This paper analyzes employment in Bolivian registered manufacturing firms during 1988 to 2007, establishing its relationship with labor regulation. Estimating job flows, we find that firms with high temporary worker rates (less labor regulation costs) are those with both higher job reallocation...

This report analyzes the importance of the hydrocarbon sector in Bolivia. The oil and gas sector currently represents a vital component of the Bolivian economy, accounting for 7 percent of the GDP in term of production and more than 30 percent of total government income. In addition, the...

It has been widely documented that investment in infrastructure is important for economic growth, but little work has been done in relation to the impact of infrastructure investment on other macroeconomic variables. This paper develops a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model of a...

We investigate a recent political theory of institutional change according to which institutions of economic freedom are more likely to be adopted at the extreme cases of strong and weak political competition than at cases in between. We find that such a U-shaped relationship is verified when...

The urban labor market in Bolivia can be divided into 4 main sectors: 1) the public sector, 2) the formal private sector, 3) self-employed informals, and 4) informal workers. Although incomes are generally higher in the public sector and in the formal private sector, there is a strong preference...

This document investigates the effectiveness of foreign aid in Bolivia. When comparing accumulated aid in each sector during the period 1998-2002 with the progress in each sector during the same period, it becomes clear that the four sectors receiving by far the most aid (Institutional...

This study focuses on analysing the linkages between output growth, employment and poverty, at both the macro and micro levels. At the macro level, the linkage between poverty and output growth is conceptualised in terms of the average productivity of the employed work force, which in turn gets...

Brazil has long ago removed most of the perverse government incentives that stimulated massive deforestation in the Amazon in the 70s and 80s, but one highly controversial policy remains: Road building. While data is now abundantly available due to the constant satellite surveillance of the...

After several decades of “state-capitalism” characterized by import substitution policies, Bolivia implemented in 1985 a New Economic Policy (NEP) following neo-liberal ideas of free trade, privatization, and liberalization of capital flows. It was hoped that the opening up of the economy...