Demographers have increasingly argued that social interaction is an important mechanism for understanding fertility behavior. Yet, substantial uncertainty exists whether ´social learning´ or ´social influence´ constitutes the dominant mechanism through which social networks affect...

This study presents estimates that social networks exert causal and substantial influences on individuals’ attitudes and behaviors. The study explicitly allows for the possibility that social networks are not chosen randomly, but rather that important characteristics such as unobserved...

This book breaks away from the exclusively macroeconomic focus of development studies to bring the spotlight to the place where decisions are made: households. Complementing this microeconomic view with an aggregate approach, this volume uncovers clues to declining fertility, skyrocketing female...

La estructura y selección de temas de la presente publicación responde, en su mayor parte, a un diagnóstico de crecimiento para Guatemala realizado en 2007, donde se identificaron un conjunto de factores que afectan las posibilidades de desarrollo del país. A lo largo de estas páginas hay...

This report moves beyond the conventional scope of economics to examine three entrenched structural factors -demography, geography and institutions- that are closely connected to economic and social development. Historical in nature and slow to evolve, these variables are not always in the...

Abstract: High inequality has long been regarded as one of the main problems facing Latin American countries. To understand better the determinants of inequality and to help guide thinking about policy options, it would be useful to know whether inequality mainly reflects low intergenerational...