TRADE AND LABOR MARKETS: EVIDENCE FROM THE COLOMBIAN TRADE LIBERALIZATION PROCESS

The objective of this paper is to measure the impact of trade on the sectoral labor markets. Using the Colombian National Household Survey and comparable trade-related data, we study how changes in trade policy affect the sectoral demands for labor, as measured by the change in wages and employment. We develop a structural model and estimate its reduced form specification to determine an elasticity between measures of sectoral tariffs and labor demand, correcting for tariff endogeneity. The data used covers the period of 1984 through 1999. This allows us to take advantage of the natural experiment represented by the Colombian trade liberalization process of the early nineties. The results suggest that sector tariff levels over the period are positively correlated with their employment levels, but only for tradable sectors. In the case of wages, there is no evidence that they were affected by the trade reform.Labor markets, trade liberalization, development, trade policy, Colombia

Asymmetric Price Adjustments Under Ever-Increasing Costs. Evidence from the Retail Gasoline Market in Colombia

There is abundant empirical evidence showing that asymmetric price adjustments exist in a wide variety of markets. Prices tend to grow faster when costs rise relative to the rate at which prices drop when costs fall. The objective of this paper is to empirically test whether asymmetric price adjustments exist in a scenario where costs are increasing every period.The Colombian retail gasoline market offers an excellent case study due to a specific regulation, something discussed further in this paper. Our results suggest that when costs rise above the reference price -a government suggested retail price- retail prices tend to rise less relative to when costs grow below the reference price. Thus, asymmetry does exist.Asymmetric price adjustments, Gasoline retail markets, Search, Reference Prices.

Risk, Concentration and Market Power in the Banking Industry: Evidence from the Colombian System (1997-2006)

This paper examines the relationship between risk, concentration and the exercise of market power by banking institutions. We use monthly balance-sheet and interest rate data for the Colombian banking system from 1997 to 2006. The evidence shows that, in the face of high risk, banks transfer a larger share of risk to customers through higher intermediation margins. The result suggests that systemic risk acts as a collusion" device for banks: while high concentration is not enough to have collusion, the true effects of high market concentration on interest rates´ mark-ups emerge when the system is under stress."Banking, market power, risk, concentration, intermediation margins

THE WELFARE EFFECTS OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION: EVIDENCE FROM THE CAR INDUSTRY IN COLOMBIA

In this paper I examine the effects of trade liberalization on firms´ performance and consumers´ welfare. Using product level data, I study firms´ performance in the Colombian automobile industry. Given my disaggregated data I can estimate pre and post-reform price-cost margins, as well as calculate the results by origin of production. Before the reforms were implemented, imported cars had prohibitively high tariffs, on average 200%, and were essentially unavailable. After the reforms such tariffs were reduced to 38% on average. I find that as the industry restructured prior to the iberalization process, price-cost margins dropped from 33% to 24%. After the reforms, margins increased because of the associated lower costs, but then again started to fall, reaching a low 23% for domestic cars. The behavior of price-cost margins is explained by increasing domestic competition prior to the reforms, the associated decrease in costs after the reforms and the relatively unchanged market structure. On the consumer side, the approach I follow allows me to estimate the monetary gains due to the liberalization process. I find the post-reform gains in consumers´ welfare to be, as a consequence of declining prices and increased variety, over three thousand dollars per purchaser. A counterfactual simulation, where it is assumed that no foreign cars were available after the reforms, suggests that the gains achieved by consumers are due, for the most part, to increased variety rather than to price competition.Trade Liberalization

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La construcción del capital social comunitario en un entorno periurbano – Ejido de San Nicolás Totolapan

La información presentada forma parte de la investigación realizada en la Comunidad Ejidal de San Nicolás Totolapan, realizada el año 2009, en relación a la integración y convivencia económico-territorial de la organización ejidal con la gran ciudad de México y sus habitantes, a través del diseño y la puesta en operación de estrategias de adaptación y cambio en sus usos y costumbres al interior de la comunidad, que se ubica en un espacio periurbano colindante con el Distrito Federal, capital federal de México, en donde 336 ejidatarios administran sus tierras en régimen de propiedad comunitaria, que esta conformada principalmente de áreas de bosque y otras tierras cultivables, y que en un momento dado por las circunstancias socio-económicas, deciden poner en operación un parque ecoturístico, que sea administrado y operado por los miembros de la propia comunidad, para logra con estas acciones, la activación de los recursos específicos del territorio, en conjunto con acciones de valorización del conocimiento tradicional, el saber-hacer de los ejidatarios en cuanto a técnicas tradicionales para el cuidado y preservación del bosque.capital social, turismo rural, ecoturismo, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Labor and Human Capital,

El impacto del impuesto al valor agregado sobre el gasto en Colombia

Utilizando la enorme variación relativa del IVA en Colombia como estrategia de identificación este trabajo busca cuantificar el impacto del IVA sobre el gasto de los hogares. Para tal efecto se correlaciona el IVA con el gasto de los hogares según se reportan en la Encuesta Continua de Hogares (ECH). La estimación se realiza para tres rubros de gasto presente en la ECH: alimentación, cultura yentretenimiento y celulares. Los resultados sugieren que para un nivel de gasto promedio de aproximadamente $541.000 el impacto de incrementar el IVA en un 1$5.747 para alimentos y $4.771 para celulares, en tanto que el gasto en cultura y esparcimiento cae en$2.316. Además el ejercicio muestra que incrementar el IVA tiene un impacto diferencial, sobre hogares de distintas características demográficas y económicas.Impuesto al valor agregado, incidencia tributaria, gasto de loshogares, encuestas de hogares

Reflexiones sobre el crecimiento de largo plazo del sector agrícola en Colombia

Este trabajo explora la evolución estructural del PIB agropecuario en Colombia desde finales de los sesenta hasta el 2007. Como fuentes de crecimiento se tienen en cuenta la productividad y las áreas cosechadas. Se encuentra que en los últimos 16 años el área cosechada ha disminuido alrededor de un 25%, mientras que la productividad se ha mantenido generalmente estancada. Se concluye que el sector agrícola, debido a diferentes medidas de protección y soporte sectorial, a lo largo de décadas, no ha logrado integrarse plenamente a un mercado competitivo. Además, se presenta un ejercicio comparativo con Chile, México y Brasil. Éste sugiere que la manera más eficiente para incorporar el sector agrícola a la dinámica del resto de la economía es mediante la provisión de incentivos económicos que induzcan a mejoras efectivas de productividad. La revisión de la información sobre inversión, tanto doméstica como extranjera, sugiere que en Colombia esta no ha sido suficiente para impulsar cambios estructurales en el sector.sector agrícola, crecimiento económico, productividad