Documento de Trabajo

Measuring the Performance of Chile

This purpose of this article is to develop an effectiveness indicator (EI) for Chile’s tax administration. We assume that the goal of the Chilean Internal Revenue Service (SII) is to maximize tax revenue while minimizing compliance costs. Sample taxpayer surveys and statistical information both show that SII service standards – a proxy for compliance costs

Poisoned Grapes, Mad Cows and Protectionism

This paper studies two episodes where a ban on imports was imposed to safeguard people`s health. The rst case is the poisoned grapes crisis involving Chile and the United States in 1989. The second is the «mad cows» dispute, which broke out in 1996, between the United Kingdom and the European Union. These case studies

Contaminación del aire en Santiago: Estado actual y soluciones (Air pollution in Santiago: current situation and solutions)

En el presente trabajo se discute el problema de la contaminación atmosférica en Santiago y de los esfuerzos en marcha para su solución, representados formalmente por el Plan de Prevención y Descontaminación de la Región Metropolitana (PPDA). A modo de introducción se definen términos y conceptos utilizados en el PPDA, los cuales son de uso

Regulatory Governance and Chile

In the early eighties Chile completely reformed its electricity sector, introducing a regulatory framework that became extremely influential in the rest of the world. In 1998 and 1999, however, when the La Niña phenomenon brought one of the worst droughts on record, the price system collapsed. Random outages and three-hour long rotatingelectricity cuts occurred.This paper

A Note on the Optimality of the Cash Flow Tax

This paper analyzes the optimal tax policy within an endoge-nous growth model with productive government spending. We consider a one-factor (human capital) one-good economy, with the latter serving both as a final and an intermediate good. The government levies taxes in order to finance the provision of the intermediate good. Within this framework we show

Sistemas de incentivos en educación y la experiencia del SNED en Chile (An incentives system in education and the experience of the SNED in Chile)

Este artículo discute la importancia de los sistemas de evaluación e incentivos aplicados a la educación. En particular, analiza el diseño e implementación del Sistema Nacional de Evaluación del Desempeño de los Establecimientos Educacionales Subvencionados (SNED), que ha sido aplicado en Chile desde 1996. Con esta finalidad, se describe el SNED, se discuten los desafíos

La crisis eléctrica de 1998-1999: causas, consecuencias y lecciones (The electric crisis of 1998-1999: Causes, consequences and lessons)

Este trabajo analiza la crisis eléctrica de 1998-1999. Su principal conclusión es que el diagnóstico habitual que sostiene que ocurrió porque las empresas no invirtieron y el regulador no tenía atribuciones, es equivocado. A pesar de la peor sequía del siglo y de la falla de la central Nehuenco, los cortes de energía y el

A Debt Puzzle

Over 60% of US households with credit cards are currently borrowing |i.e., paying interest |on those cards (Gross and Souleles 2000). We attempt to reconcile the high rate of credit card borrowing with observed levels of lifecycle wealth accumulation. We simulate a lifecycle model with five properties that create demand for credit card borrowing. First,

Hyperbolic Discounting, Wealth Accumulation, and Consumption

Laboratory and field studies of time preference find that discount rates are much greater in the short-run than in the long-run. Hyperbolic discount functions capture this property. This paper presents simulations of the savings and asset allocation choices of households with hyperbolic preferences. The behavior of the hyperbolic households is com-pared to the behavior of

How to Auction a Bottleneck Monopoly when Underhand Vertical Agreements are Possible

In recent years a number of seaport facilities have been awarded in Demsetz auctions to the operator that bidding the lowest cargo-handling fee. A major concern is that the port operator may integrate into shipping and sabotage competitors, thereby rendering the competitive auction irrelevant. The standard policy recommendation to mitigate this problem, is to ban

Estructura de tasas de interés en Chile: ¿Qué tan buen predictor de crecimiento e inflación? (Interest rates structure in Chile: how well does it predict growth and inflation?)

Based upon Granger causality and Pesaran-Shin’s generalized impulse-response functions, this paper studies the link between the term structure and economic growth, and the link between the term structure and actual and expected percent changes of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Chile. Our measure of economic growth is the percent variation in the Monthly Indicator

Franchising of Infrastructure Concessions in Chile: A Policy Report

This report describes and evaluates the present state of the Chilean infrastructure concessions program. This program is leading to a complete upgrade of Chile`s highway system and has been recently extended to seaports. The main principles underlying the economics of franchising are examined and used to evaluate the programof privatizations of highways and seaports. Compared