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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2010‒12‒18
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Lucas Navarro (Department of Economics, ILADES-Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses matching techniques to examine the impact of internet use on individual earnings in six Latin American countries using recent household surveys data. Given their different internet use patterns and their implications, the analysis is done for salaried and self-employed workers separately. While salaried workers users mainly access the internet at work, self employed users access the internet mainly at other places. Therefore, the returns to internet use for salaried workers may be associated not only to individual but also to workplace characteristics. Results indicate a large effect of internet use on earnings for both groups of workers in most of the countries studied. These returns are high compared with estimates for industrialized countries. This could be explained by the much lower prevalence of internet use in the region for the international standards. Additionally, given that the estimations rely on cross-section data, they may not fully control for individuals’ characteristics before internet adoption. This calls for the need of panel-data on new ICTs diffusion in the region. |
| Keywords: | Internet use, Internet Impact, Latin America |
| JEL: | L86 O33 O54 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adv:wpaper:201011&r=lam |
| By: | Martin Cicowiez (CEDLAS-Universidad Nacional de La Plata); Carlos Gustavo Machicado (Institute for Advanced Development Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on the Bolivian economy. The PEP 1-1 Standard Model has been employed to analyze the effects of a reduction in (i) the world export prices of mining and agriculture, (ii) the world demand of textiles, and (iii) transfers to households (i.e., remittances) from abroad. The model has been calibrated to a new 2006 SAM for Bolivia. The households have been disaggregated according to their location (urban and rural) and ethnicity (indigenous and non-indigenous). The factors of production have been disaggregated into skilled and unskilled labor, capital, and natural resources. Not surprisingly, our results highlight the relevance of the decrease in the export price of natural gas in explaining the negative effects of the Global Financial Crisis. |
| Keywords: | Computable General Equilibrium Model, Financial Crisis, Forecasting and Simulation |
| JEL: | C68 E17 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adv:wpaper:201010&r=lam |
| By: | Ana María Iregui B.; Ligia Alba Melo B.; María Teresa Ramírez |
| Abstract: | The existence of wage differentials across sectors is a widely observed phenomenon. This paper provides new elements to understand inter and intra-sectoral wage differentials in Colombia by analysing a wage setting survey of 1305 firms and emphasizing the role of firm characteristics. The results from the descriptive analysis of the survey confirm the existence of substantial wage differentials across sectors and occupational positions in the country. We found positive wage differentials, with respect to the average of the economy for the different occupational groups, in electricity, gas, water and mining, financial services and manufacturing and strong negative wage differentials in agriculture, forestry and fishing. When analysing wage differential within each occupational group, higher wage dispersion is observed in the case of managers, followed by professionals. The lower wage dispersion for the least qualified jobs could be associated with the existence of a minimum wage in the country. In addition, we estimate cross section models for each occupational group and sector to account for the importance of firm characteristics in explaining wage differentials. |
| Date: | 2010–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000094:007736&r=lam |