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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2012‒07‒01
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Sandra Leitner; Robert Stehrer (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | In 2009, Latin America was sucked into the financial crisis which, following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, echoed around the globe and shook and shocked the entire global financial system. As a consequence, Latin America experienced a slump in real GDP growth, a drop in exports and a collapse in inward FDI flows. Against that backdrop, the paper sheds light on the effects the global financial crisis had on firms’ access to financing as well as on their funding strategies of investment projects. The analysis uses data collected as part of the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) component of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Enterprise Surveys 2006 and 2010 and demonstrates that during the crisis, the availability of internal capital markets played a pivotal role for larger and foreign firms or firms that were part of a larger firm; in contrast, no evidence is found that state-owned firms enjoyed preferential treatment or special budgetary support. In addition, it shows that in the face of the crisis, entrepreneurs adapted their funding strategies firms whose access to financing deteriorated, more intensely relied on bank and supply-chain-financing, foreign firms or firms that were part of a group more strongly availed of internal funds, while firms that both export and import more intensely drew on bank credits to fund their investment projects. |
| Keywords: | financial crisis, access to financing, capital structure, firm level, Latin America |
| JEL: | G01 G11 D22 L16 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:78&r=lam |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Camilo García-Jimeno; James A. Robinson |
| Abstract: | Slavery has been a major institution of labor coercion throughout history. Colonial societies used slavery intensively across the Americas, and slavery remained prevalent in most countries after independence from the European powers. We investigate the impact of slavery on long-run development in Colombia. Our identification strategy compares municipalities that had gold mines during the 17th and 18th centuries to neighboring municipalities without gold mines. Gold mining was a major source of demand for slave labor during colonial times, and all colonial gold mines are now depleted. We find that the historical presence of slavery is associated with increased poverty and reduced school enrollment, vaccination coverage and public good provision. We also find that slavery is associated with higher contemporary land inequality. |
| JEL: | H41 N96 O10 O54 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18177&r=lam |
| By: | Julián A. Parra Polanía; Carmiña O. Vargas Riaño |
| Abstract: | El presente trabajo estima el valor óptimo de un impuesto sobre los flujos de capital, que permite que los agentes privados internalicen el costo social de sus decisiones de deuda en una economía que está sujeta a restricciones financieras. Usando datos de la economía colombiana para el periodo 1996-2011 (que incluye el periodo de crisis 1998-1999) se encuentra que el valor del impuesto está alrededor del 1,3%. |
| Date: | 2012–06–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000094:009705&r=lam |