Papers by Marcela Melendez
Ispd, Apr 30, 2003
The focus of this research is to learn about the factors that influence the decision of a manufac... more The focus of this research is to learn about the factors that influence the decision of a manufacturing firm to vertically integrate into the production of its input. The American paper industry has a feature that makes it particularly suitable for this purpose: over the years paper mills of apparently similar characteristics have made different decisions with regards to their integration status. This work draws on the insight that there must be some unobserved mill characteristic that drives the decision process for a mill. Mills' choices of whether to exit the industry, and with regards to their integration status when they choose to stay in operation, depend on their productivity. This generates selection and simultaneity biases in a reduced form estimation. In order to deal with these issues, I propose a dynamic model in the spirit of Olley and Pakes (1996). This approach not only takes care of the estimation biases, but also allows me to learn about the unobserved characteristics of the firms in my data, and to use them to determine which firms vertically integrate and which firms do not. In addition, the model I propose allows me to learn about how vertical integration affects productivity and mill's entry and exit decisions.
Desigualdad de Resultados y Oportunidades en Colombia: 1997-2010
Documentos Cede, 2012
Este documento usa las Encuestas de Calidad de Vida de 1997, 2003, 2008 y 2010 para realizar un d... more Este documento usa las Encuestas de Calidad de Vida de 1997, 2003, 2008 y 2010 para realizar un diagnostico de la desigualdad en Colombia. Encuentra que aunque ha habido progreso en el tiempo, en niveles absolutos la desigualdad es aun muy alta y lo es tambien en comparacion con la de otros paises latinoamericanos. Cuando la poblacion se ordena segun el gasto per capita observado del hogar, las diferencias que emergen entre la calidad de vida de aquellos en los extremos alto y bajo de la distribucion son enormes. Los ejercicios realizados muestran que una parte importante de la desigualdad en los resultados que obtienen las personas a lo largo de sus vidas esta determinada por sus circunstancias al nacer. El nivel de escolaridad alcanzado por los padres es la circunstancia que individualmente tiene la correlacion mas alta con los resultados de sus hijos en la edad adulta y estan tambien en desventaja las personas que nacen en municipios pequenos, en el area rural y en las regiones Atlantica y Pacifica. Cuando se controla por otras circunstancias al nacer, el genero pierde importancia como explicacion de la desigualdad.
Acceso al financiamiento de la pequeña y mediana empresa en Colombia: retos de política pública
The private sector's contribution to a country's economic growth and development critically depen... more The private sector's contribution to a country's economic growth and development critically depends on the way the Government envisions its role, and may be hindered by low quality Government intervention. This paper examines the shape this relationship has taken in Colombia in five key areas-tax policy, infrastructure, rule stability, antitrust policy and industrial policy-. The analysis of the quality of this relationship allows us to extract lessons useful for policy adjustment towards a healthier alliance between government and entrepreneurs. The main conclusion of this examination is that Colombia requires consensus about the public/private model it desires, so that in all areas of activity the Government operates in the same direction, effectively enabling the private sector as motor for development. Resumen La contribución del sector privado al crecimiento y al desarrollo económico de un país está determinada por la manera en que el gobierno entienda su rol y por la estrategia de distribución de funciones que determine. Un Estado con un espacio amplio para intervenir en la actividad económica puede desalentar el aporte del sector privado si su intervención no es de buena calidad. Este trabajo examina la manera en la que en Colombia se ha materializado la relación entre el gobierno y el sector privado en cinco áreas críticas
Las instituciones cafeteras
We evaluate the current institutional arrangements of the Colombian coffee sector. We find that e... more We evaluate the current institutional arrangements of the Colombian coffee sector. We find that even though these institutions worked well many decades ago in positioning Colombian coffee in the international market and solving some market failures, they have become dysfunctional over time, and they are the main culprit of the crisis of the sector. A number of reform proposals are explored.
