Self-assessed health as a key determinant of lifestyles: An application to tobacco consumption in Argentina

The relationship between lifestyle choices and health has been widely studied in the epidemiological and economic literature. In the last years, empirical research was directed towards the use of recursive systems with structural equations for a health production function and reduced form equations for lifestyles. As a result, behaviors toward health are taken to be determined by exogenous socio-economic variables. In this article, we show that health is a key determinant of health habits. When people feel well, they adopt less healthy behaviors. We use maximum simulated likelihood for a multivariate 5 equation probit model. In that model, lifestyles (diet, exercise, alcohol consumption and smoking) are a function of exogenous socioeconomic variables and self-reported health. Self-reported health varies with socio-economic characteristics and depends on health indicators that are the consequence of lifestyles undertaken in the past (i.e., overweight, blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol levels). Data is that of adults in Argentina´s 2005 Risk Factors National Survey. We find that health partial effects on lifestyle are much larger having accounted for health endogeneity. Accounting for unobservable variables that jointly determine all lifestyles does not change much the magnitude of our results. Our findings are robust to different specifications.lifestyles, health

Programas sociales en Argentina y bienestar: Impacto de la moratoria previsional y de la AUH

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact on the welfare of the most important social programs implemented in the last decade in Argentina: the Inclusion Pension Plan and the Universal Child Allowance (UCA), and discusses which of these redistributive instruments presents the highest aggregate utility. To do this, non-experimental econometric techniques combined with various welfare indicators are used. We find that both programs increased the welfare of beneficiary households, and that the impact of the UCA exceeds in all cases that of the Inclusion Pension Plan. Likewise, it is evidenced a positive effect on general welfare

Programas sociales en Argentina y bienestar: Impacto de la moratoria previsional y de la AUH

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact on the welfare of the most important social programs implemented in the last decade in Argentina: the Inclusion Pension Plan and the Universal Child Allowance (UCA), and discusses which of these redistributive instruments presents the highest aggregate utility. To do this, non-experimental econometric techniques combined with various welfare indicators are used. We find that both programs increased the welfare of beneficiary households, and that the impact of the UCA exceeds in all cases that of the Inclusion Pension Plan. Likewise, it is evidenced a positive effect on general welfare

La política ambiental en América Latina y el Caribe: ¿de qué depende?

Este trabajo intenta evaluar los determinantes que favorecen a que países de la región adopten políticas ambientales activas. Para eso, se toma como referencia dos indicadores de política ambiental internacional: el número de tratados internacionales ratificados referidos al medioambiente, y el cumplimiento con los programas sugeridos por la Agenda 21 para cumplimentar la meta de un desarrollo sostenible. Luego, se comparan dichos indicadores con variables que pueden explicar su performance. Éstas son principalmente de tres tipos: cuestiones socioeconómicas y de calidad de vida como el PBI o el nivel de educación, cuestiones políticas como el respeto de los derechos políticos y civiles de los ciudadanos, y, el status ambiental de los países. Los datos provienen de fuentes internacionales que hacen posible la comparación entre los países latinoamericanos. Las únicas variables que parecen ser importantes para evaluar si los países de la región van a tener políticas más activas a favor de la conservación del medio ambiente, parecen ser el grado de desarrollo humano (que mide el desarrollo en tres dimensiones: educación, esperanza de vida e ingresos) y la presión demográfica. Las libertades políticas y el status ambiental de los países no parecen determinar si éstos se inclinarán hacia políticas ambientales más activas. Los resultados son robustos a distintas especificaciones.

Sources of financing social security systems in countries of South America.

