Abstract: We document the existence of a Crime Kuznets Curve in US states since the 1970s. As income levels have risen, crime has followed an inverted U-shaped pattern, rst increasing and then dropping. The Crime Kuznets Curve is not explained by income inequality. In fact, we show that during...

Abstract: This document provides recent evidence about the persistency of wage gaps between formal and informal workers in Colombia by using a non-parametric method proposed by Ñopo (2008a). Over a rich dataset at a household level during 2008-2012, it is found that formal workers earn between...

This paper studies the effect of strengthening democracy, as captured by an increase in voting rights, on the incidence of violent civil conflict in nineteenth-century Colombia. Empirically studying the relationship between democracy and conflict is challenging, not only because of conceptual...

Abstract: Financial integration has been pursued aggressively across the globe in the last fifty years; however, there is no conclusive evidence on the diversification gains (or losses) of such efforts. These gains (or losses) are related to the degree of comovements and synchronization among...

Abstract: While PISA datasets have been used for measuring inequality of educational opportunity they have important limitations: (i) samples only cover a relatively limited fraction of developing countries´ cohorts of 15-year-olds, and (ii) such fractions are not uniform across countries and...

Resumen: En este trabajo se explora, desde el punto de vista empírico, el comportamiento de la profundización, apertura y cierre de mercados de exportación a nivel sectorial para Colombia durante el periodo 1997-2010, con énfasis en los dos periodos de recesión que presenta la economía...

Abstract:Free media may not favor political accountability when other democratic institutions are weak,and may even bring undesirable unintended consequences. We propose a simple model in whichpoliticians running for office may engage in coercion to obtain votes. A media scandal thatexposes...

AbstractHow the degree of publicness of goods affect violent conflict? Based on the theoretical model in Esteban and Ray (2001) we find that the effect of the degree of publicness depends on the group size. When the group is small (large), the degree of publicness increases (decreases) the...

Abstract: We design a financial network model that explicitly incorporates linkages across institutions through a direct contagion channel, as well as an indirect common exposure channel. In particular, common exposure is setup so as to link the financial to the real sector. The model is...

This paper investigates the role of works councils in a simple agency framework in which works councils are supposed to monitor manager´s information on behalf of the workforce, but they are independent agents who might pursue their private interest. First, we consider that workers can...