Documento de Trabajo

Privatizing roads: An “old” new approach to infrastructure provision

During most of the twentieth century, highways, tunnels and bridges were viewed as public goods that had to be provided by the government.By the end of the century, however, chronic budgetary problems had led governments to allow participation of private firms in financing, building,and operating infrastructure projects. For example, worldwide private invest-ment in transport infrastructure

El Cobre Chileno y la Política Minera (Chilean Copper and Mining Policy)

En este artículo se proporciona una breve síntesis histórica de este tema para conectar la discusión presente con la del pasado. En la primera parte hay una revisión compacta del debatehistórico. Esto incluye la interrogante permanente sobre la importancia del cobre para Chile; esto se complementa con las estadísticas pertinentes sobre el rol del cobre

The Effects of Privatization on Firms and on Social Welfare

In this study we analyze the Chilean privatization process as a whole. Since it has been a wide-ranging process, we examine its different aspects. After a historic review of the privatization pro-cess,we study the 37 Chilean State Owned Enterprises (SOE’s) that were privatized during the period 1981-2000 and for which pre-privatization and post-privatization financial, employment

Corporate Diversification: Good for Some Bad for Others

In this paper a model based on conflicts of interest between shareholders, the CEO and divisional managers is developed to explain why corporate diversification is good for some firms and bad for others.It is shown that when the decision to diversify is endogenous, whether diversification destroys value depends on the severity of con‡icts of interests

Evaluación de la Regulación de las Telecomunicaciones en Chile (Evaluation of Telecommunications Regulations in Chile)

Desde su privatización, las empresas de telecomunicaciones han aumentado la cobertura de los servicios, así como su eficiencia interna. Luego de la desregulación de los servicios de larga distancia, las tarifas cayeron fuertemente y algo similar ocurrió con telefonía móvil, después de que el número de operadores aumentara de dos a cuatro. Sin embargo, la

Compensation Methods in a Competitive Labor Market: the Role of Asymmetric Information

In this paper we develop an asymmetric information model that provides a rationale for the existence of pay-for-performance contracts in the absence of incentive for effort and explainswhen and in which occupations pay-for-performance is more likely to be observed. In our model competition among firms for the best workers forces firm to link pay to

Transmisión y la “ley corta” I: una nota sobre riesgo y la tasa de descuento (Transmission Prices and the “Express” Law on electricity generation: a note on risk and the discount rate)

Esta nota estudia los determinantes de la tasa de descuento apropiada para fijar peajes de transmisión. Para ello se desarrolla un modelo simple que permite descomponerla en una suma de la tasa libre de riesgo y el premio por riesgo.Los principios generales son dos: (a) la tasa de descuento debiera ser variable y anclarse en

Trade Liberalization, Development and Government Policy in Chile

This article evaluates the current stance of Chile’s trade policy, and the threats to continued. Topics covered are protectionism (tariff and non-tariff) in Chile and its export markets, the evolution of exports and a critique of dirigiste policies that claim that Chile is facing limits to an export orientation that is based on unprocessed natural

Beneficios y Costos de la Globalización: Perspectiva de un País Pequeño (Chile) (Benefits and costs of globalization: perspectives from a small country (Chile))

La globalización implica para todos los países, especialmente los latinoamericanos, grandes oportunidades; pero al mismo tiempo, los desafíos no son menores. Efectivamente, existen costos de ajuste en la incorporación de un país a la economía mundial, pero, los beneficios superan notoriamente a los costos. El foco de las políticas de un país que se integra

El cobre y la estrategia fiscal óptima para Chile (Copper and the optimal state strategy for Chile)

Este trabajo analiza la estrategia fiscal óptima para Chile, determinando el gasto total y fiscal de la economía, así como de la carga tributaria considerando (i) el problema de distribución intergeneracional de los recursos asociados al cobre; (ii) que los ingresos del cobre son volátiles, transitorios y afectan al resto de la economía; y (iii)

Transportation in Developing Countries: Greenhouse Gas Scenarios for Chile

Chile is a lightly populated country of 15 million that has undergone large economic transformations. Over the past 25 years, the economy has evolved from a slow-growing state-directed economy into a fast growing, market-oriented economy. Its South American neighbors are imitating this transformation. The changes have been especially great in the transport sector, with the

Prediciendo el precio del cobre: ¿Más allá del camino aleatorio? (Predicting copper prices: Beyond random walk?)

En este trabajo se compara la capacidad predictiva de mediano plazo (1 a 5 años) de una variada gama de modelos de series cronológicas para el precio del cobre. El criterio de comparación es el error cuadrático medio de predicciones fuera de muestra. Entre los modelos considerados destacan medias móviles, procesos ARIMA, precios futuros, modelos