1. R. Lampe y S. McRae, "Self-regulation vs state regulation: Evidence from cinema age restrictions", International Journal of Industrial Organization, Volume 75, 102708. March 2021.
Abstract:
This paper studies the effect of self-regulation on the leniency of cinema age restrictions using cross-country variation in the classifications applied to 1,922 movies released in 31 countries between 2002 and 2011. Our data show that restrictive classifications reduce box office revenues, particularly for movies with wide box office appeal. These data also show that self-regulated ratings agencies display greater leniency than state-regulated agencies when classifying movies with wide appeal. However, consistent with theoretical models of self-regulation, the degree of leniency is small because it is not costly for governments to intervene and regulate ratings themselves.
2. Emilio Gutiérrez y Adrián Rubli, "Shocks to Hospital Occupancy and Mortality: Evidence from the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic", Management Science, Volume 67, Issue 9, September 2021, Pages 5301-5967, iii-iv
Abstract:
Existing literature suggests that hospital occupancy matters for quality of care, as measured by various patient outcomes. However, estimating the causal effect of increased hospital busyness on in-hospital mortality remains an elusive task due to statistical power challenges and the difficulty in separating shocks to occupancy from changes in patient composition. Using data from a large public hospital system in Mexico, we estimate the impact of congestion on in-hospital mortality by exploiting the shock in hospitalizations induced by the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, instrumenting hospital admissions due to acute respiratory infections (ARIs) with measures of ARI cases at nearby healthcare facilities as a proxy for the size of the local outbreak. Our instrumental-variables estimates show that a 1% increase in ARI admissions in 2009 led to a 0.25% increase in non-ARI in-hospital mortality. We show that these effects are nonlinear in the size of the local outbreak, consistent with the existence of tipping points. We further show that effects are concentrated at hospitals with limited infrastructure, suggesting that supply-side policies that improve patient assignment across hospitals and strategically increase hospital capacity could mitigate some of the negative impacts. We discuss managerial implications, suggesting that up to 25%–30% of our estimated deaths at small and non-intensive-care-unit hospitals could have been averted by reallocating patients to reduce congestion.
3. Enrique Seira, Emilio Gutiérrez y Arturo Aguilar, "The Effectiveness of Sin Food Taxes: Evidence from Mexico", Journal of Health Economics, Volume 77, May 2021
Abstract:
This paper examines how exporting and importing firms match based on their capability by investigating how trade liberalization reshapes such exporter–importer matching. During the recent liberalization on the Mexico-US textile/apparel trade, exporters and importers often switch their main partners as well as change trade volumes. We develop a many-to-many matching model of exporters and importers where partner switching is the principal margin of adjustment, featuring Beckerian positive assortative matching by capability. Trade liberalization achieves efficient global buyer–supplier matching and improves consumer welfare by inducing systematic partner switching. The data confirm the predicted partner switching patterns.
4. Enrique Seira, Emilio Gutierrez and Arturo Aguilar, "The Effectiveness of Sin Food Taxes: Evidence from Mexico ", Journal of Health Economics, Volume 77, 2021.
Abstract:
We measure the effect of a large nationwide tax reform on sugar-added drinks and caloric-dense food introduced in Mexico in 2014. Using scanner data containing weekly purchases of 47,973 barcodes by 8,130 households and an RD design, we find that calories purchased from taxed drinks and taxed food decreased respectively by 2.7% and 3%. However, this was compensated by increases from untaxed categories, such that total calories purchased did not change. We find increases in cholesterol (12.6%), sodium (5.8%), saturated fat (3.1%), carbohydrates (2%), and proteins (3.8%).
4. Sirus H. Dehdari, Jaakko Merilainen y Sven Oskarsson, "Selective abstention in simultaneous elections: Understanding the turnout gap". Electoral Studies,, Volumen 71. June de 2021.
Abstract:
If two elections are held at the same day, why do some people choose to vote in one but to abstain in another? We argue that selective abstention is driven by the same factors that determine voter turnout. Our empirical analysis focuses on Sweden where the (aggregate) turnout gap between local and national elections has been about 2–3%. Rich administrative register data reveal that people from higher socio-economic backgrounds, immigrants, women, older individuals, and people who have been less geographically mobile are less likely to selectively abstain.
5. Aguilar, Arturo, Emilio Gutiérrez y Paula Soto Villagrán. "Benefits and Unintended Consequences of Gender Segregation in Public Transportation: Evidence from Mexico City's Subway System.", Economic Development and Cultural Change, Volume 69, Number, 4 July 2021.
Abstract:
Public transportation is a basic everyday activity. Costs imposed by violence might have far-reaching consequences. We conduct a survey and exploit the discontinuity in the hours of operation of a program that reserves subway cars exclusively for women in Mexico City. The program seems to be successful at reducing sexual harassment toward women by 2.9 percentage points. However, it produces unintended consequences by increasing nonsexual aggression incidents (e.g., insults, shoving) among men by 15.3 percentage points. Both sexual and nonsexual violence seem to be costly; however, our results do not imply that costs of the program outweigh its benefits.
