Rates of return to investments in schooling have been estimated since the late 1950s. In the 60-plus year history of such estimates, there have been several attempts to synthesize the empirical results to ascertain patterns. This paper presents comparable estimates, as well as a database, that...

Using firm-level data from the manufacturing sector of Chile for the period 1995-2002, we examine whether access to finance increase the probability of exporting. To do that, we exploit information of firms’ access to banking debt and changes in the real exchange rate (RER) to identify...

Using the Climate Investment Survey from the World Bank, we analyze the effect of competition on technological innovation in developing countries. We deal with endogeneity of competition by using the interaction between industry turnover and entry regulation as an instrument. The basic idea for...

In the last decades, consumer debt experienced a marked increase in the United States, Latin America and other emerging countries, spurring a debate about the real costs and benefits of household credit. This paper explores the psychological costs of over indebtedness. Using a unique dataset...

The scanty economic literature has attributed to female voting part of the increase in government expenditure and social government expenditure over the XXth century. This finding results puzzling considering that the political science literature has documented that women tended to be more...

In this paper we analyze the effect of school entry and exit in the Chilean market- oriented educational system. During the period 1994-2012, nearly 2,150 schools closed (more than 2,800 if pre-K and kindergarten centers are included), around one-fifth of the current stock of schools. At the...

Ante el contagio de la crisis financiera internacional, la economia chilena experimento una intensa reduccion del precio del cobre y de los influjos de capitales. Consecuentemente, la demanda agregada y el empleo de trabajo y capital productivo se contrajeron hacia fines de 2008. En ese...

In the last decades, our understanding of human well-being and development has shifted from a traditional focus on income and consumption towards a richer multidimensional approach. This shift has been strongly influenced by a body of research in subjective well-being (SWB) and the capabilities...