Documento de Trabajo

Do Regional Integration Agreements Increase Business-Cycle Convergence? Evidence from Apec and Nafta

Using monthly industrial sector data from January 1971 to March 2004, we test for business cycles convergence among the major APEC members: Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, USA, and Canada. In addition, we examine the synchronization of business cycles among Australia, Japan, and South Korea, based on the quarterly data for the 1957-2003 period, as

A Cge Model for Environmental and Trade Policy Analysis in Chile: Case Study for Fuel Tax Increases

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models are a powerful economic tool for multidimensional/multi-sectoral analysis. They improve traditional input-output analysis generating quantities and prices endogenously and reflecting market incentives. They complement partial equilibrium analysis with a broader scope of analysis and the quantification of indirect and often non-intuitive effects. Environmental applications of CGE models include trade and

El Mercado Laboral en Chile Nuevos Temas y Desafíos

La situación laboral ha generado una creciente preocupación en los últimos años en Chile. El lento crecimiento de la economía a partir de la crisis asiática de los años 1998-99 determinó un aumento de la tasa de desocupación que se ha mantenido en el tiempo, situación que dio lugar a un debate acerca de las

Privatizing Highways in the United States

Major increases in congestion over the last two decades, combined with troubled government finances, have made private toll-roads increasingly attractive in the United States. Road privatization consists in having a private firm build, operate and maintain the road for many decades. The main (often only) source of income for the franchise holder is toll revenue. We

Market Power in Price-Regulated Power Industries

This paper analyzes market power in price-regulated power industries. We derive market equilibrium under different assumptions (perfect competition, monopoly, Cournot, etc.), with and without free entry. We show that when peak-load pricing is used, producers can exercise market power by increasing the share of peaking technology in the generation portfolio, compared to the welfare-maximizing configuration.

The Credit Channel in an Emerging Economy

To date, there is no consensus about how frictions in the credit market affect the transmission of the monetary policy to the real economy. The traditional money channel states that when the Central Bank reduces its reserves, commercial banks are forced to reduce their demand for deposits. If prices are sticky, in the short-run a

Sunk Prices And Salesforce Competition

This work analyses those industries in which the role of salespersons is to poach clients from rival firms. This is done with a three-stage model where firms decide successively if they enter the market or not, what price to set, and how many salespersons they hire. It is assumed that each consumer is obliged to

Stock Markets Turmoil: Worldwide Effects of Middle East Conflicts

In this article, we analyze the impact of recent political conflicts in the Middle East on stock markets worldwide. In particular, we study how political instability––mainly due to the war in Iraq––has affected long-term volatility of stock markets. In doing so, we utilize two approaches to detecting structural breakpoints in volatility: Inclan and Tiao’s Iterative

The Competitive Role of the Transmisión System in Price-regulated Power Industries

This note shows how the transmission system can enhance competition in price-regulated power industries, thus extending earlier findings reported in the literature for deregulated industries. In the context of a two-technology, price-regulated power industry, we show that the interconnection of two markets initially supplied by a different monopoly reduces market power and raises welfare. We

La Productividad Científica de Economía y Administración en Chile. Un Análisis Comparativo

Este trabajo compara el volumen y la calidad de la productividad científica de las ciencias económicas y administrativas en Chile, con el resto de las disciplinas científicas a nivel nacional y con economía y administración y otras disciplinas a nivel internacional. Dado que la productividad científica no es homogénea entre las disciplinas, las comparaciones utilizan

Urban Air Quality and Human Health in Latin America and the Caribbean

Luis Cifuentes is a professor at Catholic University, Chile. Alan Krupnick is a Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF). Raúl O’Ryan is a professor at the University of Chile. Michael Toman is in the Environment Division of the Sustainable Development Department, IADB.This working paper is being published with the objective of contributing to

Transmisión eléctrica y la “ley corta”: por qué licitar es (mucho) mejor que regular (Electricity transmission and the short law: why offering for tender is [much] better than regulation)

Existen a lo menos dos procedimientos para fijar los peajes que deben pagar los usuarios de líneas de transmisión. Uno consiste en regularlos en un proceso estándar. El otro, adjudicar las líneas en licitaciones competitivas por menor peaje. En este trabajo mostramos que los peajes esperados son inambiguamente menores si las líneas se licitan. Las