The Value-Added Tax (VAT) is the most prevalent consumption tax globally, yet it is frequently deemed highly regressive. To address this, we propose a Personalized VAT (PVAT) devised in conjunction with a distributional policy. We aim to achieve three objectives: increase revenue collection,...

Does compliance with low-cost civic duties increase demand for social accountability? We address this question by conducting a field experiment at train stations in Buenos Aires. We create exogenous variation in compliance with paying the public transportation fare by i) highlighting sanctions...

Credit constraints are central to development economics theory. However, there is scant direct evidence that supports the existence of such constraints. Traditional tests observe how consumption changes after an unexpected income shock. Such changes can also result from myopic behavior or...

Poverty continues to challenge Latin American and Caribbean countries, with approximately one in three people in the region in poverty and one in seven in extreme poverty. This paper provides up-to-date insights through analysis of who the poor are, where they are located, and how they live in...

This paper studies tax evasion in the form of under-reported wages in Ecuador using microdata from a combination of electronic billing and personal income tax returns filed in 2017. Bringing together this novel combination of data, the study applies the standard method Pissarides and Weber...

We study the effects of a Bolivian law that introduced benefits and protections for child workers (who are overwhelmingly informal workers) and lowered the de facto legal working age from 14 to 10. We employ a difference-in-discontinuity approach that exploits the variation in the law's...

This paper examines the effect of women's effective land ownership on female empowerment and household food security in the context of Peruvian family farming. Using an instrumental variable approach, we explore whether self-declared informal ownership of plots provides women with increased...

This study assesses the impact of the Program for Rural Development and Family Agriculture (PRODAF), a smart subsidies project that benefited the family farming stratum in northeastern Argentina. The evaluation draws on two complementary data sources. The first is a survey of agricultural...

Digital one-stop shops for firm registration can significantly reduce costs and increase access to information for firms entering the formal sector. This paper examines the impact of a nationwide program with a one-stop registration shop and lower registration fees. In addition to analyzing its...

This study assesses the impact of the Program for Rural Development and Family Agriculture (PRODAF), a smart subsidies project that benefited the family farming stratum in northeastern Argentina. The evaluation draws on two complementary data sources. The first is a survey of agricultural...