EconStor Community: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/51420
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC2024-03-29T12:03:43ZWater Bill Perception in Brazil: Do Households Get It Right?
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/264986
Title: Water Bill Perception in Brazil: Do Households Get It Right?
Authors: Pérez, María; Libra, Jesse; Machado, Kleber; Serebrisky, Tomás; Solís, Ben
Abstract: An issue that affects the effectiveness of water pricing policies is consumers misperception, which implies that households decide their water consumption based on poor/inaccurate information about the marginal price. We use household survey data on bill and quality perception in Brazil to analyze this problem and its drivers. Once we control for the selection bias caused by survey respondents voluntarily providing their bill, we find evidence of bill misperception. Apart from the informational and socioeconomic drivers usually considered in the literature, perceived water quality seems to be a relevant factor of the degree of misperception.2022-01-01T00:00:00ZKnowledge for results and the efficiency of public agencies in Colombia
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/281023
Title: Knowledge for results and the efficiency of public agencies in Colombia
Authors: Arisi, Diego; Cortés, Alix; Delic, Diego; Rossi, Martín Antonio
Abstract: This paper documents the effects of an intervention on knowledge sharing, in which information embedded in efficient private organizations is used to improve bureaucratic procedures of public agencies. In particular, it analyzes the impact of the Knowledge for Results (K4R) program on the efficiency of public agencies in Colombia. The findings of the study indicate that K4R is associated with a statistically significant improvement in operational efficiency. The paper presents two examples of K4R. In the first example, K4R reduced the time that local ombudsman offices need to deal with incoming petitions from citizens. In the second example, K4R reduced the time that oncology patients spend in an emergency clinic until they are discharged from the hospital. These time reductions are quantitatively relevant and imply efficiency gains of between 25 and 40 percent relative to pre-program levels.2022-01-01T00:00:00ZThe effects of management practices on effective tax rates: Evidence from Ecuador
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/245872
Title: The effects of management practices on effective tax rates: Evidence from Ecuador
Authors: Beverinotti, Javier; Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo; Deza, María Cecilia; Gayoso de Ervin, Lyliana E.
Abstract: This paper examines the effects of management practices on effective tax rates (ETR) in a sample of medium and large manufacturing firms in Ecuador. We use a novel data set on management practice scores matched with administrative tax data from the Superintendence of Companies and the Internal Revenue Services of Ecuador based on firms' tax filings. We find that better management practices are positively associated with effective tax rates, defined as the share of tax obligations to profits. This result is robust under various specifications controlling for different covariates, and to different measures of effective tax rates. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the use of fiscal incentives is positively associated with higher effective tax rates. However, firms that use fiscal incentives are able to fatten or reduce their effective tax rates as management practices improved. Overall, our findings suggest that government-sponsored policies that seek to promote better management practices may be self-sustained, if the additional tax revenue expected from better management practices through higher profits is able to cover the cost of the programs.2021-01-01T00:00:00ZThe local human capital cost of oil exploitation
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/237513
Title: The local human capital cost of oil exploitation
Authors: Balza, Lenin H.; de los Rios Rueda, Camilo; Mori, Raul Jimenez; Manzano, Osmel
Abstract: This paper explores the impacts of oil exploitation on human capital accumulation at the local level in Colombia, a resource-rich developing country. We provide evidence based on detailed spatial and temporal data on oil exploitation and education, using the number of wells drilled as an intensity treatment at the school level. To find causal estimates we rely on an instrumental variable approach that exploits the exogeneity of international oil prices and a proxy of oil endowments at the local level. Our results indicate that oil has a negative impact on human capital since it reduces enrollment in higher education. Furthermore, it generates a delay in the decision to enroll in higher education and leads students to prefer technical areas of study and programs in social science, business, and law. However, we do not find any effects on quality or tertiary education completion. Our results are robust to a number of relevant specification changes and we stress the role of local markets and spillovers as the main transmission channel. In particular, we find that higher oil production causes an increase in formal wages but that there is no premium to tertiary education enrollment.2021-01-01T00:00:00Z