We analyze the way in which social security privatization reform affects labor market outcomes. We develop a model of the labor market where we assume that, as is the case in most emerging markets, a formal and an informal sectors coexist side by side. According to our model, a social security...

In the mid-1970s Chile initiated a deep market-oriented reform program aimed at opening up the economy, privatizing state owned enterprises and stabilizing the macroeconomy. In the 1980s Chile began to grow at increasingly rapid rates -- between 1986 and 1995 the average rate of growth bordered...

In this paper we use high frequency interest rate data for a group of Latin American countries to analyze the behavior of volatility through time. We are particularly interested in understanding whether periods of high volatility spillover across countries. Our analysis relies both on univariate...

This paper deals with structural adjustment in the highly indebted countries. The origins of the debt crisis are first analyzed. Then the nature of the adjustment followed by the debt ridden countries between 1982- 1987 is discussed. It is noted that for most nations the adjustment has been...

For over a century social analysts have debated the connection between trade policy and economic performance. This controversy continues today, even as the world is experiencing an unprecedented period of trade liberalization, and in spite of numerous empirical studies that claim to have found a...

This paper reviews the experience of Latin American countries with structural reforms, and discusses the relationship between macroeconomic stabilization and trade liberalization programs undertaken in the region since the early 1980s. The problem of sequencing of stabilization and structural...

This paper analyzes the relationship between trade policy and economic performance. The paper is divided in two fundamental parts. The first one uses a cross country data set to investigate the relationship between trade policy and productivity growth. It is found that countries that are more...

In this paper we analyze the behavior of stock markets in six emerging countries. More specifically, we describe the bull and bear cycles of four Latin American and two Asian countries, comparing their characteristics during both phases and the degree of concordance of bullish periods. We divide...

This paper is about the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago, between 1947 and 1982. The paper has the form of a conversation between the two authors and covers issues such as the existence of a “Chicago School,” the Department’s governance, the personalities of some...

In this paper I analyze several issues related to contagion,' including its definition, recent experiences, alternative channels at work, and possible prevention mechanisms. The discussion deals with the macroeconomics implications of contagion, and concentrates on the relationship between the...