In the last decade, several Latin American governments have implemented new teacher recruitment policies based on evaluations of candidates' competency and knowledge so as to raise the quality of their teachers and schools. Since 2007, the Ecuadorian government has required teacher candidates to...

We show how experience and dynamic learning processes reduce the obstacles to optimization imposed by information frictions when individuals newly enter the formal sector economy. Most importantly, we provide causal evidence on the exact mechanisms through which individuals learn about the...

This paper aims to evaluate the progressivity of different fuel subsidies in Ecuador as well as the budgetary and distributional effects of a potential elimination of such subsidies. Our analysis makes use of ECUAMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for Ecuador, together with...

This paper explores the role of the recently introduced unemployment insurance benefit (seguro de desempleo) in protecting incomes in case of unemployment in Ecuador. We use ECUAMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for Ecuador, to simulate entitlement to the unemployment insurance benefit...

Top income under-coverage in developing countries not only leads to downward biased inequality indicators but might also affect the ex-ante evaluation of progressive tax reforms. We propose a simple adjustment to top incomes for formal employees (e.g. employees affiliated with social security)...

During the last two decades, the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has called the attention of policymakers, practitioners, and scholars due to their role in the economic growth and job creation in their nations. However, due to the complexity and uncertainty of...

We exploit the size of the 2010 Ecuadorian Census to estimate the effect of remittances on secondary school enrollment across four key dimensions: gender, household wealth, rural vs. urban, and family migration status. Using a bivariate probit model that accounts for both endogeneity and...

Artisans and the informal sector in Ecuador -- Informals, entrepreneurs and artisans -- Artisans in Quito, 1975-2015 -- Neoliberalism in Ecuador -- Choosing informality -- Formal-informal relations : backward linkages -- Customers, clients and formal markets -- Family firms, homeworkers and...

Many poor households in developing countries are liquidity-constrained. As a result, they may under-invest in the human capital of their children. We provide new evidence on the long-term (10-year) effects of cash transfers using data from Ecuador. Our analysis is based on two separate sources...

Many poor households in developing countries are liquidity-constrained. As a result, they may under-invest in the human capital of their children. We provide new evidence on the long-term (10-year) effects of cash transfers using data from Ecuador. Our analysis is based on two separate sources...

Este documento discute la protección social de la niñez en el Ecuador mediante la respuesta a las siguientes preguntas: ¿a quién, qué y cómo proteger? Responder a la primera pregunta implicó definir operacionalmente la infancia y dividirla en subtramos de edad con el fin de identificar...

In search of the ideal worker -- Embodied inequality -- Interlude : getting to work : domestic workers' commutes -- Informed but insecure / written in collaboration with Leila Rodriguez -- Pathways through poverty -- Like any other job?

The Popular Economy in Urban Latin America: Informality, Materiality and Gender in Commerce' advances comparative knowledge and theoretical reflections on urban popular economies in Latin America by going beyond the lenses of so-called informal and street economies. It develops a...

Acknowledgements -- Notes on contributors -- Introduction -- Water conservation in scarcity conditions: corporate sustainability at mexico's femsa group / Roger Nion Conaway, Ph.D., Francisco Gabriel Rodríguez González -- Walmart mexico: clean energy to reduce costs and improve corporate image...

We present a new approach to shape functional urban areas in terms of proximity. It uses travel time from urban cores to connect them and to determine its hinterland. It only needs information that nowadays it is available for most countries. In addition, we test this approach to a developing...

Früher waren Bildung, Gesundheit und Armut in Entwicklungsländern vornehmlich Gegenstand von Politik und Entwicklungsökonomie. Heute nehmen sich zunehmend auch multinationale Unternehmen (MNU) dieser Themen im Rahmen von Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) an. Bei CSR geht es im...

Some claim that certain forms of social protection, conditional cash transfers in particular, result in perverse incentives for recipients in order to stay eligible for receiving benefits. This notion has a bearing on the design of social protection programmes and may undermine the political...

In this paper, we argue that differences in the cost structures across sectors play an important role in firms' decisions to adjust their prices. We develop a menu-cost model of pricing in which retail firms intermediate trade between producers and consumers. An important facet of our analysis...

Based on a natural experiment that took place in Ecuador in the context of a capital outflow tax, this paper presents suggestive evidence of the emergence of an abnormal transfer pricing behavior. We exploit the fact that some imports were eligible to a tax-credit measure aiming to offset the...