The objective of this paper is to estimate the length of poverty spells and its determinants. We analyze if short-term changes in the labor market affect the probability of staying in poverty. On the assumption that poverty transitions occur more frequently when we use a monthly data rather than...

It is widely believed that the presence of a large informal sector increases the ef?ciency costs of social programs in developing countries. We develop a simple theoretical model of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) that speci?es the ef?ciency–insurance tradeoff in the presence of informal...

It is widely believed that the presence of a large informal sector increases the efficiency costs of social programs in developing countries. We develop a simple theoretical model of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) that specifies the efficiency-insurance tradeoff in the presence of informal...

We use matched employer-employee data to study the situation of young workers in the (formal) labor market in Brazil. We employ the flow approach to draw a comparative picture of the patterns of the young and adult movements in the labor market during a period of fifteen years. We also estimate...