Covid-19. The Russian invasion of Ukraine. Commodity price volatility. The rise of global inflation and interest rates. Currency depreciations among indebted middle-income economies. And now, natural disasters...
This paper estimates worker, firm and assistance programs’ responses to foreign shocks in Brazil exploiting quasi-experimental variation in firms’ foreign demand resulting from the Global Financial Crisis...
A region known for its volatility, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has suffered severe economic and social setbacks from crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. These crises have taken their toll...
A region known for its volatility, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has suffered severe economic and social setbacks from crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. These crises have taken their toll...
A region known for its volatility, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has suffered severe economic and social setbacks from crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. These crises have taken their toll...
Cash transfers have been adopted worldwide and credited with significant reductions in poverty. However, their economy-wide effects continue to spark heated debates, particularly due to potential adverse...
This paper documents an inverse U-shape in the evolution of wage inequality in Latin America since 1995, with a sharp reduction starting in 2002. The Gini coefficient of wages increased from 42 to 44 between...
Does increased import competition lead to higher returns to skill within an industry and, therefore, to greater incentives for skill acquisition? Does it also induce skill upgrading by the industry’s existing...
This paper examines the relationship between the destination of exports and the input prices paid by firms, using detailed customs and firm-product-level data from Portugal. Both ordinary least squares...
What caused the decline in wage inequality of the 2000s in Latin America? Looking to the future, will the current economic slowdown be regressive? Wage Inequality in Latin America: Understanding the Past...
This paper examines whether export participation matters for job training. The paper draws on longitudinal worker-firm data for Brazilian manufacturing, linked with detailed records on training activity...
In many countries safety nets consist predominantly of universal subsidies on food and fuel. A key question for policy makers willing to shift to targeted safety nets is under what conditions middle-class...
Improved labor market outcomes have been the main driver of reductions in poverty and inequality. Continued progress in employment and labor earnings will depend on achieving a first critical goal: raising...
Economic growth has been sustained for many years pre-crisis in the region, but this has not resulted in the creation of an adequate number of jobs and has succeeded, at best, in generating low-quality...
This paper examines the extent to which the destination of exports matters for the input prices paid by firms, using detailed customs and firm-product-level data from Portugal. The authors use exchange...
This report is organized in five chapters: chapter one, a framework for Social Safety Nets (SSN) reform in the Middle East and North Africa, describes and illustrates the reasons for the region's growing...
Fixed costs associated with learning about demand and setting up distribution networks are expected to be lower when there are more potential contacts in the destination market, suggesting a greater probability...
Today, Social Safety Nets (SSNs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are ripe for reform, for moving forward on a path that goes from existing systems to ones that incentivize investments in education...
The report aims to meet two broad objectives: (a) enhance knowledge about the current state of existing social safety nets (SSNs) and assess their effectiveness in responding to new and emerging challenges...
The report aims to meet two broad objectives: (a) enhance knowledge about the current state of existing social safety nets (SSNs) and assess their effectiveness in responding to new and emerging challenges...