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The administration of the domiciliary public utility companies must ensure compliance with their demand, ensuring the available financial resources cover the costs and achieve dividends for owners. This paper proposes a methodology for measure the efficiency of domestic utility companies in Colombia through a stochastic frontier, considering information from 2014 to 2018 from 44 companies, showing an efficiency ranking of firms, the result shows company's resource efficiency rate is 39%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the Laffer curve through a comparative statical analysis and an econometric exercise. Starting from a microeconomic specification, it first analyzes the distortion caused by an indirect tax and the welfare implications of maximizing tax collection. Then, using data on real per capita tax revenue and the tax rate, an estimate of an econometric model to calculate the optimal tax rate in Colombia is made. The results show that Laffer's postulates are proven with an optimal rate of 32% and suggest that the government has a margin of almost 12 percentage points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the relationship of the perception of corruption and lack of transparency with voting preferences and protests. It examines the case of Colombia using data from the 2015 Latinobarómetro Survey and a multinomial logistic model that assumes a simultaneous choice of participation type (or a combination of types), which allows us to establish whether the preference for protest substitutes or complements the preference for voting. A positive relationship was found between the perception of corruption and lack of transparency with the preference to protest in addition to voting. If citizens perceive greater corruption or doubt government transparency, they are more willing to participate in demonstrations, without reducing their support for electoral participation. This suggests that there is a general acceptance of formal democratic participation despite the shortcomings of the political regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the credibility of monetary policy in Colombia and its evolution after the adoption of the inflation targeting system. To do so, a non-linear Phillips curve is estimated based on unemployment for an open economy, which incorporates the direct effect of past inflation rate on price formation and a prospective component. It shows a deeper trade-off between inflation and unemployment and lower inflationary persistence. Consequently, the country could emphasize the greater responsibility of the central bank in economic growth and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of the decentralization policy on the education sector of the Department of Huila. It uses panel data on fiscal, administrative and political decentralization, as well as educational coverage and educational quality of all its municipalities in the period 2005-2015. The results show that educational coverage has a positive relationship with administrative decentralization, and that fiscal, administrative and political decentralization contribute to improving the quality of municipal education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an unpublished 1970 work written by the distinguished development economist Lauchlin Currie (1902-93) on Paul Rosenstein Rodan's famous 1944 essay on the "Big Push" which led to the debate on balanced and unbalanced growth in which Albert Hirschman (1915-2012) was an important contributor. Both Currie and Hirschman had been key economic advisers to the Colombian government and here their respective views on development planning are contrasted. In particular, it is shown how Currie's 1970 paper clarifies the theory that serves as the basis for Colombia's 1971-74 National Plan, which he designed and helped execute, and whose institutional innovations have had a lasting impact on Colombia's recent economic history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the size of the State in an international context and analyzes the behavior of public spending in Colombia during the last two decades. It takes a theoretical and empirical review of optimal public spending, and presents international comparisons of the size of the State which support the Wagner Law: the size of the State grows at the same rate or at a higher rate than income. It also describes the evolution of central national government spending based on the traditional economic classification, and reviews the evolution of government spending according to purpose, emphasizing social spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the gap between the expected and real effects of Colombian trade liberalization policy. First, we stress the influence of international integration on Colombia's growth and development, and explains why moving toward more free trade has not contributed to the consolidation of high value-added industries in that country. Ultimately, we apply the theory of political cycles and suggest that political power in Colombia has contributed to get the country trapped into an international dependency on primary commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a historical series of Colombian GDP from 1888 to 2013. For that purpose we have employed an expenditure approach to reconstruct the GDP for the period 1888-1929. We linked it to the official statistics data of the DANE. The result is expressed in 2011 purchasing parity dollars for international comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the discussion on the most appropriate method for measuring productivity. It takes into account the TFP, the productivity of capital, and labor productivity, as well as its interpretations, scope, and relations. Additionally, it analyzes the impacts of this discussion on the evolution of the Colombian minimum wage over the period 2001-2016. Finally, it discusses the relationship between the growth of productivity and the distribution of income between capital and labor, proposing a critique of the neoclassical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the latest years, one of the major concerns with political systems around the world is what some authors have called the "democratic recession". Some recent discussions on these issues focus on the capacity of the state to respond to the demands of its citizens. This paper studies the relationship between state capacity -understood as