We conduct an integral study of the effects of health on the economic and demographic dynamics of Brazil. Using probability of survival by age and gender groups as health indicator, we find a complex mosaic for the interaction of health with each of the principal aspects of the transition -...

This paper sets to analyze the dynamic feedback between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and economic growth—larger FDI promotes higher GDP, while higher GDP can be achieved with higher levels of FDI. We use panels and a sample of 19 Latin American countries to estimate a dynamic FDI and a...

In this document we analyze the dynamics of per capita value added in manufacturing as a proxy of per capita income in Mexico’s municipalities and US counties. Specifically we seek to determine if there is convergence (absolute or conditional), divergence or stratification. A dynamic panel...

This paper advances the analysis of regional income convergence inColombia, through the use of the income data recently estimated for the departments,the main subnational political units. The results show a polarization process betweenBogotá and the rest of the departments. The preponderance of...

This essay employs nonparametric and spatial techniques commonly used in the Spatial Economics literature to study the labor productivity of the central region of Mexico at the municipio (county) level. In particular, we measure the spatial autocorrelation of the labor productivity and use a...

This paper shows that the evolution of the level of Mexico real and real per capita output between 1895 and 2008 can be adequately described through a trend stationary model, affected by 4 structural breaks, which ocurred at dates that seem to coincide with domestic institutional arrangements,...

A partir del abandono del régimen de Convertibilidad, y con la llegada al gobierno de Néstor Kirchner y Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina inicia un proceso de crecimiento con tasas anuales de crecimiento superiores al 7% cuyo éxito no tiene antecedentes en la historia económica del...

This paper studies productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean, with an emphasis on the service sector. It shows that the low levels of productivity observed in the region are not only a consequence of low productivity at the firm level, but also of misallocation of workers across firms....

We propose a new measure of allocative efficiency based on unrealized increases in aggregate productivity growth. We show that the difference in the value of the marginal product of an input and its marginal cost at any plant—the plant-input gap—is exactly equal to the change in aggregate...

We use panel data on Mexican manufacturing plants to study the connection between plants’ responses to changes in the economic environment and their contributions to aggregate productivity growth in the period following the implementation of the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In all...