Following a methodology proposed by Dalton (1920) and further developed by Atkinson (1970), among others, we evaluate whether the changes in Mexico's income distribution during 1984-2008 have meant meaningful changes in its population social welfare. Inequality indexes were estimated under...

This chapter starts with a description of the main features of the current Mexican tax system and of a (minor) tax reform that took place in 2010, when the government tried to correct for a drastic fall in its revenues because of the economic collapse in 2009. It then describes in a detailed way...

This chapter starts with a review of the marginal tax reform methodology that was first advanced by Ahmad and Stern (1984), as well as its second-order variant introduced by Urzúa (2005). After that, it reviews some aspects of the estimation of demand systems, a topic that, although well known...

This paper starts with a review of the marginal tax reform methodology that was first advanced by Ahmad and Stern (1984), as well as its second-order variant introduced by Urzúa (2005). After that, it reviews some aspects of the estimation of demand systems, a topic that, although well known to...

This paper starts with a description of the main features of the current Mexican tax system and of a (minor) tax reform that took place in 2010, when the government tried to correct for a drastic fall in its revenues because of the economic collapse in 2009. It then describes in a detailed way a...

This paper conducts a thorough data analysis using cross-sectional data from a study carried out in Mexico including over 16,500 observations. In the study, clusters were selected in areas Compartamos Banco, a Microfinance institution (MFI), has not lent in before. The clusters were randomly...

A subjective well-being approach is followed to assess the magnitude of inefficiency in the use of income. The information comes from a Mexican survey and an X-inefficiency technique is used. The paper shows that there exists substantial inefficiency in the use of income at all income levels,...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the causal effects that upgrading slum dwellings has on the living conditions of the extremely poor. In particular, we study the impact of providing better houses in situ to slum dwellers in El Salvador, Mexico and Uruguay. We experimentally evaluate the...