Facultad de Economía

Fecha: 16/04/2020, 11:00

Modalidad: Virtual

Presentador: Oscar Avila, Banco de la República.

Autor: Avila Oscar., George, Alessandria.

Co-autores: George Alessandria (U. of Rochester))

In this paper we develop a two-country, multi-sector model with input output linkages and new exporter dynamics that helps to understand the welfare implications of sectoral trade policy. To our knowledge this is the first attempt to include input-output linkages in a dynamic export decision model with capital accumulation, intermediate inputs and entry decisions. We use the model to analyze the welfare effects of Colombia's unilateral trade liberalization in 1990. This episode provides an interesting example of trade policy for two reasons. First, it was unexpected and large; and second, it affected most of the sectors in the economy. Consistent with the dynamic trade literature, cutting tariffs has a positive effect on consumption, exports, capital accumulation and domestic production. According to the model welfare gains are bigger when 1) input-output linkages are included; 2) we add more sectors; 3) we focus in short run dynamics; 4) we allow households to run deficits in the short run; and 5) we liberalize sectors with no comparative advantage.

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Fecha: 06/05/2020, 11:00

Modalidad: Virtual

Presentador: Julien Labonne

Autor: Labonne, Julien

Co-Presentador: Stefano Caria
 

His paper studies how social structure affects the functioning of labor market in a developing country. We take as a starting point the idea that there is tendency for employers to hire within their networks. As social structure becomes more fragmented, the cost of doing so increases and employers start hiring individuals outside of their own network. This improves the performance of local labor markets. We use data on the names of 20 million individuals to measure the structure of marriage networks in 15,000 villages of the Philippines and combine them with detailed labor force surveys data to test those hypotheses. Individuals living in more socially fragmented villages are less likely to work in family firms, more likely to use formal job search strategies and earn higher wages. More socially fragmented villages are also richer. Those results are robust to controlling for recent migration and to an instrumental variable strategy, reducing concerns about reverse causality.

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