Blog posts

2022

Disentangling the Effects of Large Minimum Wage and VAT Changes on Prices: Evidence from Mexico

5 minute read

Published:

In January 2019, in an effort to boost activity on the northern Mexican border, the authorities increased the minimum wage by 100 percent and decreased the value-added tax (VAT) by half. Disentangling both effects, we find increments in prices due to the minimum wage hike that were more than offset by the decreases associated with the VAT. In the absence of both policy changes, average prices would have been higher. The share of informal labor in the production of different goods seems to be playing a role in the impact of the minimum wage on prices.

2021

The Efficacy of Hiring Credits in Distressed Areas

4 minute read

Published:

We analyze the efficacy of hiring tax credits, particularly in distressed labor markets. These types of programs have provenhard to assess as their introduction tends to be endogenous. We find sizable and robust impacts on employment and unemployment: a $9,000 credit leads to a nearly 0.5 percentage points reduction in the unemployment rate and a 3% increase in employment in the counties where the credit was made available.

2020

La eficacia de las deducciones fiscales por contratación de trabajadores en áreas deprimidas

5 minute read

Published:

Analizamos la eficacia de las deducciones fiscales por contratación de trabajadores, particularmente en mercados laborales deprimidos. Este tipo de programas ha sido difícil de evaluar por su asignación endógena. Encontramos impactos robustos en el desempleo y en el empleo: una deducción de 9000 dólares por contratación reduce la tasa de desempleo en 0.5 pp e incrementa el empleo en 3% en los condados donde la deducción estuvo disponible.

2019

Los efectos de un incremento en el salario mínimo real en los sectores formal e informal

6 minute read

Published:

Estimo el efecto de un incremento en el salario mínimo real en los salarios formales e informales, y en el empleo en Colombia. Encuentro evidencia de respuestas positivas de los salarios cercanos al mínimo. Los resultados muestran que los salarios alrededor del mínimo aumentan más en el sector formal que en el informal. No encuentro que los salarios informales reaccionen al salario mínimo de manera indirecta, a través de vínculos entre el mercado formal y el informal.

The Effects of a Real Minimum Wage Increase in the Formal and Informal Sectors

5 minute read

Published:

I estimate the effect of a real minimum wage increase on formal and informal wages, and on employment in Colombia. I find evidence of positive wage responses for wages close to the minimum wage. The results show that wages increase more in the formal than in the informal sector. I do not find that informal wages react to the minimum wage indirectly, through the linkages between the formal and the informal market.

2018

Descomponiendo la incidencia de la pobreza multidimensional

6 minute read

Published:

Las medidas de pobreza multidimensional se han vuelto estándar como indicadores complementarios de la pobreza en varios países. Proponemos una aplicación de metodologías existentes que descomponen agregados de bienestar, basadas en simulaciones contrafactuales, para dividir los cambios en la pobreza multidimensional en la variación atribuida a cada una de las dimensiones.

Decomposing multidimensional poverty headcounts

5 minute read

Published:

Multidimensional measures of poverty have become standard as complementary indicators of poverty in many countries. We propose an application of existing methodologies that decompose welfare aggregates -based on counterfactual simulations- to break up the changes of the multidimensional poverty headcount into the variation attributed to each of its dimensions.