One of the objectives of the State is to achieve the highest possible level os society, which is central to ensuring a level of social protection that tends to universality and coverage of socially recognized needs and contingencies such as education, health, security, old age, maternity, disability and unemployment, among others. In this context, social security, defined as the set of institutions aimed at protecting people from the circumstances described above assumes a vital role. This document aims to provide a comparative analysis of various sources of financing social security in South America countries. In particular, it describes the situation in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. There will be description of the subsystems that make up the Social Security and analyze the particular situation of each selected by focusing on financing.seguridad social; financiamiento ; américa del sur

Universal Allocation per Child for Social Protection: an inclusion policy for the most vulnerable

Conditioned transfers programs are used by several countries in the region as a mechanism to fight poverty and inequality. These policies are basically aimed at focusing monetary transferences on families with underage children, and to condition the same so as to promote health care and human capital formation of children. By means of decree 1602/09, the Argentinean government sought to extend the benefits of the universal allocation per child for workers in the formal sector of the economy, to those children whose parents are either informal or unemployed workers. Considering the number of minors benefited by this policy and its positive effects on the short and long-term brought about by health and education conditions, the universal allocation per child is, undoubtedly, one of the most important social welfare programs implemented in the recent years with a clear objective of equal distribution. This work intends to analyze the universal allocation per child in terms of social protection. The first sections describe the contributory system of family allocations per child along with the new non-contributory universal allocation. Sections 3 & 4 address an estimate of this benefit’s contribution on aggregate demand and poverty levels. Section 5 presents a brief analysis on the re-distributory impact of regional allocation, while section 6 provides general conclusions. This work ends with an appendix presenting a compared analysis of the universal allocation per child with other similar programs in Latin America.transferencias condicionadas de ingreso, asignacion universal, pobreza, indigencia

Pension coverage analysis of the Integrated Argentine Pension System (SIPA): protection, inclusion and equality

The coverage rate of elderly people in Argentina has faced a declining tendency since the late ’90. With the aim to face this problem, in 2005 it was implemented the Plan de Inclusión Previsional which allowed elderly people to join a facility plan of payment to access to previsional benefit. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the results of this plan on coverage extension and its effects on poverty and income distribution. Between the main results, it was found that the Plan allowed to include 2,3 millions of benefits, contributed to poverty reduction of elderly from 27,9% (2003) to 3,3% (2009) and it achieved a reduction in Gini pension distribution from 0,27 (2004) to 0,18 (2010).pensiones; moratoria previsional; jubilaciones; SIPA; pobreza; distribución

Conditional cash transfers in Argentina: Universal Allocation per Child for Social Protection

The recent implementation of the Asignación Universal por Hijo para Protección Social in Argentina, which aim is to fight against short term poverty and promote investment in human capital, has generated a broad debate in society. This paper analyzes the impact of this program on poverty and whether it encourages labor informality or not, through micro-simulations. The results show that the program has positive effects on reducing poverty, meanly among children and that it does not distort significantly the choice between formality and informality.transferencias condicionadas de ingreso; asignación universal por hijo; pobreza; indigencia; informalidad; políticas públicas; salud; educación

Fuentes de financiamiento de los sistemas de seguridad social en países de América del Sur.

One of the objectives of the State is to achieve the highest possible level os society, which is central to ensuring a level of social protection that tends to universality and coverage of socially recognized needs and contingencies such as education, health, security, old age, maternity, disability and unemployment, among others. In this context, social security, defined as the set of institutions aimed at protecting people from the circumstances described above assumes a vital role. This document aims to provide a comparative analysis of various sources of financing social security in South America countries. In particular, it describes the situation in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. There will be description of the subsystems that make up the Social Security and analyze the particular situation of each selected by focusing on financing

Fuentes de financiamiento de los sistemas de seguridad social en países de América del Sur.

One of the objectives of the State is to achieve the highest possible level os society, which is central to ensuring a level of social protection that tends to universality and coverage of socially recognized needs and contingencies such as education, health, security, old age, maternity, disability and unemployment, among others. In this context, social security, defined as the set of institutions aimed at protecting people from the circumstances described above assumes a vital role. This document aims to provide a comparative analysis of various sources of financing social security in South America countries. In particular, it describes the situation in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. There will be description of the subsystems that make up the Social Security and analyze the particular situation of each selected by focusing on financing