This thesis analyzes issues related to natural resources, corruption, human development, economic growth, prices of minerals and fiscal fluctuations. It is composed of two studies. The first one analyzes the effects of corruption on economic growth, human development and natural resources in Latin American and Nordic countries using a Bayesian panel VAR model. The results reveal some relevant contrasts between both groups of countries: (i) in Latin America there is support for the sand the wheels hypothesis in Bolivia and Chile, support for the grease the wheels hypothesis in Colombia and no significant impact of corruption on growth in Brazil and Peru. By contrast, the response of growth to shocks in corruption is significantly negative in most of periods in all Nordic countries; (ii) corruption negatively affects human development in all countries from both regions; (iii) corruption te...

This thesis analyzes issues related to natural resources, corruption, human development, economic growth, prices of minerals and fiscal fluctuations. It is composed of two studies. The first one analyzes the effects of corruption on economic growth, human development and natural resources in Latin American and Nordic countries using a Bayesian panel VAR model. The results reveal some relevant contrasts between both groups of countries: (i) in Latin America there is support for the sand the wheels hypothesis in Bolivia and Chile, support for the grease the wheels hypothesis in Colombia and no significant impact of corruption on growth in Brazil and Peru. By contrast, the response of growth to shocks in corruption is significantly negative in most of periods in all Nordic countries; (ii) corruption negatively affects human development in all countries from both regions; (iii) corruption te...

Transparencia Internacional, organización no gubernamental enfocada en la lucha contra la corrupción, publicó recientemente el Índice de Percepción de la Corrupción 2019. Se trata de un índice que va del 0 (total corrupción) al 100 (total transparencia) y establece un ranking de países comúnmente encabezado por los países nórdicos, que suelen ser percibidos como los más transparentes a escala global.

La cuestión práctica más importante que (o debe) interesar al economista es definitivamente la del desarrollo. Por supuesto, son varios los factores que determinan que un país se desarrollado o subdesarrollado, pero todavía cabe la pregunta de cuál de ellos es el principal.

El objeto de este artículo es analizar los determinantes de la corrupción. Definiendo “determinantes” como aquellos factores que la hacen más probable en un país, se realiza una revisión de la literatura. Luego se discuten algunas cuestiones sobre la medición de la corrupción y se propone que los modelos de respuesta cualitativa permiten resolver ciertas críticas sobre el uso de índices de percepción de corrupción para el análisis empírico. De este modo, aplicando un modelo logit con datos de 125 países, se encuentra que la calidad institucional, la libertad económica, la democracia y la pobreza son factores que influyen significativamente en la probabilidad de tener un alto nivel de corrupción.

La diversificación es, coloquialmente hablando, como el complicado problema del huevo y la gallina. Por un lado, los países no pueden crear productos que requieren de capacidades con las que no cuentan. Por el otro, existen pocos incentivos para acumular capacidades en lugares donde las industrias que las demandan son inexistentes (Hausmann et al., 2013, p. 51).

This article is an ethical reflection on free market capitalism. It is maintained that the buyer-seller dynamics is based on and also generates selfish individuals who tend to forget the moral dimension of their actions in the market. The price system plays an important role in this respect since it eliminates qualitative differences among goods. The alleged moral justification of capitalism by appealing to liberty is also called into question.

According to Karl Popper, one of 20th century’s greatest philosophers of science, “theories are nets cast to catch what we call ´the world´: to rationalize, to explain, and to master it”. And that is right. Scientists and researchers seek to catch reality by mean of theories. In the case of economics, we seek to catch “economic reality”. We have economic theories. In fact, there are several approaches within economic theory (neoclassical economics, behavioral economics, institutionalism, post-Keynesianism, etc.). But we need specific tools and methods in order to evaluate in a rigorous way the connection between our theories and economic reality. In that context, econometrics become a very important aspect of research in economics.

International Monetary System: Past, Present and Future is an extraordinary book in which, through numerous scientific articles (papers) that were complied and edited by Dr. Debesh Bhowmik, the important issue of the international monetary system is approached from a broad perspective in its economic, historical, technological, regional and even political aspect in relation to relevant topics such as economic crisis, development, international trade and theoretical discussions about the orthodox and heterodox approach.

There are several approaches to poverty, but two of them are more widely used: monetary poverty and multidimensional poverty. This paper analyzes the determinants of poverty in Peru, linking both approaches by means of a logistic regression in distinct periods. It is found that access to services (water, electricity, telephony) and housing ownership reduce remarkably the probability of being poor and that having health insurance also reduces it, but to a lesser extent. Interestingly, primary or secondary education does not have a significant impact in reducing the probability of being poor, which can be due to restrictions in the current labor market.

Ordinary least squares, heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, logit model, unit root, autoregressive processes, impulsive-response functions, vector error correction model, fixed effects, random effects, dynamic panel data analysis, Bayesian estimation… definitively, econometrics is a very complex but, at the same time, very interesting aspect of economics research.

La Economía arrastra un complejo, por su conocimiento difuso y variado según escuelas. A mediados del s. XX, se intentó cerrar en falso con la Síntesis Neoclásica, imponiéndose una versión ortodoxa de tipo aplicado y econométrico. Esto no resolvió el problema del conocimiento, sino que lo agravó con la paradoja de las crisis recurrentes y la tendencia autística. Se diagnostica aquí el citado problema, atendiéndose a las cuatro categorías ontológicas del conocimiento económico, además de pronosticarse sobre los riesgos y retos que aguardan a la emergente corriente de la Economía del conocimiento y la complejidad.

Corruption and informality are issues which have attracted a great amount of empirical research, since they are variables that can affect economic development in various and complex ways, with direct and indirect effects on economic growth. In this context, the objective of this investigation is to assess the impacts of corruption and informality on economic growth and productivity in countries from Latin America and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). To achieve this, a 3SLS-GMM estimation is proposed to manage the endogeneity of the variables in the system of equations. Subsequently, a simulation analysis is conducted to quantify the impacts of increases in corruption and informality on growth and productivity, as well as the influence of human capital in counteracting these impacts. The main findings of the research are as follows: (i) corruption decreas...