An approximation to the digital divide among low income people in Colombia, Mexico and Perú: two composite indexes

This study examines the determinants of information and communications technology(ICT) use and access of low-income people in three developing countries: Colombia,Mexico and Peru. We focus on cross-country differences and similarities in ICTs use acrossgender, age, education and income, using two composite indicators of ICT. The mainsimilarity across the countries is that education is by far the single most important factorlimiting the digitalization of low-income people. The impact of income was low althoughpositive. There is not apparently a gender gap in Colombia and Mexico but one in Peru.Our findings also suggest that when using a composite indicator that only include the`advanced ICTs´, disadvantage people among the low-income people can be moreconstrained in the use and access of more advanced information and communicationstechnologies.****El estudio analiza los determinantes de uso y acceso a las tecnologías de información ycomunicación en personas de bajos ingresos en pasases como Colombia, México y Perú. Elpunto central esta en analizar las diferencias entre países de acuerdo a diferentes variablessocioeconómicas. Se encuentra que la variable que más explica el nivel de acceso digital esla escolaridad. De otro lado no se encuentra una brecha por género sino en Perú. Losresultados también indican que cuando solo se tienen en cuenta las tecnologías más`avanzadas´, las diferencias entre la población son más notorias.Digital divide, ICT, gender gap, Internet

Use of informal mobile telephony in low income households in Colombia

Access to mobile telephony in Colombia exhibits rather interesting features compared to other countries. Colombia witnessed the beginning of a new alternative for communication consisting in the use of informal resale of minutes on the streets and small stores during the first years of this century. In this paper we are interested in analyzing the main factors that determine the utilization of this kind of service. We use a probabilistic model to explain the characteristics of the people that use `informal resale´ on the streets and we find that people in the modality of prepayment and people from small cities has a higher probability of using this alternative. It is also found that people in the firm-leader use more often this service. These results seem indicate that price differentials among on-net and off-net and between prepaid and postpaid are the causes of the rise of this economic activity.***El acceso a la telefonía móvil en Colombia evidencia ciertas particularidades con respecto a otros países. En Colombia surgió una nueva alternativa de comunicación que consistía en la venta de minutos de celular en las calles y en pequeños negocios durante los primeros años de ésta década. En este documento se analizan las principales características de quienes usan esta modalidad de comunicación con base en una encuesta dirigida a usuarios y no usuarios de bajos ingresos. Se usa un modelo probabilístico para explicar las características de las personas que lo usan y se encuentra que las personas que están en la modalidad de contrato prepago y que viven en ciudades pequeñas tienen una mayor probabilidad de usar esta alternativa de comunicación. De otro lado se encuentra que quienes están con el operador dominante tienden a usar este servicio también de una forma más notoria. Estos resultados parecen indicar que los diferenciales de precios entre las llamadas off-net y on-net así como entre prepago y postpago son los que alimentaron el surgimiento de esta actividad.Mobile telephony, ICT, gender gap, Resale

An estimation of the pattern of diffusion of mobile phones: the case of Colombia

In this paper we fond that the difusion pattern of mobile telephony in Colombia can be best haracterised as following a Logistic curve. Although in recent years the rate of growth of mobile phone subscribers has started to slow down, we find evidence that there is still room for further expansion as thesaturation level is expected to be reached in five years time. The estimated saturation level is consistent with some individuals possessing more than one mobile device.Technology di¤usion; Mobile telecommunications; Gompertzcurve; Logistic curve; Colombia.

Is There a Motherhood Penalty?:Decomposing the family wage gap in Colombia

The aim of this paper is to provide an estimation and decomposition of the motherhood wage penalty in Colombia. Our empirical strategy is based on the matching procedure designed by Ñopo (2008) for the case of gender wage gaps. This is an alternative procedure to the well-known Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method. The cross-section data of the Colombian Living Standard Survey allows us to decompose the wage gap in four components, according to the characteristics of mothers and non-mothers. We found that mothers earn, in average, 1:73% less than their counterparts without children and that this gap slightly decreases as the group includes older women. Taking into account that this procedure is sensitive to the set of variables included in the matching, several specifica- tions are tested. The main result of the paper is obtained when considering schooling as a matching variable. Once schooling is included, the unex-plained part of the gap considerably decreases and turns non significant.Thus, we do not find evidence of wage discrimination against mothers in the Colombian labor market.

Inequality of opportunity in educational achievement in Latin America: evidence from PISA 2006-2009

We assess inequality of opportunity in educational achievement in six Latin American countries, employing two waves of PISA data (2006 and 2009). By means of a non-parametric approach using a decomposable inequality index, GE(0), we rank countries according to their degree of inequality of opportunity. We work with alternative characterizations of types: school type (public or private), gender, parental education, and combinations of those variables. We calculate "incremental contributions" of each set of circumstances to inequality. We provide rankings of countries based on unconditional inequalities (using conventional indices) and on conditional inequalities (EOp indices), and the two sets of rankings do not always coincide. Inequality of opportunities range from less than 1% to up to 27%, with substantial heterogeneity according to the year, the country, the subject and the specificication of circumstances. Robustness checks based on bootstrap and the use of an alternative index confirm most of the initial results.Inequality of Opportunity, economics of education, Latin America

Una aproximación más a la relación existente entre crecimiento y equidad

La literatura económica ha abordado la discusión sobre el crecimiento y la equidad en distintas líneas. La necesidad de tener una sociedad más equitativa es una de las opciones y este escrito intenta aportar nuevas ideas a la discusión dando prioridad a la equidad. Para este efecto, discute, el espacio en el que se trabajará la desigualdad, las causalidades existentes frente a la relación crecimiento y equidad, y las fortalezas y debilidades de sobre los indicadores convencionalmente utilizados para su medición. ************************************************************************* The economic literature has undertaken the discussion between the growth and the equity in distinct ways. The necessity to have a more fair society is one of the options and, this document tries to contribute with new ideas to the discussion, giving priority to the equity. For this reason, discusses, the space in which the inequality will work itself, the causalities existing into the relation between growth and equity, and the fortresses and weaknesses from the measures conventionally utilized for its measurement.

Statistical inference for testing gini coefficients: an application for Colombia

This paper uses Colombian household survey data collected over the period 1984-2005 to estimate Gini coeficients along with their corresponding standard errors. We �find a statistically signi�cant increase in wage income inequality following the adoption of the liberalisation measures of the early 1990s, and mixed evidence during the recovery years that followed the economic recession of the late 1990s. We also �nd that in several cases the observed diferences in the Gini coeficients across cities have not been statistically signi�cant.Inequality, Gini coe¢ cient, bootstrap, Colombia.

Body mass index as a standard of living measure: a different interpretation for the case of Colombia.

We analyze the Body Mass Index (BMI) in a distinct way of its traditional use and it lets us use it as a proxy of standard of living for the case of Colombia. Our approach is focused on studying how far the people are from the normal range and not on the score of each one and this lets us to treat equally extreme cases as severe thinness and obesity. We use a probabilistic model (Ordered Probit) that evaluates the probability of being within the normal range or another level. We found that socioeconomic variables have a significant effect on the dependent variable and that there are no linear effects. Besides, people with difficulties for walking and adults have less probability of having a normal BMI.Standard of Living, Body Mass Index, Overweight

An approximation to the standard of living index: the colombian case

This document seeks to show the main properties of a standard of living index using the theoretical approach of Amartya Sen. We establish the link among concepts such as: welfare, well-being, agency achievement and standard of living. Optimal scaling methodology was fundamental in order to test the properties on the Colombian case. These properties are Monotonicity, No independence of irrelevant alternatives, Concavity, Informativity and Substituibility. Resumen. El documento busca mostrar las principales propiedades de un indicador de estándar de vida dentro del enfoque teórico de Amartya Sen. Establecemos un puente entre conceptos tales como: bienestar económico, bienestar, logro de agencia y estándar de vida. La metodología del Optimal scaling fue usada para probar las propiedades de Monotonicidad, No independencia de alternativas irrelevantes, Concavidad, informatividad y sustituibilidad. ********************************************************************** El documento busca mostrar las principales propiedades de un indicador de estándar de vida dentro del enfoque teórico de Amartya Sen. Establecemos un puente entre conceptos tales como: bienestar económico, bienestar, logro de agencia y estándar de vida. La metodología del Optimal scaling fue usada para probar las propiedades de Monotonicidad, No independencia de alternativas irrelevantes, Concavidad, informatividad y sustituibilidad.Standard of Living, Optimal scaling, well-being, welfare, Prinqual

Uso estratégico de la deuda: un estudio a nivel de empresa para colombia 1995-2003

This work shows if firms use debt strategically in order to stop entry of potential rivals in their industry. Using Generalized Method of Moments estimation (GMM) we evaluate the effect of assets, market share and size as proxies for market revenue, and the entry barriers over indebtedness levels. Our data uses firm level information for Colombia, from 1995-2003. We find that firms use assets to limit entry and indebtedness decreases while firms increase their market share.********************************************************************************************************El presente trabajo intenta estimar si las empresas emplean estratégicamente la deuda para limitar la entrada de potenciales rivales. Mediante la metodología de Método Generalizado de Momentos (GMM) se evalúa el efecto que tienen los activos específicos, la cuota de mercado y el tamaño, como proxies de las rentas del mercado, y las barreras de entrada sobre los niveles de endeudamiento, a nivel de empresa para Colombia, durante 1995-2003. Se encuentra que las empresas utilizan los activos específicos para limitar la entrada al mercado y que el endeudamiento decrece a medida que las empresas aumentan su cuota en el mercado.Deuda, barreras de entrada, GMM, Colombia