This paper analyzes the impact of the elimination of the initial fixed costs of business registra... more This paper analyzes the impact of the elimination of the initial fixed costs of business registration on the decision of informal firms to operate formally in Bogotá, Colombia. The Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá (CCB) conducts workshops for prospective formal-sector entrants and arranges personalized meetings for them with CCB agents. The CCB's decision to significantly reduce the transaction costs of registration and the entry into force of Act No. 1429 of 2010, which eliminated the costs of the initial procedure for registering as a formal enterprise and provided tax exemptions during the first years after formalization, provided us with an ideal natural experiment for studying how the elimination of the initial fixed costs of formalization would influence firms' decision to operate formally or not. We obtained two important results. First, while a workshop treatment had no effect on firms' formalization decisions, meetings at the firm with CCB agents raised the likelihood that a business would begin to operate formally by 5.5 percentage points for all the firms that were invited, at random, to participate in this segment of the intervention and by 32 percentage points for the firms that accepted the invitation. Second, the effect on the treated firms did not persist over time. In fact, after a year of formal operation, the effect disappeared. These results indicate that substantial reductions in the fixed costs of operating formally are not an effective means of influencing formalization choices, since such reductions had no lasting effect on formalization decisions.
Latin American Journal of Economics, 2014
This paper explores whether Colombia's middle class is a cradle of entrepreneurship that drives i... more This paper explores whether Colombia's middle class is a cradle of entrepreneurship that drives innovation and business growth and fosters social mobility. Microeconomic data are used to characterize entrepreneurs by income group and business characteristics. While entrepreneurs appear to enjoy more income mobility than the average worker, it is not clear whether this is true for middle-class entrepreneurs in particular or if it is a result of entrepreneurship. Nor is there evidence that middle-class entrepreneurs' activity boosts economic growth. Instead, the findings suggest that businesses run by these entrepreneurs are characterized by low productivity.
Long-Term Productivity Effects of Public Support to Innovation in Colombia
Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 2015
ABSTRACT
El impacto de la protección a los datos de prueba
El objetivo de este estudio es analizar el impacto del Decreto 2085 de 2002 sobre el mercado de m... more El objetivo de este estudio es analizar el impacto del Decreto 2085 de 2002 sobre el mercado de medicamentos en Colombia, con enfasis en su efecto sobre los precios y otros aspectos relevantes desde la perspectiva de la salud publica.Con el fin de aportar elementos de analisis, el trabajo ofrece una aproximacion empirica que aprovecha los datos disponibles para explorar el funcionamiento del mercado y la relacion del Decreto 2085 de 2002 con el mismo. No se pretende realizar un analisis prospectivo, pero se entrega alguna evidencia que contribuye a dimensionar el impacto potencial del Decreto en el futuro.
Impreso en Colombia-Printed in Colombia El contenido de la presente publicación se encuentra prot... more Impreso en Colombia-Printed in Colombia El contenido de la presente publicación se encuentra protegido por las normas internacionales y nacionales vigentes sobre propiedad intelectual, por tanto su utilización, reproducción, comunicación pública, transformación, distribución, alquiler, préstamo público e importación, total o parcial, en todo o en parte, en formato impreso, digital o en cualquier formato conocido o por conocer, se encuentran prohibidos, y sólo serán lícitos en la medida en que se cuente con la autorización previa y expresa por escrito del autor o titular. Las limitaciones y excepciones al Derecho de Autor, sólo serán aplicables en la medida en que se den dentro de los denominados Usos Honrados (Fair use), estén previa y expresamente establecidas, no causen un grave e injustificado perjuicio a los intereses legítimos del autor o titular, y no atenten contra la normal explotación de la obra.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2010
Documents published in the IDB working paper series are of the highest academic and editorial qua... more Documents published in the IDB working paper series are of the highest academic and editorial quality. All have been peer reviewed by recognized experts in their field and professionally edited. The information and opinions presented in these publications are entirely those of the author(s), and no endorsement by the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the countries they represent is expressed or implied.
