Browsing by Author "Vásquez-Carvajal, José Pablo"
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- Beneficios intangibles de la Inversión Directa (ID) en Zonas Francas en Costa Rica: Resumen de resultadosThis paper quantifies intangible benefits that arise from the interaction of multinational companies in the Free Trade Zone regime with their workers and with Costa Rican capital companies (domestic). We quantify this by comparing those benefits to the ones of multinationals outside this regime. Specifically, we calculate the increase in productivity that domestic firms experience from supplying multinationals, and the additional salary (or wage premium) experienced by multinational workers compared to what they would have received by working in domestic companies. We find that those new suppliers of multinationals in the Free Trade Zone experience a 23% increase in their productivity during the fourth year after starting the supply relationship, while those that supplied multinationals outside this regime only received a 4% productivity increase. Likewise, the wage premium of the multinational company outside the Free Trade Zone is 8,5%, while the wage premium of multinationals in the Free Trade Zone is 18,4%.
- Diseño de un índice de volumen de producción internacional relevante para Costa RicaIn this paper an indicator of international production volume relevant for Costa Rican economy is elaborated. In this way the Research Department of Central Bank of Costa Rica could have a new proxy variable, for trend and variability of the international GDP, that contributes to explain the behavior of local exports and GDP. They are created three indicators based in the commercial relations that Costa Rica have. The first considers to weight by exports, a second one by imports and lastly by total international trade. After having realized different statistic tests, it is found that the indicator that better explains the Costa Rican economic performance is the indicator when the total international trade is used to weight.
- JIEEfectos de convertirse en suplidor de una multinacional: nueva evidencia de encadenamientos entre empresasMuchos países alrededor del mundo compiten por atraer Inversión Directa (ID), usualmente materializados en forma de filiales, subsidiarias o sedes de Corporaciones Multinacionales (CMN); para este fin se establecen políticas públicas como exención de impuestos, subsidios a la infraestructura industrial y otras, orientadas a incrementar el atractivo del país como destino para ese tipo de inversión. Una de las motivaciones radica en el supuesto de que la entrada de empresas altamente competitivas va a generar un impacto positivo en la economía receptora que impulsa el desempeño y la productividad de las firmas domésticas. La vinculación directa en la cadena de suministros es uno de los canales que permiten la transferencia tecnológica y de conocimiento entre CMN y compañías nacionales.
- Estimación del parámetro de suavizamiento del filtro de Hodrick y Prescott para Costa RicaNowadays, it is very common to use the method proposed by Hodrick and Prescott (1980) to split a time series in a trend and a cyclical component. Its use concentrates primarily on the fluctuation analysis of the economic cycles, which were defined by Lucas (1977) as deviations of the real product from a trend. In this context, the HP filter is very useful for the estimation of the potential product as the trend component of the observed product. This paper aims at amplifying the information used in the previous work by Esquivel and Rojas (2007), analyzing an alternative methodology proposed by Marcet and Ravn (2003) and comparing its results with the formerly used methodology.
- Estimation of the Hodrick and Prescott Filter Smoothening Parameter for Costa RicaNowadays, it is very common to use the method proposed by Hodrick and Prescott (1980) to split a time series in a trend and a cyclical component. Its use concentrates primarily on the fluctuation analysis of the economic cycles, which were defined by Lucas (1977) as deviations of the real product from a trend. In this context, the HP filter is very useful for the estimation of the potential product as the trend component of the observed product. This paper aims at amplifying the information used in the previous work by Esquivel and Rojas (2007), analyzing an alternative methodology proposed by Marcet and Ravn (2003) and comparing its results with the formerly used methodology.
- Importancia relativa de los beneficios intangibles de la Inversión Extranjera Directa (IED) en Zonas Francas en Costa RicaThis paper quantifies intangible benefits that arise from the interaction of multinational companies in the Free Trade Zone regime with their workers and with companies of Costa Rican capital (domestic). We compare those benefits to the corresponding benefits of multinationals that operate outside this regime. Specifically, we calculate the increase in productivity that domestic firms experience for supplying multinationals, and the additional salary (or wage premium) experienced by multinational workers compared to what they would receive by working in domestic companies. We find that those new suppliers of multinationals in the Free Trade Zone experience a 12% increase in their productivity from the first year after the start of the supply relationship, while those that supplied multinationals outside of this regime only received a 5% productivity increase. Likewise, the wage premium of the multinational company outside the Free Trade Zone is 6.2%, while the wage premium of multinationals in the Free Trade Zone is 14.3%.
- Inflación internacional relevante para Costa RicaThis document analyzes different measures of international inflation and their influence on the domestic inflation. We found that these measurements have a statistical significant effect on the behavior of domestic inflation. Therefore the evolution of the international inflation must be considered when assessing the inflation target stated by monetary authority. The international inflation calculated using the weight of exports to different markets is the most relevant international inflation both in levels and in differences for the case of Costa Rica. Another element that the Central Bank should take into account when setting its inflation target is the fact that for the period 2001-2010 the different relevant measures of international inflation for Costa Rica lie in the range of 3% and 4%.
