In August 2010, the Costa Rican government implemented a comprehensive program to increase compliance with legal minimum wages, the Campaña Nacional de Salarios Mínimos (National Campaign for Minimum Wages). To evaluate the impact of the Campaign, the authors use a regression discontinuity...

In August 2010 the Costa Rican government implemented a comprehensive program to increase compliance with legal minimum wages, the Campaign for Minimum Wages. To evaluate the impact of the Campaign, we use a regression discontinuity approach, which compares what happened to workers who before...

We document changes in income and earnings inequality in the five Central American countries from the early 1990s to 2009. In the 1990s Costa Rica had the most equal distribution of income in Central America, and one of the most equal distributions of income in Latin America. At the other...

After declining from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, earnings inequality in Costa Rica stabilized from 1987 to 1992 and then increased from 1992 to 1999. In this paper we use recently-developed techniques to measure the extent to which these changes in earnings inequality were the result of...

We document changes in income and earnings inequality in the five Central American countries from the early 1990s to 2009. In the 1990s Costa Rica had the most equal distribution of income in Central America, and one of the most equal distributions of income in Latin America. At the other...

This book examines poverty as a structural problem caused by the way economic systems operate. It poses a simple question: Why do poor people earn less? Case studies in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru find the poor caught in a vicious circle. They lack sufficient access to...

Este libro ofrece un análisis crítico de los programas para combatir la pobreza en cuatro países. Los estudios revelan diversos problemas normativos, de procedimiento y de coordinación interinstitucional que pueden ser resueltos, al menos en parte, con la colaboración creativa del sector...

In this paper we study year-to-year intra-generational income mobility in Costa Rica. To do so we use a panel data set constructed from the Household Surveys for Multiple Purposes(2001-2007) that allows us to follow the same households and persons from year-to-year.We find that there is...

This book examines poverty as a structural problem caused by the way economic systems operate. It poses a simple question: Why do poor people earn less? Case studies in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru find the poor caught in a vicious circle. They lack sufficient access to...

Este libro ofrece un análisis crítico de los programas para combatir la pobreza en cuatro países. Los estudios revelan diversos problemas normativos, de procedimiento y de coordinación interinstitucional que pueden ser resueltos, al menos en parte, con la colaboración creativa del sector...