Governance crises and the Andean region: A political economy analysis

The Andean countries, a region with abundance of natural resources and other valuable assets, exhibit a variety of governance problems that hinder its potential for social peace, stability and economic prosperity. Their empirical governance record, based on historical and recent data, although varies from country to country has been characterized by political instability, considerable frequency of constitutional reforms, presidential crisis, volatility of democratic institutions and violence. In turn, the empirical evidence on quality of institutions put the Andean region in a relatively modest place in international rankings of (survey-based) indices of voice and accountability, rule of law, regulatory burden, control of corruption, political instability and violence although improvements are also detected in some of these governance dimensions. Institutional reform, in a broad sense, is needed to ensure the basic conditions of economic development.

The International Circulation of Elites: Knowledge, Entrepreneurialand Political

International migration analysis often focuses on mass migration rather than on the international mobility of elites, which is the focus of this paper. The paper offers a three-fold classification of elites: (a) knowledge elites, (b) entrepreneurial elites and (c) political elites. We explore the concept of elites and their main motivation to move across nations and review indirect empirical evidence relevant to this type of mobility, highlighting some channels through which elites can affect international development.international migration, entrepreneurial, political migrants, talent mobility

¿Está realmente disminuyendo la desigualdad en América Latina? Evidencias sobre los ingresos, la riqueza y la estructura social

This paper examines several dimensions of inequality in the Latin American region focusing on top income shares and Gini coefficients, top wealth shares and the size wealth distribution. Itc ompares inequality of income according to household surveys and income inequality using tax data showing the former tends to underestimate top shares and gini coefficients and therefore the extent of inequality. The social structure is assesed for economic elites, the middle class and the working poorEste artículo examina varias dimensiones de la desigualdad en la región de América Latina centrándose en los top income shares y los coeficientes de Gini, los wealth shares y la distribución de la riqueza. Se compara la desigualdad de ingresos en función de las encuestas a hogares y la desigualdad de ingresos a partir de datos tributarios, lo que muestra que, en el primer caso se tiende a subestimar las tasas más altas y los coeficientes de Gini y, por tanto, el grado de desigualdad. La estructura social se evalúa para las élites económicas, la clase media y los trabajadores pobre

La movilidad internacional de los ricos en tiempos de desigualdad creciente

The global economy and society are affected by the rising inequality in income and wealth along with increasingly frequent and severe financial crises, protectionist trends, and fragmented globalization. A largely unexplored topic in migration analysis is the international mobility of the wealthy and their assets, as they look for countries offering financial security, lower taxation, good educational facilities, safe cities, and other amenities. This mobility is largely motivated by increasing concentration of wealth and incomes toward the top 1 or 0.1 percent in several economies and the search for diversification of newly created wealth. Some economies that are home to the wealthy are affected by political instability, insecurity, and weak property rights, prompting them to leave. The movements of the wealthy and their assets have various consequences on both home and receiving nations, such as a reduction of tax revenues in the home country and increased property prices in the receiving nations, and are also creating the creation of a whole (legal) industry granting passports, residence, and citizenship oriented to the wealthy. This article provides an overview of these trends backed by available empirical information. Main substantive topics include a) identifying the central motivations for the international mobility of the wealthy including “pull” and “push” factors; b) similarities and differences between the migration of wealthy individuals and the mobility of their assets (offshore wealth) to low-tax jurisdictions and fiscal paradises; and c) the emergence of a “market” for passports, residence permits, and citizenship rights catering to the very wealthy.La economía y la sociedad global se ven afectadas por la creciente desigualdad de ingresos y riquezas, así como por el aumento en la frecuencia y severidad de las crisis financieras, las tendencias proteccionistas y la globalización fragmentada. Un tema poco inexplorado en el análisis migratorio es la movilidad internacional de personas de alto patrimonio y sus activos en busca de países que ofrecen mayor seguridad financiera, menores impuestos, buenos servicios educativos y ciudades más seguras. Esta movilidad es motivada en gran medida por la gran concentración de la riqueza e ingresos en el 1 o 0.1 por ciento más rico, además de una búsqueda de iversificación de la nueva riqueza. Los ricos se van de economías afectadas por la inestabilidad política y riesgos sobre los derechos de propiedad. La movilidad de los ricos y sus activos tiene variadas consecuencias sobre las naciones de origen y destino: en general se produce una reducción de la recaudación tributaria en los países de origen, suben los precios de propiedades en las naciones destino y se ha creado toda una industria (legal) de otorgamiento de pasaportes, residencia y ciudadanía para ricos. Este artículo proporciona un panorama general de las tendencias descritas respaldado por la información empírica disponible. Los principales temas incluyen: a) identificación de las principales motivaciones para la movilidad internacional de individuos de alto patrimonio neto, considerando los factores de “atracción” y "salida" en dicha movilidad; b) similitudes y diferencias entre la migración de individuos ricos y la movilidad de sus activos (riqueza offshore) a jurisdicciones de baja tributación y paraísos fiscales; y c) el surgimiento de un “mercado” para pasaportes, permisos de residencia y derechos de ciudadanía dirigido a personas de alto patrimonio

