Unemployment in Bolivia: Risks and Labor Market Policies

This paper attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of Bolivia's labor market institutions, particularly the Plan Nacional de Empleo de Emergencia (PLANE). It is found that unemployment as conventionally defined may not be the most important problem in Bolivia's labor market, as the non-salaried market is always an alternative. While un- employment durations and unemployment scarring consequences are relatively low, labor market regulations and labor market programs do not help to increase the size of the formal market, apparently as a result of Bolivia's rigid labor markets and labor policies based mainly on temporary employment programs. Such programs, however, may have helped to smooth consumption. Given the country's high level of infor- mality, protection policies are second best to active policies specifically designed to increase the productivity/employability of vulnerable populations.

Intended and Unintended Effects of Unconditional Cash Transfers: The Case of Bolivia's Renta Dignidad

This document presents a quasi-experimental impact evaluation of Bolivia's Renta Dignidad, a universal and non-contributory old age pension. Causal effects on direct, future, and indirect beneficiaries are identified, taking advantage of a reduction in age of eligibility from 65 to 60 years in December 2007. Difference-in-difference and changes-in-changes approaches are used to calculate average and quantile treatment effects. For women, non-contributory pensions have, on average, increased their households' non-labor income. This has decreased their labor supply and labor earnings, in turn decreasing households' labor income and thus reducing, ceteris paribus, the program's effect on total per capita household income. Unexpectedly, the program did not have significant effects on men's welfare, investments and labor market outcomes. The results also suggest that additional resources were neither consumed nor invested in health, education, or the purchase of durables. Households most likely held the additional resources and invested in dwelling improvements

Salários docentes, financiamento e qualidade da educação no Brasil

Ao se discutir qualidade da educação, frequentemente surgem questões relacionadas ao trabalho e aos salários dos professores, trazendo à tona a temática do financiamento da educação. Com o objetivo de discutir a relação entre salários docentes, financiamento e qualidade da educação básica no Brasil, este artigo traz resultados de uma pesquisa bibliográfica documental que teve como corpus de análise pesquisas da área da educação e economia e documentos relacionados à remuneração docente produzidos por organismos internacionais, como o Banco Mundial e a UNESCO. Observou-se que a remuneração dos professores é um elemento importante na melhoria da qualidade da educação e está diretamente relacionada aos recursos financeiros destinados a ela