Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Este artículo muestra que la afluencia de capital no contribuye al crecimiento y pone a prueba la hipótesis de que los países con déficit de la balanza comercial deben fijar altas tasas de interés para atraer flujos de capital. En una serie de artículos, A. Shaikh ha presentado esta hipótesis basada en Marx, los economistas clásicos y post-keynesianos como Harrod. Para probar nuestra hipótesis, tomamos a México como un estudio de caso usando datos entre 1950 y 2014. Para probar nuestra hipótesis, que los países con déficit de la balanza comercial necesitan fijar altas tasas de interés para atraer flujos de capital, (1) (IED) no tiene ningún impacto en la inversión y el crecimiento, y (2) utiliza técnicas econométricas como la cointegración y un modelo de corrección de errores vectoriales (VECM).

The national census of population and housing in Bolivia of 2012 proposed a change in the type of question regarding indigenous self-identificaion with respect to the 2001 census, official results showed a reduction in self-identification by 20% between the two censuses. Social analysts argue that this reduction is due to a cultural component and a media phenomenon that was experienced during the development of the last census regarding the concept of mestizo. However, almost nobody links this reduction to the change in question. This paper presents the results of an experimental design applied to 218 college students, which conducted a survey of study habits, that served as a placebo to introduce the treatment. The sample was randomly separated into two groups, the treatment group received a survey containing the question posed in the 2012 census, and the control group received the question from the 2001 census. Logit and probit models were estimated to find the causal effect of the change in question, the results show that there is a reduction of 12% in the indicator of self-identification because of the change in the question. This results implies that the questions asked in the Census 2001 and 2012 are not comparable, at least in groups with similar characteristics to the experimental group.

En este artículo se analizan la eficiencia de distintos métodos de elección electoral. El objetivo se enfoca en demostrar cómo minimizar la cantidad de errores en un proceso de elección y por medio de esto hallar un sistema de elección social donde las preferencias de todos o al menos de la mayoría de individuos de un colectivo sean tomadas en cuenta para así llegar a la elección de un gobernante idóneo. Además, se evaluará si un sistema electoral representa fielmente las opiniones de la sociedad. Para este propósito se consideran dos sistemas políticos muy comúnmente usados en las sociedades: votación unánime y por mayoría simple. En ambos casos se establece una relación directa con el Teorema de la Imposibilidad de Arrow y se demuestra las condiciones en que cada uno de estos sistemas puede ser aplicable.

The objective of this note is to describe the current situation of the journal, as well as to inform our readers the aspects that contribute to raising the standards of published articles. Since its first indexing in the Latindex database, COMPENDIUM, has increased the number of articles received by edition, this being the key incentive to continue compliance with requirements that allow indexing in high impact database such as Scopus. The work carried out in the magazine is aimed at encouraging quality research, aligned with the research strategy proposed by the Senescyt which is the contribution of new knowledge available to all.

In a dollarized economy trade balance takes a leading role for the sustainability of the economic system in the case of external shocks. In Ecuador, trade balance has reported deficits in recent years, with the exception of the 2016 when stiffer trade policies were introduced to mitigate those problems. This study seeks to identify trade opportunities for Ecuadorian products in the market of South Korea, as well as to identify Ecuadorian products responding to a complementary trade pattern between Ecuador and South Korea. That pattern is analyzed using four indices: bilateral trade complementarity, revealed comparative advantage, complementarity, and trade specialization. Through these indices we identify the items marketed Ecuador with an export pattern that is complementary to the import pattern of South Korea. Then, we analyse the potential market and bilateral residual, and add criteria for the analysis of the potentiality of the items selected. Finally we intersect the results with tariffs or other barriers that arise in different items, and with interviews with experts.

The award of the Nobel Prize for Economics (Sveriges Risksbank Prize in Economics) to Richard Thaler, for his contributions to the development of Behavioral Economics, is an event that arouses interest and expectation regarding the path and evolution of both economic theory, as well as applied research. The present article presents some background of this literature and puts into context both the concepts and the contribution of Thaler to the economic science.