6. P. Bachas, P. Gertler, S. Higgins, and Enrique Seira, "How Debit Cards Enable the Poor to Save More", The Journal of Finance, Volume76, Issue4, August 2021, Pages 1913-1957.
7. Arturo Aguilar, Emilio Gutiérrez y Paula Soto, "Benefits and Unintended Consequences of Gernder Segregation in Public Transportation: Evidence from Mexico City's Surbway System", Economic Development and Cultural Change, Volume 69, Number 4, July 2021.
Abstract:
Public transportation is a basic everyday activity. Costs imposed by violence might have far-reaching consequences. We conduct a survey and exploit the discontinuity in the hours of operation of a program that reserves subway cars exclusively for women in Mexico City. The program seems to be successful at reducing sexual harassment toward women by 2.9 percentage points. However, it produces unintended consequences by increasing nonsexual aggression incidents (e.g., insults, shoving) among men by 15.3 percentage points. Both sexual and nonsexual violence seem to be costly; however, our results do not imply that costs of the program outweigh its benefits.
8. T. Hoshino and T. Kamada "Third-Party Policing Approaches against Organized Crime: an Evaluation of the Yakuza Exclusion Ordinances",Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 37, pages 791–811, 2021.
Abstract:
Third-party policing (TPP) refers to police efforts to persuade or coerce third parties to take some responsibility for crime control and prevention. The Yakuza Exclusion Ordinances (YEOs) of Japan aim to combat organized crime syndicates—the Yakuza. Consistent with the principles of TPP, the YEOs prohibit third parties (i.e., non-yakuza individuals) from providing any benefit to the yakuza. We argue that the effectiveness of the YEOs may depend on the strategic relationship among yakuza syndicates, where yakuza syndicates choose their power strategically to gain advantages over competition among rival yakuza syndicates.
9. Mauricio Romero and Santiago Saavedra, "Communal Property Rights and Deforestation", Journal of Development Studies, Volume 57, 2021 - Issue 6.
Abstract:
Almost a third of the world’s forest area is communally managed. In principle, this arrangement could lead to a ‘tragedy of the commons’ and therefore more deforestation. But it may be easier to monitor outsiders’ deforestation of land owned by a community rather than an individual. We present a theoretical framework to examine these trade-offs and empirically study the effect of communal titling on deforestation in Colombia. Our empirical approach uses a differences-in-discontinuities strategy that compares areas just outside and inside a title, before and after titling. We find that deforestation decreased in communal areas after titling, especially in small communities, which is consistent with the model’s predictions. We also find evidence of positive spillovers: titling reduced deforestation in nearby areas outside the title (and thus our estimates are a lower bound of the total effects of communal titling on deforestation).
10. Santiago Saavedra, Maurico Romero, "Local incentives and national tax evasion: The response of illegal mining to a tax reform in Colombia" , European Economic Review, Volume 138, September 2021,
Abstract:
Achieving a fair distribution of resources is one of the goals of fical policy. To this end, governments often transfer tax resources from richer to more marginalized areas. In the context of mining in Colombia, we study whether lower transfers to the locality where the taxed economic activity takes place dampen local authorities’ incentives to curb tax evasion. Using machine learning predictions on satellite imagery to identify mines allows us to overcome the challenge of measuring evasion. Employing difference-in-differences strategies, we find that reducing the share of revenue transferred back to mining municipalities leads to an increase in illegal mining. This result highlights the difficulties inherent in adequately redistributing tax revenues.
11. Shaun McRae and Frank Wolak, "Retail pricing in Colombia to support the efficient deployment of distributed generation and electric stoves", Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Volume 110, October 2021.
Abstract:
Electricity tariff reform is an essential part of the clean energy transition. Existing tariffs encourage the over-adoption of residential solar systems and the under-adoption of electric alternatives to fossil fuels. However, an efficient tariff based on fixed charges and marginal cost pricing may harm low-income households. We propose an alternative methodology for setting fixed charges based on each household’s willingness to pay to consume electricity at marginal cost. Using household-level data from Colombia, we demonstrate the short-run and long-run distortions from the existing tariffs and how our new methodology could provide the economic, environmental, and health benefits from adopting clean energy technologies while still protecting low-income households from higher bills.
12. Enrique Seira, F. Finan and A. Simpser, "Voting with One’s Neighbors: Evidence from Migration within Mexico", Journal of Public Economics, Volume 202, October 2021, 104495.
Abstract:
We study how proximate neighbors affect one’s propensity to vote using data on 12 million registered voters in Mexico. To identify this effect, we exploit idiosyncratic variation at the neighborhood block level resulting from approximately one million relocation decisions. We find that when individuals move to blocks where people vote more (less) they themselves start voting more (less). We show that this finding is not the result of selection into neighborhoods or of place-based factors that determine turnout, but rather peer effects. Consistent with this claim, we find a contagion effect for non-movers and show that neighbors from the same block are much more likely to perform an electoral procedure on the same exact day as neighbors who live on different blocks within a neighborhood.