In spite of the rapid fertility transition experienced by most Latin American and Caribbean countries, teenage fertility has not changed at the same pace or in the same direction. Given that early childbearing is deleterious for both mother and child, we describe differentials in the levels and...

The purpose of this study is to understand how public and private investments in health in Colombia are related to future earnings of individuals. The returns to good health of individuals and the determinants of the health production function are analyzed. The magnitude of the returns to having...

Common sense suggests that healthier people are more productive and wealthier people can obtain things that make them healthier. This book asks whether investments in health also affect productivity and how public policy can influence this relationship. These questions are probed through a...

This book examines poverty as a structural problem caused by the way economic systems operate. It poses a simple question: Why do poor people earn less? Case studies in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru find the poor caught in a vicious circle. They lack sufficient access to...

This book uses micro-level data for 18 Latin American countries to examine the choices adolescents make in three areas of behavior: their time allocation toward school and work, their sexual behavior and fertility, and their adoption of adult roles as they marry or cohabitate. Analyzing these...

A growing number of cities around the world have established systems for monitoring the quality of urban life. Many of those systems combine objective information with subjective opinions and cover a wide variety of topics. This book assesses a method that takes advantage of both types of...

The present paper explores the relationship between political competition and effective public goods delivery systems in a decentralized context to study whether the awareness generated through such a competitive environment and the existence of more political options are a part of the causal...

This work will try to measure the differentiated effect that the changes in the economic conditions have on the families in terms of labor participation of the spouses and other members of the family, as well as its effect on the scholar attendance of children and young people.Abstract: Este...

This paper surveys the evolution and implications of fiscal decentralization in Colombia in recent decades. After describing the fiscal decentralization process and its impact on sub-national finances, the paper presents the evolution of departmental public finances, departmental vertical...

This book analyzes the reasons for lackluster performance selected Latin American countries in mobilizing subnational own-source revenues and explores policy options to increase these revenues as efficiently and equitably as possible. Seven case studies--Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,...