Se revisan los estudios de la calidad y el coste del servicio de agua que desde la psicología de la sustentabilidad y la psicología social de las representaciones se han venido reportando de 2010 a la fecha con la intención de explorar dos dimensiones preponderantes: la objetivación o expectativa de abastecimiento hídrico gratuito y el anclaje o expectativa de calidad del servicio de abastecimiento. Para tal fin, se llevó a cabo un estudio no experimental, exploratorio y transversal con una selección no probabilística de 245 locatarios de una demarcación de la Ciudad de México. Los resultados confirman una estructura dual, pero el tipo de diseño y selección de la muestra limitan los hallazgos a la muestra de estudio y en el contexto electoral en que fueron encuestados. Sin embargo, se recomiendan líneas de investigación alusivas a la comparación entre los constructos de representaciones sociales y representaciones sociopolíticas tanto en escenarios electorales como libres de proselitismo y contienda política. 

From the perspective of explaining the gaps in the development process of world economies, the institutional framework enriches the economic literature by inserting the "institutions" as an important element of understanding and encouraging the behavior of today's economies. Supported by a theoretical current initiated by T. Veblen and reworked by a new strand, which he belonged to Douglass North, found the empirical application through cross country research and later on intra-country analysis. The regional disparities observed in Brazil also became the target of these studies which saw in institutional quality the answer to this phenomenon. Thus, this paper investigates the relationship between the institutional quality of Brazilian cities and the level of income. That means to analyze the effects that municipal institutions have on economic performance, and on a given set of socioeconomic and geographic variables, among which there is the proxy of corruption built for each municipality. For this, it was measured the Municipal Institutional Quality Indicator, which allowed an interpretation of Brazil's profile in 2010, and also a comparison to the elaborate indicator in 2000. The results indicate a gradual improvement in the comparison between the indicators and a trend of spatial concentration of the highest scores in the central-south zone of the country coinciding with the best national income levels, confirmed by empirical tests the significant existence of this relationship. In addition, the results show the great influence that social factors has on the indicator, and it remains unchanged when used geographic instrumental variables.

¿Cómo un grupo de madres de jóvenes detenidos ilegalmente y posteriormente asesinados por la dictadura argentina de 1976-1983, lograron organizar y protestar durante este período de severa represión estatal? ¿Bajo qué condiciones un individuo racional escogería arriesgar su vida participando en actividades colectivas sometidas al problema del polizón? Combinando las ideas de un modelo de provisión de bienes públicos y la teoría de la confianza del interés encapsulado, demuestro que a pesar de los altos niveles de incertidumbre y riesgo involucrados en la participación, la acción colectiva fue posible gracias a compromisos mutuos creíbles inherentes a la participación y debido a la provisión de incentivos selectivos de los miembros. Estos hallazgos son confirmados por desarrollos posteriores: una vez que se produjo una transición democrática y los niveles de riesgo e incertidumbre disminuyeron, el grupo se dividió en dos asociaciones diferentes.

This paper reviews the empirical research focused on credit risk assessment in microfinance institutions (MFIs), particularly identifying those related to Latin America. Since the pioneering work of Vigano (1993), literature has spread over the last two decades, covering a significant number of countries and with the main objective of assessing credit risk. First, this work focuses on identifying the use of credit scoring techniques in the literature to assess the risk of microcredit incurring some type of costly delay. In this way, the MFI could establish measures to mitigate and be more efficient. The theoretical analysis of these investigations shows the majority use of parametric techniques. However, more recent research finds that non-parametric techniques have a greater predictive power of non-compliance by microcredit clients. Second, this paper identifies the determinants of default risk analyzed in previous works. The evidence shows the importance of qualitative information about the borrower, the business and the loan, as well as the use of unstructured data.