In this paper I examine the evolution of parental gender preferences in Argentina (i.e., parents who prefer a certain gender composition in their children). To do this, I use census microdata that ...spans the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. The estimation strategy exploits the plausibly random assignment in the gender of children. The results show a persistent preference for a mixed gender composition (i.e., having at least one boy and one girl) instead of children of the same gender. This translates into an increase in the probability of having a third child, conditional on already having two children of between 9%−23% for those couples who have children of the same gender -in relation to couples with children of opposite genders-. These preferences are heterogeneous over time and have important implications in terms of fertility (i.e., the reduction of these mixed gender preferences -in favor of greater gender-neutrality- could contribute to reducing the number of children per couple). In addition, the findings of this work support the empirical literature that uses the gender composition of the first two children as an instrumental variable to study the impact of fertility on labor participation.
•In this paper I examine the evolution of parental gender preferences in Argentina•I use census microdata that spans the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. The estimation strategy exploits the random assignment in the gender of children.•The results show a persistent preference for a mixed gender composition (i.e., having at least one boy and one girl).•This translates into an increase in the probability of having a third child, conditional on already having two children of between 9%−23%.
This paper evaluates whether exposure to natural disasters very early in the life of a person has persistent effects on her human development outcomes in the case of Argentina. Using the microdata of ...the 2010 National Census of Population and the Disaster Inventory System’s (DesInventar) records of the occurrence of natural disasters, we estimate a differences in differences model, exploiting geographical variation (between districts of Argentina) and temporal variation (between birth cohorts) in the occurrence of natural disasters. Fixed effects are considered by cohorts and districts, as well as control variables. We find that exposure to natural disasters during the first year of life significantly reduces the number of years of schooling achieved in 0.03 years and increases the chances of being unemployed when adult. Importantly, we find that the personal experience of a natural disaster goes beyond individual outcomes, increasing the chances of living in a multidimensionally poor household when adult. Exposure to natural disasters during gestation also has significant detrimental impact on these outcomes. In the context of climate change, in which an increase in the frequency and severity in the occurrence of natural disasters is expected, our results are a call of attention, indicating that it is of outmost importance to design and implement public policies towards increasing the country’s preparedness and resilience to natural disasters.
The medical literature has shown that populations under high stress have a lower sex ratio at birth (i.e. number of males for every 100 females). In this paper, I examine the relationship between ...income, as a source of economic stress, and the sex ratio at a subnational level for the 1895-2010 period. For this, I use census microdata from Argentina -a developing country that experienced rapid growth at the end of the 19th century and stagnated in recent decades- and I estimate from a two-way fixed effects model that exploits the wide temporal and geographic variability in income. The results show that as per capita income increases, the sex ratio at birth also increases. In particular, for every US$ 1,000 increase in per capita income, the sex ratio increases between 0.3 and 0.6 points. These findings make it possible to quantify the lost boys (i.e. those boys who were not born due to high economic stress on their parents) and constitute a call for attention in favor of the implementation of prenatal care policies -especially in periods of stagnation or income decline- to maintain a more balanced sex ratio.
The distance between the birth date and the school entry cutoff has been repeatedly used as an exogenous instrument to examine the impact of several educational programmes. In this work, we analyse ...the validity of this instrument for the case of Argentina. Considering multiple waves of the Permanent Household Survey we detect the existence of discontinuities in the distribution of births around the school entry cutoff (30 June). These discontinuities suggest that parents act strategically. In particular, they defer birth dates to days after the cutoff. This effect is especially large considering a bandwidth of 7 days and in boys.
Latin America and the Caribbean are one of the most unequal regions in the world, with high levels of poverty and reduced state capacity to solve structural problems. In this paper, we examined the ...existence of a β-convergence process between countries (i.e., reduction of disparities) in terms of energy poverty indicators. For this, we construct an annual panel of countries for the last six decades and for thirteen energy poverty indicators covering three dimensions (access, quality, and affordability). The results indicate that a convergence process has taken place between countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, which includes all the dimensions analyzed (i.e., the countries of the region have become more similar in terms of energy poverty over time). Context-specific recommendations that emerge from the findings aim at promoting greater adoption of renewable energy, reducing delays in obtaining an electricity connection, and cutting subsidies for natural gas and oil.
Este artículo analiza las disparidades territoriales desde el punto de vista de la pobreza entre el Norte Grande Argentino (NGA), históricamente más rezagado, y las restantes regiones del país en el ...periodo de 2003 a 2016. A partir de datos de la Encuesta Permanente de Hogares (EPH), se estima el índice de pobreza multidimensional (IPM) basado en el método de Alkire-Foster, en atención a las dimensiones de vivienda, servicios básicos, educación, empleo y seguridad social, e ingresos. Se encuentra que hubo una disminución de la pobreza en todas las regiones y, entre 2011 y 2016, una significativa reducción de las asimetrías regionales, que, aunque alentadora, debe relativizarse por distintas razones.