Development of Colombian Bond Markets
On the Verge of a Big Bang?, 2008
5 Development of Colombian Bond Markets Camila Aguilar, Mauricio Cardenas, Marcela Melendez, and ... more 5 Development of Colombian Bond Markets Camila Aguilar, Mauricio Cardenas, Marcela Melendez, and Natalia Salazar In spite of recent progress, the Colombian financial sector remains small and shallow, and largely dominated by the banking sector. In the debt market, ...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013
This Working Paper analyzes the institutions that shape public-private collaboration for the desi... more This Working Paper analyzes the institutions that shape public-private collaboration for the design and implementation of productive development policies in Colombia. These policies are increasingly designed in the context of formal institutions and venues, with public-private collaboration being a pillar of that formal design. This paper focuses on two specific case studies: the Private Council for Competitiveness and its role in the National Competitiveness System and the Productive Transformation Program. Both suggest that public-private collaboration has contributed to the continuity of productive development policies across the country. Public-private collaboration has also played a significant part in achievements such as overcoming specific government failures and developing private organizational capabilities. Thus, a central message of this paper is that formal institutions have an important potential to advance adequate productive development policies.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2010
Documents published in the IDB working paper series are of the highest academic and editorial qua... more Documents published in the IDB working paper series are of the highest academic and editorial quality. All have been peer reviewed by recognized experts in their field and professionally edited. The information and opinions presented in these publications are entirely those of the author(s), and no endorsement by the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the countries they represent is expressed or implied.
This paper explores the links between labor formality, access to credit and firm performance in C... more This paper explores the links between labor formality, access to credit and firm performance in Colombia using Annual Manufacturing Survey data for the period 2000-2009. A significant though small relationship is found between access to credit and informality. The results suggest that a 10 percent increase in the ratio of credit to sectoral output increases labor formality between 0. 76
In this paper we explore the determinants and the consequences of the development of the corporat... more In this paper we explore the determinants and the consequences of the development of the corporate bond market in Colombia. We use a large firm-level dataset for the period 1997-2004 and find that the larger, more profitable and more leveraged firms have a higher probability to issue bonds. The econometric results also show that the larger the treasury bond market,
En este estudio se aplican las herramientas de la teoría y práctica de la economía en el ámbito d... more En este estudio se aplican las herramientas de la teoría y práctica de la economía en el ámbito de la política de competencia al análisis de la industria Colombiana de cigarrillos. Se hace una propuesta de definición de los mercados relevantes para efectos de la política de competencia, se exploran los mecanismos mediante los cuales se ejerce poder de mercado
This paper analyzes the effects on Colombian manufacturing productivity of foreign trade policy c... more This paper analyzes the effects on Colombian manufacturing productivity of foreign trade policy changes during the 1990s. Our results indicate that between 1978 and 1998, aggregate manufacturing productivity largely stagnates and even declines in some of the larger industries. Between 1999 and 2001, however, manufacturing productivity shows significant growth. Contraction of the economic activity in 1999 appears as a positive shock. There is little entry and exit of plants or reallocation of labor throughout the observed period. The productivity stagnation can be explained by this lack of liquidation of unproductive plants combined with slow technological advance. Dynamics vary significantly across sub-sectors, however, and our findings attribute this variation primarily to within-sector output reallocation. The importance of industrial policy is large. Sector-level productivity declines coincide with protectionist policies in the form of import tariffs, while rising productivity is...
WORKING PAPERS SERIES. …, 2008
Downloadable! This paper revisits economic growth in Colombia using the growth diagnostics method... more Downloadable! This paper revisits economic growth in Colombia using the growth diagnostics methodology proposed by Hausmann, Rodrik and Velasco (2005), with the purpose of identifying the most binding constraints for economic growth and the policies that, if implemented ...
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Papers by Marcela Melendez