state performance on areas such as providing security, justice administration, tax collection and guaranteeing rights-, and support for democratic principles and Colombia's regime. The empirical results show that lower levels of assessment of state's capacity are associated to lower levels of support for democratic principles and performance. These results are discussed in the context of the peace agreements between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas, as well as the implications posed by this relationship in regards to the challenges and opportunities for post conflict Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the welfare effects of improvements in investment in education and infrastructure with public-private participation, in a fiscal framework of a small and open economy for the Colombian economy. A DSGE model is built where families make decisions on human capital and the government finances megaprojects by placing infrastructure bonds. The results suggest greater effects in the long-term adjustment and improvements in social welfare when public spending is focused on sectors with higher levels of employment and technological and innovation improvements are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colombia has increasingly been specializing in the extraction of mineral and energy resources such as gold, coal, oil and ferronickel. These activities, in the context of state weakness, have engendered conflžicts of different dimensions. This paper proposes an indicator of conflžict related to mineral exploitation that classifies five dimensions of conžflict: social, economic, cultural, political and environmental. The aggregate indicator shows that murders, displacement of Afrodescendent populations, žflooding, pollution, fires, infant mortality, coca crops and sexual offenses are highly and positively correlated with the number of conflžicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first application to Colombia of culturomics, a novel research method in the social sciences that describes cultural, social and linguistics trends based on the quantitative analysis of millions of digitized texts. The paper uses all news and editorials published during the past two decades in three national periodicals in order to analyze the trajectories of several social and economic phenomena: corruption, economic optimism, the relative power of the judicial branch, etc. Beyond its specific findings, this paper showcases how culturomics can be used to describe the changing reality of a developing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical research analyzes the determinants of Colombian household revenues and expenditures. Using a life cycle model with data from the national household survey 1994-1995, the paper shows how the behavior of household income is mainly affected by demographic characteristics and by the social-occupational characteristics of its members. Expenditure behavior is determined principally by income and secondly by the social characteristics of the household and by the expenditure of other households with similar characteristics. The paper also analyzes the influence of income uncertainty on households expenditure, to see if the effect is due to a motive of precaution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze, with a new institutional economics framework, regulatory activity and its motivations. Better regulatory frameworks contribute to create an environment of legitimacy for the actions of the State. Nevertheless, this legitimacy can only be achieved by ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of such frameworks in relation to the aim pursued such as correct market failures, reduce inequity failures, or generation of more competitive environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Colombian data to compare the impact of inflation on the elderly and the general population. On average, the elderly spend a greater proportion on housing and health and less on education. Between December 2008 and May 2015, they experienced a higher inflation rate than the rest of the population. Lower income elderly households spend a higher share of their income on housing and food, and face higher inflation than wealthier elderly households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, examines the political costs that will have to be borne by farc; the Colombian military; Colombia's rightist politicians and elite and vested interests, internally-displaced people, the coca farmers, and Colombia's middle class. The analysis also touches on the roles and impacts of various other actors, such as bandas criminales and militant groups continuing to operate in Colombia, including the ELN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Colombian Government has adopted a policy to improve communication skills in English at all education levels and especially in higher education, but little has been written about the achievements of the policy. This paper examines changes in the distribution of students' English proficiency level between the start and completion of their higher education programs. The results suggest an improvement in the distribution after graduating from higher education, characterized by a greater impact at higher scoring levels and an increased polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For several years, without any justification and against all available evidence, it has been said that in Colombia 400,000 clandestine abortions are performed each year. This paper seeks to test the validity of this number. First, it provides an overview of what could have been the original source of this figure, and then it shows that this hasty calculation is inconsistent with a rigorous study of induced abortion made in 1992. Also, it analyses different sources of information that contradict those assessments; exposes the difficulties inherent in estimating the magnitude of illegal activities; and criticizes one methodology. Finally, it estimates the range of the number of annual abortions based on the Demographic and Health Surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic and demographic growth in Colombia has been dominated by the largest cities. This has resulted in the common belief that Colombia is mainly an urban country. The aim of this paper is to show how economic and demographic growth has evolved, especially in terms of population density, since the mid-eighties. Using Markov transition