http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/38955 Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:23:59 GMT 2013-06-17T23:23:59Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/49516 Title: Un Diágnostico De La Informalidad Laboral Y Los Costos Laborales En Colombia Y Una Propuesta De Política Para Incentivar La Formalización Laboral Authors: Sánchez Torres, Fabio; Álvarez Vos, Oriana Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/49516 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/48804 Title: Educational upgrading and returns to skills in Latin America : evidence from a supply-demand framework, 1990-2010 Authors: Gasparini, Leonardo; Galiani, Sebastián; Cruces, Guillermo; Acosta, Pablo Abstract: It has been argued that a factor behind the decline in income inequality in Latin America in the 2000s was the educational upgrading of its labor force. Between 1990 and 2010, the proportion of the labor force in the region with at least secondary education increased from 40 to 60 percent. Concurrently, returns to secondary education completion fell throughout the past two decades, while the 2000s saw a reversal in the increase in the returns to tertiary education experienced in the 1990s. This paper studies the evolution of wage differentials and the trends in the supply of workers by educational level for 16 Latin American countries between 1990 and 2000. The analysis estimates the relative contribution of supply and demand factors behind recent trends in skill premia for tertiary and secondary educated workers. Supply-side factors seem to have limited explanatory power relative to demand-side factors, and are only relevant to explain part of the fall in wage premia for high-school graduates. Although there is significant heterogeneity in individual country experiences, on average the trend reversal in labor demand in the 2000s can be partially attributed to the recent boom in commodity prices that could favor the unskilled (non-tertiary educated) workforce, although employment patterns by sector suggest that other within-sector forces are also at play, such as technological diffusion or skill mismatches that may reduce the labor productivity of highly-educated workers. Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/48804 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/48803 Title: Work and tax evasion incentive effects of social insurance programs : evidence from an employment based benefit extension Authors: Bérgolo, Marcelo; Cruces, Guillermo Abstract: The impact of the tax and benefit system on work incentives is one of the most salient policy issues in labor and public economics. Despite a concurrent ample literature on tax evasion, there is relatively little analysis of the joint work and evasion incentive effects introduced by social insurance and related programs. This paper evaluates the behavioral responses of workers in these dimensions. Using a quasi-experimental approach, it studies a large scale expansion of employment based benefits in the social insurance system of a middle income country, Uruguay. The policy change extended the coverage of a compulsory, in-work and payroll tax financed health insurance program to the dependent children of private sector salaried workers, but only to full-time registered employees – those complying with payroll tax and social security contribution requirements. The results indicate that individuals that benefited from the reform responded to these financial incentives as predicted by economic theory, significantly increasing their labor force participation and hours of work, with most of the increase in registered (or “on”-the-books) employment. The reform only required one registered employee within the household to warrant the extended coverage, and the results provide evidence on disincentives for secondary workers, which reduced their labor supply in the form of registered employment. The analysis also uncovers complex patterns of tax evasion responses besides the reduction in off-the-books employment (a fall in outright tax evasion). Exploiting a unique feature of the data, the results indicate an adjustment along the intensive margin of evasion, with an increase in the underreporting of salaried earnings for registered employees following the reform. The conclusion illustrates how the consideration of these additional margins that are not contemplated by the canonical model has relevant policy consequences. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/48803 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/48802 Title: Scarring effects of youth unemployment and informality : evidence from Argentina and Brazil Authors: Viollaz, Mariana; Ham, Andrés; Cruces, Guillermo Abstract: This paper studies the effects of youth unemployment and informality on adult labor market outcomes in Argentina and Brazil. We propose an econometric strategy based on cross-cohort differences in youth labor market experiences in order to identify the effects of interest. The main findings indicate strong and significant scarring effects: cohorts exposed to higher levels of unemployment and informality in their youth fare systematically worse in the labor markets as adults. However, the persistence and wage penalty effects are mainly present in the early years of adulthood, and tend to dissipate with the passage of time. We also find that adverse effects are stronger for workers with lower skills. The main contribution of these results is to add a further dimension specific to developing and middle income countries – informality – to previous studies of unemployment scarring in advanced economies. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/48802 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/48801 Title: Exploring trends in labor informality in Latin America, 1990-2010 Authors: Tornarolli, Leopoldo; Battistón, Diego; Gasparini, Leonardo; Gluzmann, Pablo Abstract: Labor informality is a pervasive characteristic of the labor markets in Latin America, and a central issue in the public policy debate. This paper discusses the concept of labor informality and implements alternative definitions using microdata from around 300 national household surveys in all Latin American countries. The analysis covers two decades: while labor informality, defined as lack of social protection related to employment, remained with few changes in the 1990s, there is a discernible downward pattern during the 2000s in most countries. These movements reveal a counter-cyclical behavior of labor informality, that may be linked to segmentation in the labor market. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/48801 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z