajo se analizan los cambios en la desigualdad producidos durante el período 1998-2005. Se presenta un conjunto de resultados que pueden contribuir a entender mejor los cambios en la desigualdad. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que la desigualdad distributiva observada entre ambos...

This paper analyzes the effects of localized labor demand shocks in the tradable sector, such as the establishment of a large tradable firm in a municipality, over nontradable formal and informal jobs in the case of Mexico. Results indicate that locations that experienced this shock have between...