Eventos

Seminario CEDE - Carolina Castro

Global efforts to mitigate climate change include Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). However, evidence on its effectiveness remains mixed, with many studies finding limited impacts on deforestation and overlooking potential effects on other economies. This study evaluates the effectiveness of collective REDD+ agreements signed by Afro-Colombian communities in curbing both deforestation and coca cultivation. Using satellite data and a difference-in-differences approach, we find that REDD+ projects significantly reduced deforestation by an average of 33 m² per pixel and coca cultivation by 0.33 ha / km2, which is approximately 9,695 hectares of avoided deforestation and 7,098 hectares of contained coca crop expansion annually. These significant impacts, which stand in contrast to findings from previous REDD+ evaluations, likely stem from the way these collective agreements strengthen local monitoring systems, enhance social cohesion, and improve economic conditions.  

Seminario CEDE - Laura Juárez González

We estimate the labor and health effects of the menopause transition for U.S. women. Using data from the NLSYW and the SWAN and applying an event study methodology which exploits the individual-level variation in the time of menopause, we find that women undergoing this transition have a lower probability of employment of almost 20 percentage points, and a higher probability of working part-time if they remain employed. We do not find significant impacts on their monthly earnings or hourly wage. Regarding health, we find that menopause increases the probability of having osteoporosis and bone fractures but does not have a significant impact on the probability of being diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. We also find that the probability of taking hormones to treat symptoms increases throughout the menopause transition, as expected. However, such increase in hormonal take-up is concentrated among White and highly educated women, which highlights the unequal access to treatment, and probably different menopause experiences, associated with traditional markers of socioeconomic status.

Seminario CEDE - Margarita Gáfaro

This paper examines the impact of Internet expansion on banking competition and credit access in rural Colombia. Using a staggered rollout of the National Fiber Optic Program from 2013 to 2016, we analyze the effects of broadband availability on public and private bank lending. We find that Internet connectivity reduced loan disbursements from the state-run Banco Agrario de Colombia (BAC) while increasing private bank lending, particularly for small enterprises. The shift was initially driven by reduced information frictions and later reinforced by new private bank entry. The findings suggest that Internet access facilitates competition and improves borrower outcomes by increasing access to better-matching credit products.  

Seminario PePe - Andrea Otero

Esta edición de ESPE analiza los determinantes y consecuencias de la informalidad laboral y empresarial en Colombia, partiendo de la estimación de su prevalencia en las principales ciudades y proponiendo un método indirecto de estimación para todos los municipios del país, dadas las dificultades de medición en áreas en donde no hay información estadística representativa. Asimismo, destaca las diferencias significativas en los mercados laborales locales, con niveles de informalidad que varían entre el 30?% y el 70?% entre ciudades capitales. Más adelante, se examinan los factores estructurales que afectan la informalidad, como el salario mínimo, los impuestos a la nómina, la rigidez de la legislación laboral y los costos de registro de las empresas y se ahonda en el papel que pueden desempeñar las políticas sociales en reducir o aumentar la informalidad. Adicionalmente, se provee evidencia sobre los efectos macroeconómicos de corto y largo plazo de la informalidad mediante el uso de modelos de equilibrio general, encontrando que un sector informal amplio exacerba la volatilidad del producto interno bruto (PIB), el consumo y la inversión. Además, se encuentra que en una economía con costos laborales más flexibles, en donde una amplia proporción de la mano de obra es de alto nivel educativo con acceso al mercado laboral formal y a mercados financieros y una baja proporción de trabajadores está sujeto al salario mínimo, la transmisión de la política monetaria es más efectiva, lo que indica que es menos costoso para el país reducir la inflación en términos de sacrificio del PIB. En el largo plazo, se estudia el efecto de una reducción de impuestos a la nómina sobre la economía, encontrando que esta política promueve el aumento del empleo formal y la reducción del empleo informal, genera ganancias en la productividad total y favorece el crecimiento económico. Finalmente, el documento resume las lecciones y recomendaciones de política, contribuyendo así al debate público sobre las causas y efectos de la informalidad.  

Seminario CEDE - Luis A. Puch

In this paper we propose a theory to investigate the importance of investment-specific technical change (ISTC) in shaping the short run response of macroeconomic aggregates to energy price shocks. In absence of ISTC, aggregate energy efficiency in an economy (i.e, the amount of energy use per unit of capital) responds to changes in energy prices. Here we show that ISTC may be a substitute of energy efficiency: embodied technical change rises the productivity of capital and endogenously increases energy efficiency (i.e., the amount of energy use required per unit of quality-adjusted capital). We estimate the model on U.S. data for the period 1960-2022 using Bayesian estimation techniques, and we assess the relative importance of energy price and ISTC shocks. The estimated model offers an explanation to the softened response of the economy to oil price shocks in recent decades compared to that in the 70s: by increasing investment in the years of high ISTC growth, the economy was increasing its energy efficiency, shielding against the impact of energy price shocks.  

Política de capital humano para el desarrollo del Banco Mundial

Palabras de Bienvenida Raquel Bernal, rectora de la Universidad de los Andes. Presentación  Norbert Schady, economista Jefe de Desarrollo Humano, Banco Mundial La política de Capital Humano del Banco Mundial presenta un marco basado en el ciclo de vida, analizando cómo el hogar, los barrios y los lugares de trabajo influyen en la acumulación de capital humano. Destaca políticas transversales clave para fortalecer su desarrollo y ofrece herramientas para que los gobiernos diseñen estrategias más efectivas.

Seminario CEDE - Jessica Leight

Adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices that can reduce land degradation and buffer households vis-a-vis intensifying weather fluctuations is notably low in sub-Saharan Africa, and one underexplored constraint in a context of thin labor markets and restrictive gender norms is the ability to optimally allocate labor within a spousal unit.  This randomized trial in rural Ethiopia explores the salience of this constraint in the context of a bundled intervention providing training and inputs to encourage uptake of fruit trees intercropped with home gardens, and fertilized with compost.  Clusters were randomly assigned to a pure control arm or one of two intervention arms: in the first arm, the intervention was targeted to women alone while in the second arm it was targeted to couples, with both spouses also engaged in a joint planning exercise to optimize labor allocations.  The findings suggest that the bundled intervention on average increased the probability of adoption of CSA by at least 50%.  In general, these effects are symmetric across treatment arms, but for composting --- the most time- and strength-intensive practice --- the effects are significantly larger in the couples' arm for households identified as non-cooperative at baseline, suggesting that optimal intrahousehold allocation of labor may be a meaningful constraint for effective adoption in this subsample.  

Nuevas Perspectivas sobre el Entorno Empresarial en Colombia

First Congress of the Latin American Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

Este evento reunirá a destacados expertos en economía ambiental y de recursos naturales para debatir soluciones innovadoras frente a los desafíos ambientales de la región. El congreso es organizado por la Facultad de Economía de la Universidad de los Andes, en colaboración con el Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (JEEM). Además, cuenta con el respaldo del International Development Research Centre (IDRC) como patrocinador, y del Environment for Development (EfD) y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), así como Environment for Development y Universidad de Bologna como miembros institucionales. Los invitamos a conectarse de forma gratuita y virtual a nuestras sesiones plenarias: