336 records from EconBiz based on author Name

1. Education inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Fernández, Raquel; Pagés, Carmen; Székely, Miguel; Acevedo, Ivonne;
2023
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
Availability: Link

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2. Education inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean

abstract

Education is a crucial asset for a country's economic prospects and for its inhabitants. In addition to its direct impact on growth via the accumulation of human capital, it is a critical ingredient in producing an informed citizenry, enhancing their ability to obtain and exert human and political rights and their facility to adapt to changing environments (generated by, e.g., technological or climatic change) among other benefits. In this chapter, we study education inequality in LAC (both in quantity and quality), assess how it emerges and amplifies or dampens existing inequalities, and examine the interaction of education inequality with other forms of inequality, primarily income and labor market outcomes. Our analysis is based on primary data from multiple sources.

Fernández, Raquel; Pagés, Carmen; Székely, Miguel; Acevedo, Ivonne;
2023
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
Availability: Link Link

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3. Education Inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean

abstract

Education is a crucial asset for a country's economic prospects and for its inhabitants. In addition to its direct impact on growth via the accumulation of human capital, it is a critical ingredient in producing an informed citizenry, enhancing their ability to obtain and exert human and political rights and their facility to adapt to changing environments (generated by, e.g., technological or climatic change) among other benefits. In this paper, we study education inequality in LAC (both in quantity and quality), assess how it emerges and amplifies or dampens existing inequalities, and examine the interaction of education inequality with other forms of inequality, primarily income and labor market outcomes. Our analysis is based on primary data from multiple sources

Fernández, Raquel; Pagés, Carmen; Székely, Miguel; Acevedo, Ivonne;
2024
Type: Arbeitspapier; Working Paper; Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature;
Availability: Link Link

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4. Who Benefits from Labor Market Regulations? Chile 1960-1998

abstract

Economists have examined the impact of labor market regulations on the level of employment. However, there are many reasons to suspect that the impact of regulations differs across types of workers. In this paper we take advantage of the unusual large variance in labor policy in Chile to exa mine how different labor market regulations affect the distribution of employment and the employment rates across age, gender and skill levels. To this effect, we use a sample of repeated cross-section household surveys spanning the period 1960-1998 and measures of the evolution of job security provisions and minimum wages across time. Our results suggest large distribution effects. We find that employment security provisions and minimum wages reduce the share of youth and unskilled employment as well as their employment rates. We also find large effects on the distribution of employment between women and men

Montenegro, Claudio; Pagés, Carmen;
2021
Availability: Link

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5. The Cost of Job Security Regulation : Evidence from Latin American Labor Markets

abstract

This paper documents the high level of job security protection in Latin American labor markets and analyzes its impact on employment. We show that job security policies have substantial impact on the level and the distribution of employment in Latin America. They reduce employment and promote inequality. The institutional organization of the labor market affects both employment and inequality

Heckman, James J.; Pagés, Carmen;
2021
Availability: Link

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6. Law and Employment : Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean

abstract

This paper summarizes the main lessons learned from Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean, a forthcoming NBER book. It places Latin American economies and economic policies in a world context. The paper quantifies the cost of regulation in Latin America and OECD Europe and discusses the origin of regulation. It shows the fragility of time series data analyses of the sort widely used to analyze the impact of regulation in OECD Europe and the benefits of using microdata data. The evidence shows that regulation reduces labor market flexibility, reduces the employment of marginal workers and generates inequality in the larger society

Heckman, James J.; Pagés, Carmen;
2021
Availability: Link

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7. Minimum Wages in Kenya

abstract

This paper examines the performance of minimum wage legislation in Kenya, both in terms of its coverage and enforcement as well as in terms of their implications for wages and employment. Our findings based on the 1998/99 labor force data - the last labor force survey available - indicate that minimum wages, which, in principle, apply to all salaried employees, were better enforced and had stronger effects in the non-agricultural industry than in the agricultural one. More specifically, our results suggest that (i) compliance rates were higher in occupations other than agriculture, (ii) minimum wages were positively associated with wages of low-educated workers and women in non-agricultural activities, while no such relationship is found for workers in agriculture, and (iii) higher minimum wages were associated with a lower share of workers in formal activities in a given occupation and location. Our estimates indicate that a 10 percent point increase in the minimum to median wage ratio could be associated with a decline in the share of formal employment of between 1.2-5.6 percentage points and an increase of between 2.7-5.9 points in the share of self-employment

Andalon, Mabel; Pagés, Carmen;
2021
Availability: Link Link
Citations: 16 (based on OpenCitations) Cited By

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8. Are All Labor Regulations Equal? Evidence from Indian Manufacturing

abstract

Using manufacturing data for India, this paper studies the economic effects of legal amendments on two types of labor laws: employment protection and labor dispute resolution legislation. We find that laws that increase employment protection or the cost of labor disputes substantially reduce registered sector employment and output. These laws do no seem to benefit workers either, as they do not increase the share of value added that goes to labor. Labor-intensive industries, such as textiles, are the hardest hit by amendments that increase employment protection while capital-intensive industries are the most affected by laws that increase the cost of labor dispute resolution. These adverse effects are not alleviated by the widespread and increasing use of contract labor, particularly in regards to employment. Results are robust to an alternative codification of legal amendments suggested by Bhattacharjea (2006)

Ahsan, Ahmad; Pagés, Carmen;
2021
Availability: Link Link
Citations: 7 (based on OpenCitations) Cited By

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9. No Education, No Good Jobs? Evidence on the Relationship between Education and Labor Market Segmentation

abstract

This paper assesses labor market segmentation across formal and informal salaried jobs and self-employment in three Latin American and three transition countries. It looks separately at the markets for skilled and unskilled labor, inquiring if segmentation is an exclusive feature of the latter. Longitudinal data are used to assess wage differentials and mobility patterns across jobs. To study mobility, the paper compares observed transitions with a new benchmark measure of mobility under the assumption of no segmentation. It finds evidence of a formal wage premium relative to informal salaried jobs in the three Latin American countries, but not in transition economies. It also finds evidence of extensive mobility across these two types of jobs in all countries, particularly from informal salaried to formal jobs. These patterns are suggestive of a preference for formal over informal salaried jobs in all countries. In contrast, there is little mobility between self-employment and formal salaried jobs, suggesting the existence of barriers to this type of mobility or a strong assortative matching according to workers' individual preferences. Lastly, for both wage differentials and mobility, there is no statistical difference across skill levels, indicating that the markets for skilled and unskilled labor are similarly affected by segmentation

Pagés, Carmen; Stampini, Marco;
2021
Availability: Link Link

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10. Investment Climate and Employment Growth : The Impact of Access to Finance, Corruption and Regulations Across Firms

abstract

Using firm level data on 70,000 enterprises in 107 countries, this paper finds important effects of access to finance, business regulations, corruption, and to a lesser extent, infrastructure bottlenecks in explaining patterns of job creation at the firm level. The paper focuses on how the impact of the investment climate varies across sizes of firms. The differences across size categories come from two sources. First, objective conditions of the business environment do vary systematically by firm types. Micro and small firms have less access to formal finance, pay more in bribes than do larger firms, and face greater interruptions in infrastructure services. Larger firms spend significantly more time dealing with officials and red tape. Second, even controlling for these differences in objective conditions, there is evidence of significant non-linearities in their impact on employment growth. The results suggest strong composition effects: A weak business environment shifts downward the size distribution of firms. In the case of finance and business regulations this occurs by reducing the employment growth of all firms, particularly micro and small firms. On the other hand, corruption and poor access to infrastructure reduce employment growth by affecting the growth of medium size and large firms. With significant differences between firms with less than 10 employees and SMEs, these results indicate significant reforms are needed to spur micro firms to grow into the ranks of the SMEs

Aterido, Reyes; Hallward-Driemeier, Mary; Pagés, Carmen;
2021
Availability: Link Link

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