- JIELa evolución de los ingresos laborales y la inequidad en Costa Rica: evidencia con micro datosAlfaro-Ureña, Alonso; Manelici, Isabela; Mendoza-Fernández, Luis Alfredo; Vásquez-Carvajal, José PabloEn esta investigación se utiliza una base de micro datos ligada patrono-empleado para estudiar la desigualdad de salarios en el sector privado formal costarricense durante el período 2006-2017. Se encuentra evidencia de que los ingresos reales de todos los percentiles de la distribución de salarios han aumentado al menos un 14%, al mismo tiempo la distribución ha cambiado de forma, los salarios más altos son los que tienen un mayor incremento relativo. También se encuentra evidencia de que dentro del conjunto de variables que podrían explicar el comportamiento observado está el aumento de la participación de empleo por parte de compañías multinacionales en el empleo total, así como el cambio estructural hacia una economía de servicios que ha experimentado la economía costarricense. Finalmente, se presenta una descomposición de varianza que muestra cómo el efecto de los trabajadores (en contraposición al de las empresas) aporta cerca de un 60% del cambio en la desigualdad. Parte de ello es explicado por el ingreso de multinacionales a territorio costarricense.
- Medias truncadas del IPC como indicadores de inflación subyacente en Costa RicaThis study presents an evaluation of trimmed-mean inflation series calculated from Costa Rican data following the methodology of Bryan, Cecchetti and Wiggins (1997) and of Roger (1997), which entails the calculations of trimmed-means centered in an estimator of the population mean percentile. It was found that the historical distribution of price changes in Costa Rica is highly leptokurtic and right-skewed, the mean percentile being estimated at percentile 60. Trimmed-mean series were calculated by centering on the percentiles 50 to 70 and by using trimming percentages from 0% to 49%. In order to choose a trimmed-mean indicator for core inflation, the series obtained were evaluated through unbiasedness tests, forecasting ability tests and indicators of adequacy of fit to a measure of trend inflation. Most unbiased series were found to be centered around the estimated mean percentile. The series resulting from centering on the mean percentile (60) and trimming 30% of the weight on the left of the distribution and 10% on its right presents the best fit to the trend among the group of 24 unbiased series that showed the highest forecasting ability. This trimmed-mean series fits better to the trend inflation than an exclusion measure currently in use, the ISI, and its variability is lower.
- Responsible Sourcing? Theory and evidence from Costa RicaAlfaro-Ureña, Alonso; Faber, Benjamin; Cecile, Gaubert; Manelici, Isabela; Vásquez-Carvajal, José PabloCada vez es más común que empresas multinacionales (CMNs) impongan estándares de "Abastecimiento Responsable" (AR) a sus proveedores en todo el mundo, tales como requisitos sobre la retribución de los trabajadores, los beneficios y las condiciones laborales que le proporcionan a sus trabajadores. ¿Estas políticas son simplemente "palabras vacías" o tienen un impacto en los proveedores expuestos y sus trabajadores? ¿Cuál es la incidencia en el bienestar de AR en los países de abastecimiento? Para responder a estas preguntas, desarrollamos un modelo cuantitativo de equilibrio general de AR y lo combinamos con una base de datos única y reciente. En la teoría, mostramos que las implicaciones para el bienestar de AR son ambiguas, dependiendo de una interacción entre lo que es similar a un impuesto a la exportación (+) y una distorsión en el mercado laboral (-). Empíricamente, combinamos la casi totalidad de despliegue de códigos de AR por parte de filiales de CMNs en Costa Rica, del 2009 al 2019, con transacciones de empresa a empresa y con los microdatos de las empresas con sus respectivos empleados. Descubrimos que la implementación de AR conduce a reducciones significativas en las ventas de las empresas y en el empleo en los proveedores expuestos, un aumento en los salarios de los trabajadores inicialmente de bajos ingresos y una disminución en la proporción de empleo de bajos salarios. Luego, utilizamos los efectos estimados y los microdatos para calibrar el modelo y cuantificar contrafactuales de equilibrio general. Descubrimos que si bien las políticas de AR de las CMNs han generado ex ante ganancias significativas entre aproximadamente un tercio de los trabajadores de bajos salarios empleados en los proveedores expuestos, la mayoría de los trabajadores de bajos salarios pierden debido a efectos indirectos adversos en sus salarios y en el índice de precios domésticos.
