Are informal workers secondary workers?: evidence for Argentina

Empirical studies attempting at testing dualism in developing countries often rely on an ex-ante definition of the primary and the secondary sector. Many times this methodology causes biases in the estimation due to sample selection problems. Also, such definitions may be arbitrary sometimes. We use twenty seven years of Household Data in order to test for the existence dual labor markets in Argentina. We estimated an endogenous switching model with unknown regime without defining ex-ante sector attachment. We find evidence of dualism for both periods analyzed. However, the differences between the two sectors have significantly changed over time. Finally, our estimations also corroborate the fact that using the usual ex-ante definition of sector attachment may not be adequate for testing dualism.Trabajo a publicarse en Desarrollo y Sociedad, número especial sobre informalidad laboral en América Latina. Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, Bogotá, Colombia.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS

Welfare Programs and Labor Supply in Developing Countries. Experimental Evidence from Latin America

This paper studies the effect of welfare programs on work incentives and the labor supply of adults in developing countries. The document builds on the experimental evaluations of three programs implemented in rural areas: Mexico’s PROGRESA, Nicaragua’s Red de Protección Social (RPS) and Honduras’ Programa de Asignación Familiar (PRAF). The impact of welfare on labor supply has been widely studied in developed countries, where most recent initiatives attempt to mitigate negative effects on work incentives. The programs under study are conditional cash transfers (CCT), which combine monetary benefits with incentives for curbing child labor and fostering the accumulation of human capital. Unlike their counterparts in developed economies, however, they do not account for potential impacts on the labor supply of adults, and there is little systematic evidence on this aspect despite a wealth of empirical studies on their intended outcomes. Comparable results for the three countries indicate mostly negative but small and non-significant effects of the programs on the employment of adults, no reallocation of labor between agricultural and other sectors, and a reduction in hours worked by adults in eligible households in RPS. Moreover, PROGRESA had a positive effect on beneficiaries’ wages. The programs did not imply major disincentives to work, despite substantial transfers, but they had some effects on local labor markets. This mechanism is related to recent findings on the indirect impact of CCTs on ineligible households, and implies that future evaluation studies and designs should account for the equilibrium effects of the interventions.welfare programs, income support, labor supply, adult work incentives, conditional cash transfers, randomized control trials, developing countries.

Impact of Technical Barriers to Trade on Argentine Exports and Labor Markets

While tariff and quota barriers in agricultural, food and manufactured products have been declining due to the proliferation of multilateral trade agreements, there is increasing debate regarding the impact of product and process standards and technical regulations, since they may have become a subtler form of protection. One of the possible effects of increasing standards in developing countries is that it may affect the size of the exporting sector, with adverse effects on labor markets. We test such effect for the case of Argentina using firm level data for the manufacturing sector. We find evidence of a reduction in export shares due to an increase in standard stringency. Moreover, there is an increase in the skill ratio for exporting firms. The overall effect of standard stringency on average wages of exporting firms is negative, supporting the idea that lower net producer prices, due to a higher cost of standard compliance, are passed on to workers.

The effect of education on in-prison conflict: evidence from Argentina

Using census data for Argentine prisons for the period 2002-2005, this paperpresents evidence of the positive e¤ect that prisoner education programs (pri-mary and some part of secondary schooling) have on in prison conflictivitymeasured as sanctions or violent behavior of the prisoner. In order to over-come the problems of endogeneity that education decisions generate we usean instrumental variables approach. Our results show a decrease in partici-pation in violent conflicts and bad behavior which can be partially attributedto education.prison based education, violent behavior

