International Remittances and Income Inequality: An Empirical Investigation

The aim of this paper is to provide comprehensive empirical evidence on the relationship between international remittances and income inequality. In simple cross-country regressions we find a non-monotonic link between these two variables when using ordinary least squares, instrumental variables; we also test our hypothesis using dynamic panel data methods. We provide evidence in support of existing theoretical work that accounts for network effects that describe how, in the first stages of migration history, there is an inequality-increasing effect of remittances on income inequality. Then, as the opportunity cost of migrating is lowered due to these effects, remittances sent to those households have a negative impact on inequality. We also show how education and the development of the financial sector can help countries to reach the inequality-decreasing section of the curve more quickly. Our results are robust to several empirical specifications, as well as for a wide variety of inequality measures.

Institutional Enforcement, Labor-Market Rigidities, and Economic Performance

This paperstudy the issue of institutional enforcement of regulations by focusing on labor-market policies and their potential link to economic performance. It test the different impacts of enforceable and non-enforceable labor regulations by proxying non-enforceable labor rigidity measures using data on conventions from the International Labor Organization (ILO). It has been argued that non-enforceable conventions -that is, those that exist on paper and are simply de jure regulations -appear to be more distortionary and tend to be the least enforced in practice (Squire and Suthiwart-Narueput, 1997). According to Freeman (1993), these conventions reflect the ideal regulatory framework from an institutionalist perspective and cover a variety of labor market issues, from child labor to placement agencies. Whereas in theory, a country`s ratification of ILO conventions gives the country legal status and thus supersedes domestic regulations relating to those issues, in practice the degree of labor-market rigidity depends on how the conventions are enforced. It is the outcome of the regulations that matters, rather than their number.

Institutional Enforcement, Labor-Market Rigidities, and Economic Performance

Se exponen las ideas principales contenidas en la obra de Robert Nozick: Anarquía, Estado y Utopía; en particular, los argumentos que esgrime en contra de tres interlocutores: el anarquista, el defensor del Estado de bienestar y el socialista. Para la autora, esta obra de Nozick, junto con la Teoría de la Justicia, de J. Rawls, son las obras de filosofía política más importantes en el pensamiento anglosajón

Adenocarcinoma de apéndice, un diagnóstico diferencial en pacientes con dolor abdominal. Reporte de caso

Introduction. Acute abdominal pain is a frequent cause of consultation to emergency services. Its incidence is about 5%, of which 10%-25% of patients require surgical treatment. Primary appendiceal neoplasms are infrequent. They currently represent 1% of malignant neoplasms of gastrointestinal origin. They are predominant in women and must be suspected in patients with risk factors. The objective is to understand the importance of timely diagnosis in approaching patients with acute abdominal pain. Case Presentation. A woman with clinical condition of 5 days of abdominal pain. Marked cystic dilation of the cecal appendix with linear and nodular calcifications on its wall and interior found in a tomography of the abdomen. Intraoperatively, a right hemicolectomy was performed with a histological result of mucinous neoplasm of the appendix (serrated adenoma) with loss of the muscularis mucosae, classifying it as a low grade adenocarcinoma. Discussion. Appendiceal tumors represent 1% of malignant neoplasms of gastrointestinal origin, with an incidental finding (0.7-1.4%) in appendectomy procedures. The diagnosis is histopathological, and prognosis is related to its classification. It is important to know, identify and suspect this pathology due to its infrequency, which can improve the patient's prognosis. Conclusion. Appendiceal tumors are infrequent and should be included in the group of pathologies that cause acute abdominal pain.Introducción. El dolor abdominal agudo es una causa frecuente de consulta en los servicios de urgencias. Su incidencia es alrededor del 5%, de los cuales el 10%-25% de los pacientes requieren tratamiento quirúrgico. Las neoplasias apendiculares primarias son infrecuentes, actualmente representan 1% de las neoplasias malignas de origen gastrointestinal. Existe un predominio en mujeres y se debe sospechar en pacientes con factores de riesgo. El objetivo es entender la importancia del diagnóstico oportuno en el abordaje del paciente con dolor abdominal agudo. Presentación del caso. Mujer con cuadro clínico de 5 días de dolor abdominal, con hallazgo en tomografía de abdomen de marcada dilatación quística del apéndice cecal con calcificaciones lineales y nodulares en la pared y su interior. Intraoperariamente, se realizó hemicolectomía derecha con resultado histológico de neoplasia mucinosa del apéndice (adenoma serrado) con pérdida de la muscularis mucosae, catalogándolo como adenocarcinoma de bajo grado. Discusión. Los tumores apendiculares representan el 1% de las neoplasias malignas de origen gastrointestinal, son un hallazgo incidental (0.7-1.4%) en los procedimientos de apendicectomía. El diagnóstico es histopatológico y el pronóstico se relaciona con la clasificación. Es importante conocer, identificar y sospechar esta patología dada su infrecuencia, con lo cual se puede mejorar el pronóstico en los pacientes. Conclusión. Los tumores apendiculares son infrecuentes, los cuales deben ser incluidos en el grupo de patologías causantes de dolor abdominal agudo

