In this paper we focus on a particular family of studies, namely, wage gaps decompositions. Numerous efforts have focused on documenting earnings differentials between females and males, indigenous and nonindigenous people, or Afro-descendants and whites. As the pieces of the literature that we...

Using new data we analyze retrenchment programs before privatization, their effect on prices paid and re-hiring policies pursued by the new private owners. We find evidence in support of skimming and adverse selection. We find that some labor retrenchment policies have a negative impact on net...

A key question in development economics is whether nutritional deficiencies generate intergenerational poverty traps by reducing the earnings potential of children born into poverty. To assess the causal influence on human capital of one of the most widespread micronutrient deficiencies,...

Beyond all the material and economic losses that natural disasters produce, post-disaster environments can alter the social capital of a community by affecting social norms, attitudes, and people's behaviour. To analyse this issue, we empirically investigate the effect that the aftermath of a...

Do attitudinal surveys and incentivized experiments predict actual behavior? We answer this question using data on trust and pro-sociality from experiments and surveys conducted on six Latin American cities. Individuals in agreement with a set of pro-social statements who also either are willing...

We provide cross-country empirical evidence on the link between measures of institutional development and of poverty over the period 1960-1990. We find that the more efficient the institutions, the lower the degree, severity, and incidence of poverty. We provide both ordinary least squares and...

Should state-owned enterprises change chief executive officer (CEO) before privatizing? We test competing views on this question by complementing a recently released database with newly collected data. We are able to cover 77 telecommunications privatizations, which account for nearly 80% of the...

Does information about rampant political corruption increase electoral participation and the support for challenger parties? Democratic theory assumes that offering more information to voters will enhance electoral accountability. However, if there is consistent evidence suggesting that voters...