Mar 2019
We partially identify population treatment effects in observational data under sample selection, without the benefit of random treatment assignment. We provide bounds both for the average and the…
Mar 2019
Simplified tax regimes reduce both tax rates and compliance costs for small firms. On the one hand, these regimes increase the number of businesses formally registered and have the potential of also…
Feb 2019
Does providing information improve citizens’ perception about government transparency? Does all information matter the same for shaping perceptions about the government? This paper addresses these…
Feb 2019
This paper uses for the first time program administrative data from Brazil’s National Employment System (SINE) to assess the impact of SINE job interview referrals on labor market outcomes. Data for…
Feb 2019
This study examines the relationship between public financial management (PFM), the financing of health interventions and health outcomes. Specifically, the paper econometrically tests whether the…
Feb 2019
This paper estimates the direct and spillover effects of two matching grants schemes designed to promote firm-level research and development (R&D) investment in Chile on firm productivity.…
Jan 2019
The labor force participation of women is lower than the labor force participation of men. This empirical regularity is particularly acute in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In terms of labor…
Dec 2018
Welfarist justifications of democracy presume that citizens have policy preferences that are responsive to pertinent information. Is this accurate? This paper addresses that question by providing a…
Dec 2018
Investments in public transit infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean often aim to reduce spatial and social inequalities by improving accessibility to jobs and other opportunities. The…
Dec 2018
Despite the growing interest in and proliferation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems around the world, their causal impacts on labor market outcomes remain unexplored. Reduced travel times for those…
Dec 2018
We study the effect of different types of barriers to innovation (financial, demand, knowledge, market, cooperation, and regulatory barriers) on firm level innovation inputs and outputs. Using a…
Dec 2018
Maintaining high standards of care from doctors, nurses and other health professionals is of critical importance for an effective and efficient health system. Yet deficient levels of health worker…
Dec 2018
A booming literature has argued that mission-based motives are a central feature of mission-oriented labor markets. This paper shifts the focus to task-based motivation and finds that it yields…
Dec 2018
This paper quantifies the impacts of transport infrastructure investments on economic activity in Haiti, proxied by satellite luminosity data. Our identification strategy exploits the differential…
Dec 2018
This paper studies the effects of areal cable cars on mode of transport, time use and employment in the metropolitan area of La Paz, Bolivia. Using an instrumental variables approach, we estimate…
Dec 2018
This paper examines gaps in child development by socioeconomic status (SES) using a large nationally representative sample of children 0–59 months old in Bolivia and a rich set of child health and…
Nov 2018
Fiscal policy is procyclical in developing countries. An ample literature has explained this fact and explored its consequences for aggregate cyclical fluctuations. Multilateral Development Banks (…
Nov 2018
El presente estudio documenta que, de acuerdo con la información disponible, tanto el nivel educativo como la calidad de la educación en México han mejorado durante los últimos 20 años. En línea con…
Nov 2018
This paper explores the impact of a livestock transfer program, that targeted small-holder female farmers with high levels of food insecurity in Nicaragua. For this purpose, the three dimensions of…
Nov 2018
What happens when the tax authority increases enforcement in one tax with compliance in other taxes? The very little evidence available is not conclusive. This paper presents a very simple analytical…