chains and their spatial counterpart, we show that since the mid-eighties, municipalities have experienced a highly persistent pattern in which the main cities have maintained their position as the most densely populated. In contrast, municipalities that exhibited low levels of population density have remained relatively stagnant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an approach to the study of the working poor in Colombia. The purpose is to analyze poverty linked to types of labor insertion, Using data from the Continuous Household Survey and the Large Integrated Household Survey, it analyses main poverty indicators for the workers, and poverty decomposition by geographical area between 2002 and 2012. In addition, it offers a socio-demographic and occupational characterization of the working poor, concluding that the composition of the labor market and the type of labor insertion are determinants of low income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of innovative processes such as securitization leads to asking if the behavior of economic agents is a response to the institutional changes with specific objectives, or if the changes in the regulatory regime are the result of market behaviour or needs of the economy. The objective of this paper is to apply the theory of institutional change of North (agent, source, process and way of change) to examine the Colombian market in the period 1993-2013 in order to explore the main events which had an influence on the performance of securitization in general, and mortgage securitization in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1949 World Bank mission headed by Lauchlin Currie recommended an integral attack on the interlocking vicious circles of underdevelopment through a widening of domestic and international markets and a reform of macroeconomic policy formulation. In 1950 Currie was invited by the Colombian Government to return as adviser to a new national planning board. In 1952 Albert Hirschman was also hired as an adviser to this board. This paper discusses the heated disagreements between these two distinguished economists, their influence on the theory and practice of economic development in Colombia and of the World Bank, and in particular their focus on planning based on an integral program versus individual project approaches to planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the characteristics of job flows in the Colombian manufacturing sector between 1994 and 2009, at the industry group level and for the occupational categories. The results suggest high levels of job creation and job destruction in manufacturing firms, which are not usually evident in the figures of net employment growth. Similarly, we find that job creation and job destruction are persistent. Finally, the results at a disaggregated level indicate significant differences by industry group and occupational category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the political nature of taxation, which helps to explain why adoption from the model sponsored by the IMF in Latin America, especially after the debt crisis, has not been homogeneous. Colombia is taken as a case study to show how tax reforms depend on the political process in Congress, which opens a gap between the bills, inspired by IMF, and the final laws. Finally, it raises some arguments that suggest the special interests' role in the design and application of tax policy, which interact without being necessarily reconcilable and can also explain the divergence between bills and laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the traits that characterize the codes of conduct with the aim to understand the parameters of responsibility and ethical performance that Colombian oil companies define for themselves and for their stakeholders. The paper is exploratory and descriptive and uses the method of multiple case study. The codes are grouped in three blocks according to their structure. We show the philosophical roots of codes. codes of global companies are extensive and legal. Local companies with international ambition have less extensive codes, but maintain their legal nature. Codes of small local enterprises are short and mission-focused by this tone. Virtually all codes have their roots in utilitarian ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the traits that characterize the codes of conduct with the aim to understand the parameters of responsibility and ethical performance that Colombian oil companies define for themselves and for their stakeholders. The paper is exploratory and descriptive and uses the method of multiple case study. The codes are grouped in three blocks according to their structure. We show the philosophical roots of codes. Codes of global companies are extensive and legal. Local companies with international ambitions have less extensive codes, but maintain their legal nature. Codes of small local enterprises are short and mission-focused by this tone. Virtually all codes have their roots in utilitarian ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the differences in the degree of professionalization of teachers in Colombian educational institutions. We break down the inequalities in the supply of teachers according to their degree of professionalization using the Theil index. Next, we estimate the determinants of professionalization, taking into account characteristics of the school and the municipalities where the institutions operate. We evaluate two hypotheses: first, whether more public spending on education personnel by local authorities has helped to improve the level of teacher training in government institutions; and we assess the impact of the teacher professionalization law of 2002 on the degree of teacher professionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we build an index to measure the extent to which displaced households can effectively realize their economic and social rights. Based on the results of the index, we conclude that during the reparations and resettlement process, a displaced household, on average, is able to exercise 60% of the rights associated with economic and social stability. This result is four points below the average level at which poor nearby households are able to exercise their rights. Using panel data on a group of households, our technical work illustrates that between 2007 and 2008, the ability of displaced households to exercise their rights deteriorated to the point where, in effect, 