Documento de Trabajo

Subsidies in Chilean Public Utilities

Chile es uno de los países con peor desigualdad del ingreso de América Latina e incluso del mundo. Al mismo tiempo, durante la última década, el «modelo chileno» ha sido considerado como un ejemplo paradigmático que debiera ser imitado por los países en desarrollo y en particular, por los países latinoamericanos. ¿Cómo se concilian estos

Pobreza y distribución del ingreso en Chile (década del 90) (Poverty and income distribution in Chile during the 1990s)

This paper makes an analysis of subsidies in Chile`s public utilities. Rates rebalancing have practically eliminated cross subsidies, and current subsidy programs are funded from the national budget. Over the last decade in particular, significant efforts have been made to extend public services to rural populations, and a consumption subsidy for potable water currently benefits

La legislación laboral y el mercado del trabajo en Chile: 1975-2000 (Labor legislation and the labor market in Chile: 1975-2000)

Los costos sociales de la crisis macroeconómica de los años ochenta, la creciente integración a los mercados internacionales y los efectos de la competencia en actividades tradicionales e intensivas en mano de obra; han llevado a muchos países latinoamericanos a reformar sus normativas laborales con el fin de mejorar el funcionamiento de sus mercados del

Franchising of Infrastructure Concessions in Chile: A Policy Report

This report describes and evaluates the present state of the Chilean infrastructure concessions program. This program is leading to a complete upgrade of Chile`s highway system and has been recently extended to seaports. The main principles underlying the economics of franchising are examined and used to evaluate the programof privatizations of highways and seaports. Compared

Decisions to Replace Consumer Durables Goods: An Econometric Application of Wiener and Renewal Processes

Current sales of most consumer durable goods are accounted for by replacements. However, only in recent years has the economic literature provided a more rigorous analysis of replacement purchases by incorporating elements of dynamic programming and of the theory of stochastic processes. This paper is an empirical study of household replacement decisions modeled as an

Regulating the Electricaly Sector in Latin America

During the past decade most Latin American countries reformed and liberalized their electric sectors. This paper examines these reforms, providing a critical examination of the effects. Late reformers learnt from the experience of earlier reforming countries, and in particular from the Chilean experience. This evolutionary process has meant less regulation of segments that are or

Determinación de factores explicativos de los resultados escolares en educación media en Chile (Determining factors that explain high school results in Chile)

El objetivo de este estudio es indagar sobre las variables educativas, institucionales y sociales que están a la base de los logros educativos de los liceos de enseñanza media en Chile y de las diferencias de resultados entre ellos.Utilizando datos de la prueba SIMCE de Segundo Año de Enseñanza Media del año 1998 e información

Regulatory Governance and Chile

In the early eighties Chile completely reformed its electricity sector, introducing a regulatory framework that became extremely influential in the rest of the world. In 1998 and 1999, however, when the La Niña phenomenon brought one of the worst droughts on record, the price system collapsed. Random outages and three-hour long rotatingelectricity cuts occurred.This paper

A Note on the Optimality of the Cash Flow Tax

This paper analyzes the optimal tax policy within an endoge-nous growth model with productive government spending. We consider a one-factor (human capital) one-good economy, with the latter serving both as a final and an intermediate good. The government levies taxes in order to finance the provision of the intermediate good. Within this framework we show

Sistemas de incentivos en educación y la experiencia del SNED en Chile (An incentives system in education and the experience of the SNED in Chile)

Este artículo discute la importancia de los sistemas de evaluación e incentivos aplicados a la educación. En particular, analiza el diseño e implementación del Sistema Nacional de Evaluación del Desempeño de los Establecimientos Educacionales Subvencionados (SNED), que ha sido aplicado en Chile desde 1996. Con esta finalidad, se describe el SNED, se discuten los desafíos

La crisis eléctrica de 1998-1999: causas, consecuencias y lecciones (The electric crisis of 1998-1999: Causes, consequences and lessons)

Este trabajo analiza la crisis eléctrica de 1998-1999. Su principal conclusión es que el diagnóstico habitual que sostiene que ocurrió porque las empresas no invirtieron y el regulador no tenía atribuciones, es equivocado. A pesar de la peor sequía del siglo y de la falla de la central Nehuenco, los cortes de energía y el

A Debt Puzzle

Over 60% of US households with credit cards are currently borrowing |i.e., paying interest |on those cards (Gross and Souleles 2000). We attempt to reconcile the high rate of credit card borrowing with observed levels of lifecycle wealth accumulation. We simulate a lifecycle model with five properties that create demand for credit card borrowing. First,