Globally we are living in difficult times when peace and human security have become big challenges that could have negative implications if not addressed properly. University students -the future leaders are also the victims of such threats and some of them involve themselves in violence by...

This paper explores the link between exports and total factor productivity (TFP) in Brazilian manufacturing firms over the period 2000-2008. The Brazilian experience is instructive as it is a case of an economy that expanded aggregate exports significantly, but with stagnant aggregate TFP...

This paper studies the regional convergence of sub-national states in the case of Mercosur from 1961 to 2005 by using a non-parametric technique of clustering under the concept of \regime of performance". In the first section, a review in interregional convergence is shown for the Mercosur case....

This paper shows the relationship between business growth and private corruption in the manufacturing industry in Colombia. This study investigates the dynamics of these variables using various techniques by implementing empirical models: estimations via panel data estimates and modeling with...

This paper analyzes the self-selection patterns among Mexican return migrants during the period 1990-2010. To calculate the selection patterns, we nonparametrically estimate the counterfactual wages that the return migrants would have experienced had they never migrated by using the wage...

In the early 1990's, the Argentine government promoted a framework for productivity-based negotiations between firms and unions at low levels of organization. The policy weakened the industry-wide collective bargaining system, which sets working conditions for all firms in an industry. This...

This article studies minimum wage non-compliance in Honduras, a dual labor market with high wage floors that are weakly enforced. However, rather than just counting how many workers earn sub-minimum wages, it also estimates violation indices that measure compliance at the intensive margin. I...

Many researchers and economists have argued that competitiveness studies conducted by WEF and IMD, show limitations in small-economies, even more when they have different characteristics. The objective of this research is to study the competitiveness of three small-economies: Puerto Rico, Costa...

For over a decade now, various efforts have been put in place by various governments of the developing economies to promote economic growth, financial development and expand trade with mixed results. The ability of financial development and/or trade openness to influence economic growth in the...

After much debate, many academic circles have concluded that under the right circumstances, infrastructure stocks may be a promoter for growth. This paper benchmarks Mexico's infrastructure quantity stocks and identifies Mexico's infrastructure bottlenecks in regard to 94 countries. With a...