The relationship between female labour force participation (FLFP) and economic development is far more complex than it is often described in academic literature. Most studies have relied on income as ...the only proxy for development. In this paper, we re-examine this relationship from a multidimensional perspective.
A principal component analysis method was used in order to cluster the information contained in multiple development indicators. The analysed data include the following dimensions: access to basic services, environment, inequality, poverty, education, economic structure, health, income and FLFP.
The results provide evidence about the existence of a U-shaped relationship between development and FLFP. Least and most developed countries have the highest levels of FLFP and, conversely, countries with intermediate levels of development have the lowest. We observed that MENA and South Asian countries present a lower FLFP in relation to what is expected for their level of development. Our estimates suggest that FLFP is also affected by social, cultural and legal norms. Thus, greater freedom to travel or work as well as the existence of laws that criminalize workplace harassment promote FLFP. This suggests that differences in FLFP are explained by economics and non-economic factors and policy makers should explicitly consider this multidimensionality.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Disasters pose a serious threat globally. In this paper we estimate the impact of disasters on economic growth at the district level for Argentina, for the period 1992-2013. Due to the lack of ...disaggregated GDP data, night light maps reported by the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are used as a proxy for economic activity. Disaster information comes from the records of the Disaster Inventory System (DesInventar), which include the full range of disasters, from mild to severe ones. A regression analysis is carried out considering a panel of districts, linking luminosity with disasters.
We find that an additional disaster -weighted by its severity- is associated with a small though statistically significant reduction in the district's economic growth rate, specifically, of 0.53 percentage points in the year of its occurrence. This result is mainly driven by the impact of hydrological disasters. However, we find no evidence of persistence of this effect over time; on the contrary there seems to be a recovery in the following period. Given the methodological limitations due to data constraints, estimates found here probably constitute a lower bound of the true macroeconomic effect. Thus, further research on the topic is recommendable.
Natural disasters pose a serious threat globally and, in the future, their frequency and severity are expected to increase due to climate change. Empirical evidence has reported conflicting results ...in terms of the impact of disasters on economic growth. In this context, the present work seeks to synthesize the recent empirical evidence related to this topic. More than 650 estimates, from studies published in the last five years (2015-2020), are used. Meta-analysis and meta-regression techniques are employed. The review includes three sources (Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar). The results identified the existence of a negative and significant combined effect (-0.015). Developing countries are especially vulnerable to disasters. The negative impact is greater for disasters that occurred in the last decade -in relation to previous disasters-. These findings constitute a call for attention in favor of mitigation and adaptation policies.
Los desastres naturales representan una grave amenaza a nivel mundial y, a futuro, se espera que su frecuencia y severidad aumenten debido al cambio climático. La evidencia empírica ha reportado resultados contradictorios en términos del impacto de los desastres en el crecimiento económico. En este contexto, el objetivo de este trabajo es sintetizar la evidencia empírica reciente de este tópico. Para ello se emplean técnicas de meta-análisis y meta-regresión. Se incluyen más de 650 estimaciones, de estudios publicados en los últimos cinco años (2015-2020). La revisión incluye tres fuentes (Scopus, Science Direct y Google Scholar). Los resultados identificaron la existencia de un efecto combinado negativo y significativo (-0.015). Los países en desarrollo son especialmente vulnerables frente a desastres. El impacto negativo es mayor para los desastres ocurridos en la última década -en relación a desastres anteriores-. Estos hallazgos constituyen un llamado de atención a favor de políticas de mitigación y adaptación.
La actual pandemia de la enfermedad de coronavirus 2019 constituye una severa amenaza para las personas y la economía a nivel global. La adopción de medidas tendientes a reducir la velocidad de ...expansión de la pandemia es fundamental. En este trabajo se busca examinar el potencial impacto de la implementación de medidas de distanciamiento social. En particular, a partir de una reducción en la tasa de reproducción (R0) se examina su impacto sobre la dinámica de infectados y fallecidos.
Se recurre a la utilización de una extensión del modelo SIR estándar, el cual considera explícitamente a aquellas personas infectadas pero que aún no pueden transmitir la enfermedad (expuestos) y aquellos que han fallecido (fallecidos) y una tasa de reproducción decreciente en el tiempo. Este comportamiento de la tasa de reproducción reflejaría la implementación de medidas de distanciamiento a partir de diferentes especificaciones.
Los resultados sugieren que las medidas de distanciamiento contribuyen a reducir significativamente la cantidad máxima de infectados activos y fallecidos diarios. Esto es, logran aplanar las curvas de contagios y fallecimientos.
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