This paper provides a set of measurements of the actual benefits and costs of the general old age retirement plan provided to individuals by the Mexican pension system (MPS), which is necessary to evaluate the decisions by workers to contribute to social security (i.e. work in the formal sector)...

Spanish Abstract: Se relatan las grandes líneas de reforma al sector salud en México desde los años ochenta. Para ello, se describe la estructura general del sistema. Si bien las reformas prometieron universalidad y fueron ambiciosas, en la práctica el ciudadano enfrenta una estructura de la...

Spanish Abstract:"Hambruna y Finanzas" (Famine and Finance) de Tyler Goodspeed evalúa el rol de los servicios de microfinanzas ante un desastre natural general, la gran hambruna irlandesa. El acceso a financiamiento jugó un rol importante en disminuir el hambre y la enfermedad, pero no estuvo...

Las reformas a la Ley Federal del Trabajo (LFT) de México se han propuesto por varios años. Esta nota define que el principal objetivo de una reforma debe ser mejorar el marco para la celebración de contratos de manera que se optimice la generación de capital humano y se disminuya el costo...

The empirical values of the response of labor supply to changes in wages, taxes, fertility, family structure and social insurance are of central importance to deal with many policy issues. This article presents estimates of the parameters of a labor supply function are presented in this article....

This document aims to provide a set of recommendations for the adoption of an unemployment insurance program in Mexico. It describes the situation of unemployment in Mexico, of the labor contracts, of the main federal employment programs and of the effectiveness of the employment protection...

This paper develops and tests a model of the relation between the volatility of the exchange rate, default rates, the level of interest rates on loans, and the availability of credit, laying emphasis on frictions in the financial market, specifically foreclosure costs to collecting bad debts. On...

Does improving institutional quality lower borrowing costs or raise them? Better institutions the marginal productivity of capital, the demand for funds and the interest rate. They may also lending risks, raising the supply of funds and lowering the cost of capital. Using data from 100 this...

Relying on John Henry Newman’s Idea of a University, this paper explores the relation between economics and other disciplines. Newman had high regard for disciplinary specialization, which he thought would teach students and scholars how to think and would keep them intellectually honest. At...

Faced with limited resources, policymakers need to know when and where to target support for displaced workers. The academic literature offers little support, presenting wide-ranging results with no consistent explanation for the observed differences in wages after workers are displaced. In this...