Fístula pancreática: una complicación temida. Experiencia en una unidad de cirugía hepatobiliopancreática de cuarto nivel

Introducción. La fístula pancreática postoperatoria es una de las complicaciones más importantes en la cirugía hepatobiliopancreática. Su diagnóstico se hace mediante la presencia de un nivel de amilasa en el líquido de drenaje al menos tres veces por encima del valor de la amilasa en suero a partir del tercer día postoperatorio. El objetivo de este estudio fue caracterizar los pacientes con fístula pancreática postoperatoria en nuestra institución, evaluando la importancia de la detección temprana y el establecimiento de un manejo oportuno. Métodos. Estudio descriptivo, retrospectivo, que incluyó los pacientes sometidos a pancreatoduodenectomía, con diagnóstico de fístula pancreática postoperatoria como complicación de cirugía hepatobiliopancreática, en el Hospital Internacional de Colombia, en Piedecuesta, entre enero del 2017 y diciembre de 2020. Se excluyeron los pacientes con otro tipo procedimiento quirúrgico y aquellos que decidieron no participar en el estudio. Resultados. Se evaluaron 69 pacientes, con un predominio del sexo femenino (n=38; 55,1 %) y mediana de la edad de 57 años. El 33,3 % (n=24) de los pacientes intervenidos desarrollaron fístula pancreática postoperatoria, siendo el 23,2 % fuga bioquímica, grado B 8,7 % y grado C 2,9 %, para quienes se indicaron manejo expectante, control ecográfico y reintervención, respectivamente. Fallecieron 5 pacientes (7,2 %). Conclusiones. La fístula pancreática postoperatoria es una complicación para tener en cuenta en todos los pacientes sometidos a pancreatoduodenectomía. Existen estrategias que pueden permitir disminuir la incidencia de esta complicación, con el fin de mejorar el desenlace, el pronóstico y la morbilidad posquirúrgica

International Remittances and Income Inequality: An Empirical Investigation

The aim of this paper is to provide comprehensive empirical evidence on the relationship between international remittances and income inequality. In simple cross-country regressions we find a non-monotonic link between these two variables when using ordinary least squares, instrumental variables; we also test our hypothesis using dynamic panel data methods. We provide evidence in support of existing theoretical work that accounts for network effects that describe how, in the first stages of migration history, there is an inequality-increasing effect of remittances on income inequality. Then, as the opportunity cost of migrating is lowered due to these effects, remittances sent to those households have a negative impact on inequality. We also show how education and the development of the financial sector can help countries to reach the inequality-decreasing section of the curve more quickly. Our results are robust to several empirical specifications, as well as for a wide variety of inequality measures

Privatized Firms, Rule of Law and Labor Outcomes in Emerging Markets

This paper takes advantage of a recent large firm-level dataset to compare labor indicators of privatized, private, and public firms around the world, particularly wages, benefits, labor composition, education and training, unionization, and quality of management. While labor productivity increases after privatization, the ratio of permanent workers to temporary workers also increases. Convergence depends to some degree on the quality of the institutions, namely, the rule of law. Not only is this true for the ratio of permanent workers to temporary workers, but also for education of the workforce, and for the managers years of experience. On the other hand, the rule of law appears to be less important in the case of labor productivity and training

Civil conflict and human capital accumulation: The long-term effects of political violence in Perú

This paper provides empirical evidence of the long- and short-term e ects of exposure to political violence on human capital accumulation. Using a novel data set that registers all the violent acts and fatalities during the Peruvian civil con ict, I exploit the variation in con ict location and birth cohorts to identify the e ect of the civil war on educational attainment. Conditional on being exposed to violence, the average person accumulates 0.21 less years of education as an adult. In the short-term, the e ects are stronger than in the long run; these results hold when comparing children within the same household. Further, children are able to catch up if they experience violence once they have already started their schooling cycle, while if they are a ected earlier in life the e ect persists in the long run. I explore the potential causal mechanisms, nding that supply shocks delay entrance to school but don't cause lower educational achievement in the long-run. On the demand side, suggestive evidence shows that the e ect on mother's health status and the subsequent e ect on child health is what drives the long-run results