Documento de Trabajo

Inflation Stabilization and the Consumption of Durable Goods.

Exchange rate-based stabilizations in chronic-inflation countries have often been characterized by an initial consumption boom (which is most evident in the behavior of durable goods) followed by a later contraction. This paper provides an explanation for such a boom-recession cycle based on the timing of purchases of durable goods. The initial fall in inflation results

Exchange Rate Policy in Chile since 1960: Political Economy and The Choice of Regime

This paper analyzes exchange rate policies in Chile since the 1960s. A brief overview on main policies is presented. Particular attention is put into the two episodes of fixed-exchange rate as well as the reasons why policy makers may have arrived to those decisions. The paper also examines the long tradition of Chile on the

Income Distribution and Trade Liberalization

The paper presents a general framework for the analysis of the evolution of personal income distribution following trade liberalization. The model allows many factors of production and the possibility of capital gains. In this framework, the short run evolution of inequality depends on the wage to wealth ratio, while changes in the interest rate determine

Economic Growth in Latin America: Sources and Prospects

This paper examines the growth experience of Latin America and discusses future prospects. For this purpose we use alternative approaches. We first perform growth decompositions to look at the behavior of total factor productivity and examine differences across regions of the world and within Latin America. Then, we use cross-country growth regressions to compare the

Latin American Trade Regime Reforms and Perceptions

We examine the effects of recent reforms in trade in Latin American countries. In general, these countries have changed from the inward oriented economic attitude sponsored by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), towards an outward looking perspective that is part of the “Washington Consensus». The paper details the changes in the

Anatomía de una crisis eléctrica (Anatomy of an electric power crisis)

Este trabajo estudia formalmente si la ley eléctrica contenía precios suficientes para administrar sin cortes y eficientemente caídas drásticas de la cantidad ofrecida de energía y daba los incentivos correctos para invertir en capacidad de reserva. También analizamos en detalle las consecuencias de limitar las compensaciones a usuarios regulados. Concluimos que el sistema de precios

Análisis de la eficiencia del sistema tributario chileno (An analysis of the efficiency of the Chilean tax system)

Este trabajo evalúa la eficiencia del sistema tributario chileno. Se comienza mostrando que el sistema óptimo consta de un impuesto que grava los pagos al capital una vez descontado el ahorro neto del período que va a las empresas, y de un impuesto al trabajo una vez excluidos los gastos en formación en capital humano,

La sustentabilidad ambiental del transporte urbano: El caso de Santiago de Chile

El sistema de transporte urbano genera una diversidad de impactos ambientales: en la calidad del aire a nivel local, sobre problemas ambientales globales, de ruido, de uso de recursos y otros. La forma en que las ciudades se organizan para enfrentar la creciente demanda de por viajes determinará su sustentabilidad ambiental, es decir si en

Auction Design for the Colombian Electricity Market

Colombia deregulated its electricity sector and created a new market for electricty in July 1995. The spot market price is determined by a daily auction among the producers. Though the auction is designed to foment price competition, water scarcity constraints and the relatively high utilization of production capacity at peak demand hours produce situations where

Reforma tributaria y distribución del ingreso en Chile.

Mediante una evaluación detallada de la estructura tributaria chilena vigente en 1996, mostramos que cambios bastante más drásticos que aquellos considerados en la discusión pública no afectan de manera importante la distribución del ingreso que se obtiene después de cobrar impuestos pero antes de que estos impuestos financien el gasto fiscal. En consecuencia no es

Weak Property Rights and hold-up in R&D.

We study how the sequence of financing of R&D finance varies according to the ease with which property rights over knowledge can be defined. There are two financiers, a venture capitalist and a corporation. The knowledge acquired in costly research becomes embodied in the researcher’s human capital, and it may hold up the financier and

Eficiencia técnica de los establecimientos educacionales en Chile

El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar la eficiencia técnica de los establecimientos educacionales en Chile, entendiendo por ésta la capacidad de los establecimientos de generar el máximo producto (logro educativo) dada su combinación de insumos. Para ello se utilizan dos técnicas alternativas de medición de eficiencia: la estimación de una frontera de producción estocástica,