Decentralised Provision of Quasi- Private Goods: The Case of Colombia

This paper quantifies the welfare effects of decentralisation in Colombia, using a multiregional CGE model.We investigate to what extent will the Colombian Population be better off when goods such as health and education, are delivered locally as against centrally. A provision scheme based on the median voter is consided.According to the results, the provision of health and education by regional governments improves the welfare of the Colombian Population as a whole, since regional governments provide goods and services in a way that better caters to local preferences. More importantly,these welfare gains vary from 1.3% to 2.3% of GDP, a substantial magnitude especially when compared with the efficiency gains associated to the tax reforms of the early nineties.Decentralisation, applied CGE modelling, quasi-private goods.

Tax Exporting:An Analysis Using a Multiregional CGE Model

This paper investigates whether developed countries export taxes to developing countries, contributing to the deterioration of their terms of trade and welfare; that is to what extent the distribution of gains from trade is being affected not by existing tariffs in developed countries, which are already at low levels but by their domestic taxation. An eight- region CGE model for the world economy is used. The results indicate that developed regions export capital taxes to developing regions. However, the effects of import tariffs on welfare and terms of trade are larger than those of domestic taxes.Tax exporting, applied CGE modelling

On the Dynamics of Unemployment in a Developing Economy: Colombia

This paper estimates an asymmetric error correction model to analyse the dynamic behaviour of the Colombian unemployment rate. We find evidence that wages above their long- run equilibrium level do increase unemployment, but wages below this level do not reduce it.Unemployment, wage disequilibrium, labour market,cointegration, non-linearties, Colombia.

Testing the law of one price in food markets: evidence for Colombia using disaggregated data

This paper applies stationarity tests to examine evidence of market integration for a relatively large sample of food products in Colombia. We fi�nd little support for market integration when using the univariate KPSS tests for stationarity. However, within a panel context and after allowing for cross sectional dependence, the Hadri tests provide much more evidence supporting the view that food markets are integrated or, in other words, that the law of one price holds for most products.Law of one price; panel stationarity test; disaggregated pricedata, cross section dependence; Colombia.

Efficiency Gains from the Elimination of Global Resstrictions on Labour Mobility: An Analisis Using a Multiregional CGE Model

We compute the world- wide efficiency gaings from the elimination of global restrictions on labour mobility using a multiregional CGE model. A distinctive feature of our analysis is the introduction of a segmented labour market, as two types of labour are considered: Skilled and unskilled. According to our results, when labour is a homogeneous factor, the elimination of global restrictions on labour mobility generates world- wide efficiency gains that could be of considerable magnitude. When the labour market is segmented and both skilled and unskilled labour migrate, welfare gaings reduce since the benefits and losses of migration are not evenly distributed within each region.When only skilled labour migrates, the world-wide efficient gaings are smaller, since this type of labour represents a small fraction of the labour force in developings regions.Migration, applied CGE modelling, labour market segmentation

Recent Behavior of Output, Unemployment, Wages and Prices in Colombia:What went Wrong?

At the end of the last decade, the real activity in Colombia underwent the sharpest recession of the last fifty years. We postulate a non-triangular structural VAR model(Amisano and Giannini, 1997) to describe the dynamics of output, prices, unemployment and wages during the last two decades. The evidence suggests that, in the long-run, monetary policy has been neutral to both output and unemployment while the main reasons for the increase in the latter have been the lack of credibility of monetary policy, the way in which wages are set and the increase in non-wage labor costs.Structural VAR,unemployment,monetary policy, wages, expectations

Recent macroeconomic performance in colombia: what went wrong?

Al finalizar la d�cada anterior la actividad real en Colombia experiment� la m�s aguda recesi�n de los �ltimos 50 a�os. Para explicar este fen�meno, postulamos un modelo VAR estructural no-triangular que describe la din�mica de la producci�n, los precios, el desempleo y los salarios durante las �ltimas dos d�cadas. La evidencia sugiere que, en el largo plazo, la pol�tica monetaria ha sido neutral con respecto al producto y la desempleo, mientras que la principal raz�n para el incremento de �ste �ltimo se explica por la forma en que se han determinado los salarios (formaci�n de expectativas hacia atr�s) y el incremento de los costos no salariales.structural VAR, unemployment, monetary policy, wages, nonwage labour costs, expectations

Colombia and East Asia Trade Relations and Future Prospects: An Analysis Using a CGE Model

This paper provides an empirical analysis of Colombian integration with East Asia using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, in which we assess the effects of several trade liberalization scenarios on trade flows and welfare. The results show that there is an important potential for the development of Colombian exports of other crops, chemical products, apparel and textiles to East Asian nations. This result is not derived from subcribing a Free Trade Agreemente, but from unilaterally liberalizing tariffs in both regions.Computable General Equilibrium models, trade relations

Downward Wage Rigidities and Other Firms’ Responses to an Economic Slowdown: Evidence from a Survey of Colombian Firms

This paper uses a wage setting survey of 1,305 Colombian firms to explore the nature and sources of wage rigidities. This is the first study of a non-European emerging economy that uses evidence from a survey of firms to analyse this topic. The survey was carried out during the first half of 2009, when the Colombian economy was showing signs of a slowdown in economic activity and increasing unemployment. The sample is fully representative of the population under study. The results provide evidence of nominal and real downward wage rigidities in the country. The most important factor in not reducing base wages during an economic slowdown is to avoid the loss of more experienced and productive workers, which is related to the efficiency wage theory in its adverse selection version. In addition, ordered logit regressions were used to determine what factors are related to wage rigidities. The findings indicate that, in general, permanent contracts, workforce composition, labour intensity and the presence of collective agreements play an important role in explaining wage rigidities in the country.Wage rigidities, survey evidence, efficiency wages, Colombia, labour market, ordered logit. Classification JEL: C25, J30, J50

Are wages rigid in Colombia?: Empirical evidence based on a sample of wages at the firm level

This paper uses Colombian data at the firm level for the period 1999 to 2006 to provide microeconomic evidence on the existence and extent of downward nominal wage rigidity. To conduct the analysis, we use a rich panel of firms for white and blue collar workers, consisting of 1517 firms for the former and 781 firms for the latter. The presence of wage rigidity is determined by means of three statistic techniques used in recent literature, such as the analysis of the histograms of the distribution of wage changes, the LSW statistic and the Kahn test. The results suggest the existence of downward nominal wage rigidities; it is worth mentioning that rigidity is higher for blue collar workers than white collar workers, since the increase in the wages of the blue workers is generally done by taking into account the change in the minimum wage, which is why a higher rigidity would be expected.Wage rigidity, Kahn test, LSW Statistic, Colombia. Classification JEL: J31, E24, C23