Documento de Trabajo

Optimal Fiscal Strategy for Oil Exporting Countries

This paper develops simple guidelines for scal policy in oil producing countries, focusing on three issues: intergenerational oil distribution, precautionary saving, and adjustment costs. The paper presents a framework to analyze how the revenue generated by an exhaustible source of wealth that belongs to the government should be distributed between current and future generations. This

Comparación de las Canastas Exportadoras de América Latina y Asia (Comparing Latin American and Asian export products)

Este artículo examina la similitud y el grado de competencia existente entre las canastas exportadoras de países asiáticos y latinoamericanos. Las canastas exportadoras de países latinoamericanos ¿son similares o distintas?, ¿cuál es el grado de competencia que hay entre países latinoamericanos que exportan a un mismo mercado? Luego, a través del uso de un modelo

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

Regulating the Electricaly Sector in Latin America

During the past decade most Latin American countries reformed and liberalized their electric sectors. This paper examines these reforms, providing a critical examination of the effects. Late reformers learnt from the experience of earlier reforming countries, and in particular from the Chilean experience. This evolutionary process has meant less regulation of segments that are or

Determinación de factores explicativos de los resultados escolares en educación media en Chile (Determining factors that explain high school results in Chile)

El objetivo de este estudio es indagar sobre las variables educativas, institucionales y sociales que están a la base de los logros educativos de los liceos de enseñanza media en Chile y de las diferencias de resultados entre ellos.Utilizando datos de la prueba SIMCE de Segundo Año de Enseñanza Media del año 1998 e información

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