- Resultados de las encuestas realizadas para el proyecto de investigación: “Los efectos de unirse a las cadenas de suministro de multinacionales: nueva evidencia de encadenamientos entre empresas”This document is a summary and complement of the main research project “The Effects of Joining Multinational Supply Chains: New Evidence from Firm-to-Firm Linkages”. In that paper we analyze the effect in local firms whenever they become first time suppliers to multinational corporations. We find that there is a significant and persistent increase on measures of productivity, sales, number of employees, and sales to other firms. The goal of this document is to present and analyze with greater detail the qualitative data obtained to complement the empirical results of the main paper. One of the methodologies employed in that research project was the use of surveys to domestic and multinational firms that allowed us to understand the actions set in motion before and after a firm-to-firm linkage occurred. Some of the results from the surveys are presented in the main document, but not all of the information collected is discussed in length. This complementary document was produced to discuss those additional results and was shared with the institutions and firms (domestic and multinational) that collaborated in the research process. As an introduction, this document reviews the research subject and the questions answered in the main document. Additionally, the data and results are described and discussed. The main research paper to which these results refer to can be found as “Documento de trabajo No. 002 | 2019: The Effects of Joining Multinational Supply Chains: New Evidence from Firm-to-Firm Linkages”.
- The Effects of Joining Multinational Supply Chains: New Evidence from Firm-to-Firm LinkagesThis paper investigates the effects of becoming a supplier to multinational corporations (MNCs) using administrative data tracking all firm-to-firm transactions in Costa Rica. Event-study estimates reveal that after starting to supply to MNCs, domestic firms experience strong and persistent improvements in performance, including the expansion of their workforce by 26% and gains in standard measures of total factor productivity (TFP) of 6-9% four years after. Moreover, the sales of domestic firms to buyers other than the first MNC buyer grow by 20%, both through a larger number of buyers and larger sales per buyer. We propose a simple model by which TFP and reputation affect the number of buyers, but TFP alone affects sales conditional on buying. We find a model-based increase in TFP of 3% four years after. Finally, we collect survey data from managers in both domestic firms and MNCs for further insights on mechanisms. Our surveys suggest that becoming suppliers to MNCs is transformative for domestic firms, with changes ranging from new managerial practices to better reputation.
- The Effects of Multinationals on Workers: Evidence from Costa RicaEsta investigación estima los efectos de corporaciones extranjeras multinacionales sobre los trabajadores. Con este fin, se utilizan las bases de microdatos disponibles sobre las relaciones entre empresas, y entre trabajadores y empresas en Costa Rica, y se emplea una estrategia de variable instrumental para aprovechar la expansión de empresas multinacionales al país. En primera instancia, se encuentra una prima salarial directa de 9% al trasladarse a una multinacional. Esta prima se desprende del ofrecimiento de salarios por encima del mercado en lugar de ser una compensación por condiciones laborales indeseables. Luego, se estudia el efecto de multinacionales sobre los empleados de empresas nacionales. Las multinacionales mejoran las alternativas externas de los trabajadores debido a que alteran el nivel y composición de la demanda laboral al ofrecer empleos con prima salarial. Además, el desempeño de los trabajadores en empresas locales también incrementa debido a los encadenamientos productivos con multinacionales; posteriormente, estos shocks en desempeño se reflejan en el nivel de salario. Se muestra que la tasa de crecimiento del ingreso anual de un empleado que experimenta un aumento de una desviación estándar en la exposición a multinacionales en su mercado laboral o en firma es un punto porcentual más alta que la de un empleado idéntico sin cambios en exposición. Por último, se construye un modelo con el objetivo de racionalizar la evidencia y estimar los parámetros estructurales que explican la fijación de salarios en empresas nacionales. Las multinacionales se modelan como firmas que ofrecen prima salarial y que adquieren insumos de firmas nacionales. Los trabajadores de empresas nacionales son sensibles a las opciones laborales externas, según las estimaciones del modelo. Las empresas nacionales deben incurrir en costos de reclutamiento y capacitación para contratar nuevos empleados. El costo marginal de contratación para la empresa promedio se estima en 90% del ingreso anual de un trabajador con salario de mercado. Por este alto costo, los empleados pueden extraer una porción del incremento en la renta que proviene de encadenamientos más intensivos con multinacionales.
- Trimmed Means of the CPI as an Indicator of Core Inflation for Costa RicaThis study presents an evaluation of trimmed-mean inflation series calculated from Costa Rican data following the methodology of Bryan, Cecchetti and Wiggins (1997) and of Roger (1997), which entails the calculations of trimmed means centered in an estimator of the population mean percentile. It was found that the historical distribution of price changes in Costa Rica is highly leptokurtic and right-skewed, the mean percentile being estimated at percentile 60th. Trimmed-mean series were calculated by centering on the percentiles 50th to 70th and by using trimming percentages from 0% to 49%. In order to choose a trimmed-mean indicator for core inflation, the series obtained were evaluated through unbiasedness tests, forecasting ability tests and indicators of adequacy of fit to a measure of trend inflation. Most unbiased series were found to be centered around the estimated mean percentile. The series resulting from centering on the mean percentile (60th) and trimming 30% of the weight on the left of the distribution and 10% on its right presents the best fit to the trend among the group of 24 unbiased series that showed the highest forecasting ability. This trimmed-mean series fits better to the trend inflation than an exclusion measure currently in use (the ISI, for its Spanish acronym), and its variability is lower.