Changes in technology and markets result in the transformation of economic structure: When labor is quasi-fixed due to short-term specificity, changing conditions may imply either temporary unemployment or the need of retraining to enable mobility across the sectors. There is an economy-wide...

Labour market condition have been very favourable in Uruguay in the last decade;however, the situation varies according to workers qualifications. This is so in terms of employment growth, unemployment rates, wage rates, and also in the presence of informality. This paper focuses on several aspects...

Some countries seem to be lagging behind in global accumulation of skills. As the ratio of skilled to unskilled labour is key for growth (e.g. endogenous growth theory), this situation suggests a gloomy future for developing countries. Is catching up with the developed world?s levels of skills...

The paper discusses the links between skill requirements in the labour market and trade patterns using a CGE applied on the SAM 2005 for Uruguay. The results for alternative scenarios in the long term show that, the wage gap would widen should the pattern of trade growth follow the current trend;...

The ratio of skill to unskilled labour stocks in the economy is widely acknowledged to have an important role for development. Can education policy affect the evolution of this ratio? This paper shows that it can, and it also shows that the actual effect of education policy depends on the...

In Uruguay, similar to many developing countries, the economic return to lower secondary studies is low. When heterogeneity is introduced in the analysis, it can be shown that differences in the quality of education and in the probability of repetition mark the contrast between an attractive and...

Although the wage distribution is central to analysing inequality issues, the provision of public services destined for t he poor can make an essential difference in evaluating inequality in welfare rather than in income. Whereas raising taxes to fund public services would lead to a...

The aim of this work is to analyse the general equilibrium effects of terms of trade shocks in exportable sectors under particular assumptions about labour market. The model used is based on the Blacke et al. (1995) model of the Mauritian economy, modelled as consisting of three productive...

Standard trade theory suggests that trade liberalization produces opposite effects on human capital accumulation in developed and developing countries, reducing the incentives to invest in education in skill-scarce countries. How would conventional wisdom be modified if we introduce public...