Income Distribution In Chile, 1987-2006: Analysis And Policy Considerations

The Chilean Economy has experienced substantial changes in last quarter century: The GDP per capita almost duplicated, inflation dropped significantly and real wages improved substantially. The economy opened to international trade and markets were liberalized and diversified. However, income concentration, as measured by the Gini coefficient, has remained extremely high at about 55%. Based on the large and nation-wide representative CASEN survey, this paper studies trends in income distribution in Chile between 1987 and 2006 at both the household and the individual level. The paper analyses ten stylized facts such as the high and persistent income concentration, the substantial impact of the wealthiest percentiles on the income distribution and the high variability of income distribution across regions. The study finds that inequality may have declined from 2003 to 2006. Finally, the paper presents a statistical model accounting for inequality at the regional level. The model suggests that the association between economic activity at the regional level and inequality follows an inverted-U shape consistent with the Kuznets curve. It also suggests that growing educational attainment contributes to reducing inequality but other demographic factors (urbanization, reduction of household size) may have the opposite effect, resulting in a stable Gini coefficient over time.

Economic instability and aggregate investment

A recent literature suggests that because investment expenditures are irreversible and can be delayed, they may be highly sensitive to uncertainty. We briefly summarize the theory, stressing its empirical implications. We then use cross-section and time-series data for a set of developing and industrialized countries to explore the relevance of the theory for aggregate investment. We find that the volatility of the marginal profitability of capital -- a summary measure of uncertainty -- affects investment as the theory suggests, but the size of the effect is moderate, and is greatest for developing countries. We also find that this volatility has little correlation with indicia of political instability used in recent studies of growth, as well as several indicia of economic instability. Only inflation is highly correlated with this volatility, and is also a robust explanator of investment.Supported by the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Researchn by the National Science Foundation

Governance crisis and the Andean region: a political economy analysis

Includes bibliographyThe Andean countries, a region with abundance of natural resources and other valuable assets, exhibit a variety of governance problems that hinder its potential for social peace, stability and economic prosperity. Their empirical governance record, based on historical and recent data, although varies from country to country has been characterized by political instability, considerable frequency of constitutional reforms, presidential crisis, volatility of democratic institutions and violence. In turn, the empirical evidence on quality of institutions put the Andean region in a relatively modest place in international rankings of (survey-based) indices of voice and accountability, rule of law, regulatory burden, control of corruption, political instability and violence although improvements are also detected in some of these governance dimensions. Institutional reform, in a broad sense, is needed to ensure the basic conditions of economic development

La clase media y el proceso de desarrollo económico: evidencia internacional para 130 países

Incluye Bibliografí