We study a cycle of subsidized energy prices and estimate its welfare impact on households in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region. A simple framework explains its emergence in terms of the preference of a median household (voter) for receiving transfer gains followed by a future flow of...

Macroeconomic crises in Argentina put public utility pricing under stress giving way to a cycle in real rates with changes in price structures in several dimensions. We summarize some stylized facts and then work on a simple model of public economics that can be used to represent observed...

We address the causes behind the drop in natural gas production in Argentina since 2004, starting from a basic supply model that depends on economic incentives, and adding control variables related to different potential explanations such as firm specific (or area specific) behavior and the...

We explore the relative importance of income and household characteristics (such as family size) in explaining differences in household consumption of natural gas and LPG. In a simple model of vertically (willingness to pay) ordered households we posit that the relative importance of the income...

This paper uses evidence on policies, markets and private transactions to discuss the experience of natural gas infrastructure integration in the Southern Cone of Latin America. The argument is that contracts on international exchanges supported by infrastructure may become incomplete due to...

We start addressing the performance of environmentally related taxes in Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay and find differences in level and structure with OECD countries but with the common feature that energy taxes are prime contributors. We then model an energy tax reform process out a status quo...

During the past two decades, Latin American countries have made pioneering efforts in reforming infrastructure services. The "first generation of reforms" encompassed widespread privatization, deregulation and restructuring of the provision of energy, water, transport and telecommunications...

The topics covered in the chapters of the report were presented and discussed in a conference organized by the IDB in Port of Spain on July 13th, 2004. After more than a decade of economic growth and despite encouraging prospects for the future, the Trinidad and Tobagp economy remains overly...