The "border effect" literature finds that political borders have a very large impact on relative prices, implicitly adding several thousands of miles to trade. In this paper we show that the standard empirical specification suffers from selection bias, and propose a new methodology based on...

The objective of this paper is to explore the impact of Uruguay's privatization and subsequent nationalization of water services on network access and water quality. The results suggest that although the early privatization of water services had little impact on access to the sanitation network,...

It is disputed whether trade liberalisation processes are sufficient for reducing poverty and inequality. We explore how ‘gains from trade’ have been distributed in the two minor trade partners of Mercosur, Uruguay and Paraguay, by analysing the impact of trade liberalisation on poverty and...

In the case of natural monopolies there tends to be a trade-off between a higher quality of output provided by private firms, and a better access for poor consumers provided by public firms. This is partly the reflection of differences in objectives by private and public firms. The former tend...

This paper analyzes the role of Uruguay’s sharp minimum wage increases after 2004 amidst the country’s slight wage inequality decrease. We found that the minimum wage increase has contributed to the reduction of wage inequality for formal workers mainly. However, we also found a negative...

This paper estimates returns to education using US data. Using the NLS and NLSY79 (dataset) average wages for workers with different ability and educational levels can be estimated. Because of the high correlation between schooling and ability it is not possible to estimate across the entire...

In this work we quantify the impact of trade liberalization in the global beef markets over labor income, employment and poverty levels in Uruguay. The adjustment of local beef prices after an external shock to the worldwide price levels is imperfect. Estimations indicate that 76% of a certain...

In this study we use data on subjective well being and migration in Cuenca, one of the Ecuador's largest cities. We examine the impact of migration on the happiness of the family left behind. We use the propensity score matching estimator to take into account the endogeneity of migration. Our...

In this paper we use household survey data to study the evolution of income distribution in Mexico over the last decade, a period of rapid integration to the global and North American economies -- "globalization" for short. We measure differences in income inequality, over time and across...

We analyze the impact of conditional cash payments on school enrollment, child labor and labor supply implemented between 2005 and 2007 to the poorest Uruguayan households. Targeting income discontinuities are not observed around the thresholds to partici