Our paper analyzes the performance of different methods to adjust beta. Specifically, we compare the standard OLS regression method with the Blume and the t-distribution methods from the point of view of reference-day risk. Our results indicate that the t-distribution method minimizes the...

Based on a new dataset obtained from survey data, we study household debt default behavior in Chile. Previous research in this area suggests financial and personal variables that can help estimate individual and group probabilities of default. We study mortgage and consumer default separately,...

Between 1989 and 1993 a structural reform program was introduced in Colombia. If the reform package paled in comparison to those of other countries, it was remarkable given Colombia?s long-standing record of moving very cautiously in the reform front. The fact that the reform effort did not...

Using matching estimator techniques developed by Heckman, Ichimura, Smith and Todd (1998) and Heckman, Lalonde and Smith (1999), we explore the determinants of achievement rates in standardized tests of Colombian students attending public and private schools. This methodology allows us to...

I investigate the relationship between measures of skewness and expected stock returns. Forcing the data to fit a linear model, past research finds only a negative relationship between these variables. Using a novel methodology that endogenously estimates breakpoints in the relationship between...

Reference-day risk has been previously identified as a type of sampling variation phenomenon, and its effect on the estimation of stock returns and their volatility and market betas have been documented. Using a dataset of daily equity mutual fund returns, we extend previous studies to analyze...

The concept of fund manager herding has been studied in depth, and the most widely used measure applied to this market-wide phenomena is the one incepted in Lakonishok, Shleifer & Vishny (1992), LSV. However, this measure has been much criticized, and its validity is still in doubt. This paper...

Estimation of conventional Taylor rules for Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru shows that central banks increase their repo rate in response to increases in the output gap and, except in Peru, to deviations of inflation expectations from target. Using a Markov-Switching methodology, it is found...

This paper examines the decentralization process in Colombia, particularly as it relates to reforms embodied in the 1991 Constitution, and the bailouts of territorial entities that have occurred in subsequent years as a result of perverse incentive structures. The paper provides a summary of the...