Brothers or invaders? How crisis-driven migrants shape voting behavior
We study the electoral effects of the arrival of 1.3 million Venezuelan refugees in Colombia as a consequence of the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis. We exploit the fact that forced migrants disproportionately locate in places with earlier settlements of Venezuelans after the intensification of the crisis. We find that larger migration shocks increase voter’s turnout and […]
Announcement of the first metro line and its impact on housing prices in Bogotá
Transport infrastructure investment impacts mobility and may significantly affect the capitalisation of the areas surrounding these infrastructure projects, even before the projects are completed. This paper analyses the impact that the announcement of the First Metro Line has on housing prices in the city of Bogotá. It combines innovative databases, web scraping and Google Maps […]
Robotics in solid waste handling: From science fiction to reality
It is currently estimated that approximately 55% of the world population lives in urban centers (World Bank, 2020). This is partly caused by phenomena such as the migration of people from rural areas toward cities. A direct consequence of this situation is the increase in solid waste (SW) generation. In 2018, the World Bank stated […]
Estimating cost-effectiveness thresholds under a managed healthcare system: experiences from Colombia
Like most of the world, low- and middle-income countries have faced a growing demand for new health technologies and higher budget constraints. It is necessary to have technical instruments to make decisions based on real-world evidence that allows maximization of the population’s health with a limited budget. We estimated the supply-based cost-effectiveness elasticity, which was […]
One step ahead of the law:The net effect of anticipation and implementation of Colombia’s illegal crops substitution program
Pre-announced policies often generate unintended consequences due to individuals’ acting to take advantage of the policy conditions. Little is known about the extent to which unintended consequences from the early announcement of a policy can be larger than the implementation effect, especially in contexts of weak state capacity. We use detailed 1 km grid square […]
Dynamic resource management under weak property rights: A tale of thieves and trespassers
We study non-renewable resource extraction when institutions weakly protect the resource owner’s property rights. First, weak wealth protection exposes the stock in the ground to trespassing. Second, weak income protection exposes revenues from extraction to theft. In our dynamic framework with strategic interactions, the strength of wealth and income protection evolves over time. The weak […]
The internal labor marketsof business groups
This paper provides micro evidence of labor mobility inside business groups. We show that worker flows between firms in the same group are stronger than with unaffiliated firms. More over, the reallocation of top workers between group firms is more sensitive to international shocks. Top workers that move within the group in response to shocks […]
The fertility-inhibiting effect of mosquitoes: Socio-economic differences in response to the Zika crisis in Colombia
We estimated the impact of the Zika virus outbreak on birth rates and demand for health care services in Colombia. Our analysis exploits the variation in the level of natural protection against mosquito transmitted diseases across the country. This characteristic induced exogenous variation in Zika incidence, which allows us to construct a control group of […]
Price elasticity of demandfor voluntary health insurance plans in Colombia
Background: Since 1993, Colombia has had a mandatory social health insurance scheme that aims to provide universal health coverage to all citizens. However, some contributory regime participants purchase voluntary private health insurance (VPHI) to access better quality health services (i. e., physicians and hospitals), shorter waiting times, and a more extensive providers’ network. This article […]
Human capital, innovationand productivity in Colombian enterprises: astructural approach usinginstrumental variables
In this paper we explore the R&D–innovation–productivity linkage for the Colombian manufacturing industry, paying special attention to the role of human capital. Using data from two firm-level surveys, the Survey of Development and Technological Innovation (EDIT) and the Annual Manufacturing Survey (EAM), we extend the model of Crépon, Duguet, and Mairesse [1998. ‘Research, Innovation and […]