¿Son informales los trabajadores secundarios? Evidencia para Argentina

Empirical studies attempting at testing dualism in developing countries often rely on an ex-ante definition of the primary and the secondary sector. Many times this methodology causes biases in the estimation due to sample selection problems. Also, such definitions may be arbitrary sometimes. We use twenty seven years of household data in order to test for the existence dual labor markets in Argentina. We estimated an endogenous switching model with unknown regime without defining ex-ante sector attachment. We find evidence of dualism for both periods analyzed. However, the differences between the two sectors have significantly changed over time. Finally, our estimations also corroborate the fact that using the usual ex-ante definition of sector attachment may not be adequate for testing dualism.Los estudios empíricos existentes para testear la presencia de mercados laborales duales en países en desarrollo generalmente utilizan una definición ex ante acerca de si los individuos pertenecen al sector primario o secundario. Muchas veces, utilizar esta metodología produce sesgos en la estimación debido a problemas de auto-selección. Además, dicha definición de pertenencia a uno u otro sector puede resultar arbitraria. En este trabajo, se utilizan veintisiete años de datos provenientes de encuestas de hogares para testear la existencia de un mercado laboral dual en la Argentina. Se estima un modelo de cambio de régimen endógeno sin definir el sector de pertenencia ex ante. Los resultados sugieren la existencia de un mercado dual para los dos períodos bajo análisis. Sin embargo, las diferencias entre los dos sectores han cambiado significativamente a lo largo del tiempo. Finalmente, las estimaciones corroboran que el uso de una definición ex ante de pertenencia al sector primario/ secundario puede no resultar adecuada para comprobar la existencia de mercados duales.Facultad de Ciencias EconómicasCentro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociale

The effect of education on teenage fertility: causal evidence for Argentina

This is the first study exploring the causal effect of education on teenage fertility in Argentina. We exploit an exogenous variation in education from the staggered implementation of the 1993 reform, which increased compulsory schooling from 7 to 10 years. We find a negative overall impact of education on teenage fertility rates, which operates through two complementing channels: a human capital effect (one additional year of schooling causes a decline of 30 births per 1000 girls) and a weaker ‘incapacitation’ effect (a rise of one percentage point in enrollment rate reduces 3 births per 1000 girls).Facultad de Ciencias EconómicasCentro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociale

Are informal workers secondary workers?: evidence for Argentina

Empirical studies attempting at testing dualism in developing countries often rely on an ex-ante definition of the primary and the secondary sector. Many times this methodology causes biases in the estimation due to sample selection problems. Also, such definitions may be arbitrary sometimes. We use twenty seven years of Household Data in order to test for the existence dual labor markets in Argentina. We estimated an endogenous switching model with unknown regime without defining ex-ante sector attachment. We find evidence of dualism for both periods analyzed. However, the differences between the two sectors have significantly changed over time. Finally, our estimations also corroborate the fact that using the usual ex-ante definition of sector attachment may not be adequate for testing dualism.Trabajo a publicarse en Desarrollo y Sociedad, número especial sobre informalidad laboral en América Latina. Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, Bogotá, Colombia.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS

Community-Level Sanitation Coverage More Strongly Associated with Child Growth and Household Drinking Water Quality than Access to a Private Toilet in Rural Mali

Sanitation access can provide positive externalities; for example, safe disposal of feces by one household prevents disease transmission to households nearby. However, little empirical evidence exists to characterize the potential health benefits from sanitation externalities. This study investigated the effect of community sanitation coverage versus individual household sanitation access on child health and drinking water quality. Using a census of 121 villages in rural Mali, we analyzed the association of community latrine coverage (defined by a 200 m radius surrounding a household) and individual household latrine ownership with child growth and household stored water quality. Child height-for-age had a significant and positive linear relationship with community latrine coverage, while child weight-for-age and household water quality had nonlinear relationships that leveled off above 60% coverage (p < 0.01; generalized additive models). Child growth and water quality were not associated with individual household latrine ownership. The relationship between community latrine coverage and child height was strongest among households without a latrine; for these households, each 10% increase in latrine coverage was associated with a 0.031 (p-value = 0.040) increase in height-for-age z-score. In this study, the level of sanitation access of surrounding households was more important than private latrine access for protecting water quality and child healthCentro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociale