Informality: exit and exclusion analyzes informality in Latin America, exploring root causes and reasons for and implications of its growth. The authors use two distinct but complementary lenses: informality driven by exclusion from state benefits or the circuits of the modern economy, and...

A rich panel data set from Mexico is used to study the patterns of entry, exit, and growth of microenterprises and to compare these with the findings of the mainstream theoretical and empirical work on firm dynamics. The Mexican self-employment sector is much larger than its counterpart in the...

The authors employ propensity score matching and a traditional control function approach to examine the impact of participation in various societal institutions on microfirm performance in Mexico. They find that firms that participate in credit markets, receive training, pay taxes, and belong to...

This paper studies the network structure and fragmentation of the Argentinean interbank market. The unsecured (CALL) and secured (REPO) markets are examined, applying complex network analysis. Results indicate that although the secured market has fewer participants, its nodes are more densely...

This paper proposes a functional coefficient quantile regression model with heterogeneous and time-varying regression coefficients and factor loadings. Estimation of the model coefficients is done in two stages. First, we estimate the unobserved common factors from a linear factor model with...

Climate change is already a reality. This is evidenced by the acceleration of global temperature increases, the melting of ice and snow covers, and rising sea levels. Latin America and the Caribbean region (LCR) are not exempt from these trends, as illustrated by the changes in precipitation...

Based on analysis of recent data on the evolution of global temperatures, snow and ice covers, and sea level rise, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recently declared that "warming of the climate system is unequivocal." Global surface temperatures, in particular, have...

This book aims to fill that gap by using extensive and new firm-level data. It provides an alternative, albeit complementary, approach to previous studies of the determinants of the region's growth performance, which are mostly based on cross-country regressions using aggregate data. This book...

There are four main messages that emerge from this book. First, no matter how authors look at the issue, remittances are extremely important in the Latin American context. With remittances estimated to have topped more than US$50 billion in 2006, Latin America is now the main destination of...