45% of the households saw a regression in their ability to exercise at least one right during this period. We also identified other factors threatening the sustainability of the socio-economic stabilization policy, and some recommendations are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an empirical verification of the "political business cycle" hypotheses applied to 547 Colombian municipalities from 1989 to 2008. The econometric study reveals that smaller towns exhibit a cycle in public investment and fiscal deficit: both variables increase before elections and fall after them. These results are placed in the Colombian social context to discuss why the cycle occurs in those municipalities and the coincidence with differences in the efficiency of public expenditure to reduce poverty, as measured by unsatisfied basic needs. Some policies are recommended in order to reduce the adverse effects of this cycle and improve efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of research on socioeconomic inequality in Bogota's secondary education (year 2009). The results show that socioeconomic student level is significantly associated both to educational access (public or private), and to educational quality (ranking in State test - ICFES). This demonstrates that in Bogotá not only does each social class study separately, but also that rich people have access to a better education than poor people. This situation of social segregation (apartheid) aggravates some of the already pervasive Colombian problems: lack social mobility, economic inequality and illegitimacy of the political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate a dynamic panel data model to determine the effect of various institutional factors on the performance of a sample of Colombian companies during the period 2002-2007. Our results indicate that the analysed companies are affected by these factors. Institutions associated with property rights and contract compliance have significant effects on the growth of the firms. On the other hand, financial development does not have a significant effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the quality of employment in the major cities of Colombia in 2009. The results show that, although the quality of employment has improved since 2001, it still continues to be below the necessary level of quality employment. It also demonstrates the endogenous nature of education and proposes a correcting procedure for obtaining consistent and efficient estimators of employment quality. In differentiating between salaried and self-employed workers, the results reveal that if an individual is self-employed, an increase in the number of years of education does not contribute to improving the quality of employment. This effect only occurs in the case of salaried workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative constitutional law scholarship has not realized that differences in the configuration of political institutions should bear upon the way courts do their jobs. This paper develops a comparative theory of judicial role that focuses on broad differences in political context, and particularly in party systems, across countries. I use a case study of the Colombian Constitutional Court (supplemented by briefer studies of the Hungarian and South African Constitutional Courts) to demonstrate how differences in political institutions should impact judicial role. Because Colombian parties are unstable and poorly tied to civil society, the Colombian Congress has difficulty initiating policy, monitoring the enforcement of policy, and checking presidential power. The Court has responded by taking many of these functions into its own hands. I argue that the Court's actions are sensible given Colombia's institutional context, even though existing theories of judicial role would find this kind of legislative-substitution inappropriate. Existing theory's focus on the anti-democratic nature of judicial action assumes a robust constitutional culture outside the courts and a legislature which does a decent job representing popular will -- both assumptions tend to be false in newer democracies. Thus, comparative public law scholars must be attentive to political context in order to build tools suitable for evaluating the work of courts around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to understand from a regional perspective the causes of the civil war of 1876-1877 in the Northeastern Colombian Andes. An approximation is made to the urban hierarchy in the current Colombian departments of Santander and Norte de Santander between 1853 and 1875. The conditions leading to conflict and the change in that hierarchy are presented. In addition, intervening players and the location of the events of the war are identified. It concludes that the group that fell in urban hierarchy was the one that started the war and that this hierarchical change was one of the causes of the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical analysis of the arguments against the public pensions system. It shows that the defense of the fully funded system based on its solvency and its ability to automatically cope with the processes of aging society are mere fallacies. In fact, it can be shown that the pay-as-you-go and fully funded systems are equivalent, facing the same problems in the long term. Finally, projections of conventional indicators show that the cries of alarm of Fedesarrollo and BBVA have no solid foundation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the duration of unemployment in Colombia as an indicator of the effectivity of search methods. This work is based on the Continuing Survey of Households (ECH), carried out in Colombia in the second quarter of 2006. Parametric (Weibull proportional risk) and nonparametric (Kaplan-Meier) duration models are estimated. The findings suggest that the duration of unemployment is strongly influenced by the search methods used by employees and the unemployed. Formal methods are the most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the disentailment of mortmain in Colombia. Most of this land was held by the Catholic Church, which derived considerable economic and political power from its ownership. The Radical faction of the Liberal Party, which governed the country between 1863 and 1876, promoted numerous reforms directed at eliminating the institutions that had survived the years of Spanish colonial rule and were an obstacle to the advance of