In order to create an environment of low and stable inflation in Mexico it has been necessary to generate a framework for the conduction of monetary policy focused on price stability along with fiscal discipline. This paper describes some structural achievements to control inflation that have...

The aim of this paper is to make imputations of earnings to observations with missing earnings in the Encuesta Nacional de Ocupaciones y Empleo (ENOE). We present imputations by two methods and also correction of estimations by reweighting observations with reported earnings. Then, we analyze...

We compare the experience of Latin American external debt crises, in particular the one in the 80s, with the current European one. We do so with the aim of shedding some light on the needed adjustment mechanisms. We argue for the need of much larger debt relief in Europe. To address the moral...

Consumer protection in financial markets in the form of information disclosure is high on governments agendas, despite the fact that the empirical evidence on its effectiveness is scarce. To measure the impact of Truth-in-Lending-Act-type disclosures on default and indebtedness, as well as of...

We estimate fiscal multipliers in a panel of countries using dynamic panel techniques and quarterly data for 55 countries. By using a GMM estimator and lagged dependent variables as instruments in a SVAR model, we attempt to correct for the biases present in this setting, to alleviate concerns...

In recent years the Bank of Mexico has made a series of rules-based interventions in the peso/dollar foreign exchange market. We assess the effectiveness of two specific interventions. These were the "Dollar auctions with minimum price", active between October 2008 and April 2010, and the...

In this research we develop generalized diffusion indexes for the Mexican state and sectorial economic activity. These indexes summarize the dynamics of the local cycles in a way that they are consistent with the aggregate economic activity. The proposed index includes three dimensions of the...

This paper studies the effects of three financial shocks in the economy: a net-worth shock, an uncertainty or risk shock, and a credit-spread shock. We argue that only the latter can push the nominal interest rate against its zero lower bound. Further, a recessionary shock to the net worth or...

Some authors argue that informality is associated with distorted firm decisions and inefficiency. In this paper, I assess the quantitative effect of incomplete tax enforcement on aggregate output and productivity using a dynamic general equilibrium framework. I calibrate the model using data for...

Using a novel biographical database including all Presidents and presidential candidates in Colombia for the period 1833-2010 I show that the value of a political connection can be quantified in terms of the votes transferred within a political network. I consider three types of political...