This paper analyzes the aggregate effects of a revenue neutral fiscal-cum-social policy reform in a typical developing country that consists of two main changes: (1) the implementation of universal social insurance to replace the current dual social protection system (i.e., a reconfiguration of...

This paper examines how the combination of indebtedness and exogenous shocks induce volatility for the countries of Latin America. A techique for simulating the impact of shocks on the costs of external indebtedness and the response of fiscal policies in adjustment to such shocks is presented...

The topics covered in the chapters of the report were presented and discussed in a conference organized by the IDB in Port of Spain on July 13th, 2004. After more than a decade of economic growth and despite encouraging prospects for the future, the Trinidad and Tobagp economy remains overly...

The Peruvian economy has exhibited remarkable growth in the past 20 years. Good tax and monetary policies, along with comprehensive structural adjustment, which has attracted substantial foreign investment, are regarded as the pillars of this success. Notwithstanding the advances experienced on...

This paper assesses the effects of the Colombian Unemployment Subsidy (US), which includes benefits as well as training for some recipients. Using regression discontinuity and matching differences-in-differences estimators, the study finds that participation in the labor market, earnings of...

Tax policy is among the most common and relevant instruments in the toolkit of policy-makers when thinking about promoting growth, yet there is not compelling evidence regarding its effect in Latin American countries. Using a variety of approaches, we estimate the effects on growth of the most...

While decreasing inequality is generally considered desirable, and there is a growing understanding of which policies do and do not promote equality, much less is known regarding why these policies are adopted to varying degrees of intensity in different times and places. To explain this...

This technical note discusses the civil servant pension system in Brazil over the past two decades. Since 1998 the Brazilian government has been implementing reforms to increase the financial sustainability of its pension schemes - seeking to contain pension deficits without hurting acquired...

Mexico is characterized by a dual social insurance architecture. Firms and workers in salaried contractual relations are obligated to pay for a bundled set of health, pension and related programs. Nonsalaried workers benefit from an unbundled set of parallel programs paid by the government. We...

This paper discusses the merits of alternative definitions of the structural budget in the context of their use in the design and implementation of fiscal rules. To this end, the paper argues that there are three different purposes behind the notion of a structural budget balance: (a) separating...