Starting in the mid 1970s, Chile implemented comprehensive structural market reforms. Using manufacturing plant-level data on Chilean firms for years 1980 to 2001, we estimate the role of reforms on efficiency. We analyze aggregate productivity constructed from micro data to find that in the...

Previous empirical research has shown that Mexico's Oportunidades program has succeeded in increasing schooling and improving health of disadvantaged children. This paper studies the program's potential longer-term consequences for the poverty and inequality of these children. It adapts methods...

Industrial decline and restructuring in the transition economies presents a prime example of the relationship between changes in aggregate economic indicators and underlying microeconomic adjustments. This paper employs matched labor force survey data to focus on the magnitude and determinants...

We analyze the impact of remittances on the labor supply of men and women in post-conflict Tajikistan. Individuals from remittance-receiving households are less likely to participate in the labor market and supply fewer hours when they do. The results are robust to different measures of...

We develop a theoretical framework that considers the role played by moral hazard and the diversity of networks and cultures in the choice of hiring channel. In favoritism contexts social networks, and particularly strong ties, are adopted as hiring channels for unskilled jobs and result in wage...

We apply a variation of Bourguignon, Meléndez and Ferreira (2005) methodology to examine the extent to which income inequality is associated with the inequality of observed exogenous circumstances of origin that determine individuals' "opportunities" to pursue their chosen life plans. We find...

This paper makes a quantitative assessment of possible reforms to the Chilean tax system. The simulations are based on a recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model that is calibrated with the input-output matrix 2003. For each scenario is considered a cut effective rate of value...

This paper analyses household income mobility in Chile between 1996 and 2001. Compared to industrialized and most developing countries, mobility has been quite high. The purpose of this paper is to apply a binomial probit model and split analysis into assessment of individuals and households on...

This article provides a tool to study over time the distributions of income in a population, regardless the irregular distribution of data. We even approach Lorenz curves at the times when we lack the required data. Finally we apply the present technique to a European country where inequalities...

Zahlreiche Menschen, Politiker und Wissenschaftler in Deutschland glauben, dass das "Bruttoinlandsprodukt", kurz BIP, als Maßzahl für gesellschaftlichen Wohlstand überholt sei. Deshalb hat der Deutsche Bundestag Ende 2010 eine Studien-Kommission ("Enquete- Kommission") eingerichtet, die den...