the economy. A substantial portion of all the properties of the Church were thus expropriated. this process was culminated with the signing of a treaty --"Concordato"-- between the Colombian government and Holy See. The treaty recognized in favor of the Church "the value of disentailed loans and property". Colombian historiography has given little attention to the process of disentailment, as a result of the influence of Conservative historiography, which portrayed it as a failure. This mistaken appreciation can only be corrected through research in primary sources. In this paper we have used primary sources that had not been discussed in the most influential works on Colombian economic history of the 19th century and conclude that it was the main economic reform of that period, since it represented at least 16% of the GDP of 1860 and was a very profitable operation for the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes over-education in Colombia, using the data of individuals and companies, compiled by the National Apprenticeship Service (SENA) in 2006. It finds that there is a 14% likelihood of being over-educated and that this depends on the mobility between different areas of performance, experience, sex, company size, and educational degree. Overeducated workers earn 2% less than properly-educated workers, according to the international standard. Results also show that in the case of professionals, the likelihood of remaining in the same subject area increases with their experience, and that the higher the level of over-education, the lower likelihood of staying in that area, and workers who hold a graduate degree are less likely to stay in their subject area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiscal rules enhance the credibility of economic policy, allow counter cyclical and sustainable fiscal policies, and contribute to macroeconomic stability and economic growth. The Colombian government has used fiscal rules to limit the growth of expenditure and the indebtedness of sub-national governments, and to promote fiscal transparency and responsibility. However, their success has been partial. This paper presents and analyzes a quantitative fiscal rule of 1% of GDP in the structural primary surplus for the central government, in order to consolidate the country's adjustment of public finances and reduce their vulnerability in the future. If that rule were implemented this year, the government would attain savings of 0.7% of GDP between 2008 and 2011, which would reduce the public debt level by about 3 percentage points of GDP by the end of the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1980, Venezuelan income per capita in dollars was 1.4 times higher than that of Colombia, but in 2007, this ratio was reversed and the Colombian income was 1.1 higher than that of Venezuela. This result deserves an explanation, as both countries made similar structural reforms to allow a free economy and to integrate with international markets. This paper aims to explain this result. The main conclusion is that the State-entrepreneur relationship and the real exchange rate management are crucial for the explanation of the difference in the economic performance of both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the mechanism for the equity of payments for using the Colombian health system, defined as the possibility of consuming services when the need arises, regardless of the individual's resources. The incentives produced by the payment system are studied, as well as a particular case of a homogeneous population. Health services are grouped together according to type of risk, and the variations in service consumption are determined as a function of income. If the mechanism is equitable, the frequency of service use in different socioeconomic levels should be the same for pathologies and treatments with high risk and vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This second paper from Mauricio Avella describes the complete cycle of capital exports originating in the United States in the 1920's: the conversion of United States into a creditor nation; the role of New York as the dominant financial center; and the distribution of United States investments, particularly in South America. Moreover, it examines the availability of these exports to Colombia, and the consequences from collapsing of external credit granted by the United States. Finally, it reviews the balance of the main international creditors when the export cycle of American capital closed in the 1920's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the non compliance of the law in Latin America, particularly in Colombia. The core of the paper is the contrast between two different approaches: the strategic vision which argues that this failure is a consequence of the lack of institutional capacity to impose effective penalties; and the rebellion vision, which explains the failure as an expression of values or ideologies. The article examines the doctrinal roots related with the strategic vision --the social capital theories, studies in Law and economics and the new institutionalism-- their reception in our environment and their application in the context of the judicial reform. This critical examination highlights the analytical differences between these two visions and their implications in the justice system and the social law: even though both visions are partial, each one of them is partly true. Compliance of law can not be achieved only by imposing sanctions and incentives, or by promoting a unilateral favorable attitude for compliance of the law. Rational behavior must also be complemented by the perception of the legitimacy of the institutions. Market and the democracy are both equally essential for the existence of a Rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The criminality rate in Colombia (crime/population) grew rapidly between the middle seventies and eighties, since then it had shown a declination, but the country still observes high indices of criminality, mostly in homicides and kidnapping. In a similar way defense, security and justice spending have grown. This paper will present some reasons that explain, from an economic point of view, the growth of these spending, the conditions that make it increase or decrease in an optimal way and which establish a complementary relation (marginal) between the magnitude and the efficiency of these spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]