Esta investigación muestra por primera vez evidencia empírica de la existencia de la lavado de activos en zonas rurales con presencia de cultivos ilícitos. Para esto, se estiman una serie de modelos que relacionan distintas medidas de los Reportes de Operaciones Sospechosas (ROS), medidas que recogen las dinámicas de lavado de activos, con la presencia de cultivos ilícitos. Para las estimaciones se utiliza un panel municipal entre 2000 y 2010 que contiene variables que permiten controlar por actividad económica, violencia, conflicto, instituciones e incluso medidas de interdicción. Se encuentra una relación positiva entre las diferentes medidas de los ROS y los cultivos ilícitos, la cual se mantiene a través de diversas especificaciones y ejercicios de robustez. Se encuentra que un aumento de 1% en el área cultivada con coca aumenta el lavado de activos en 4,86%. Se concluye la existencia de lavado de activos, identificado mediante los ROS, en zonas rurales.

Con el ánimo de contribuir al diseño de mejores políticas públicas y de proveer elementos académicos a los debates públicos, la Escuela de Gobierno Alberto Lleras Camargo y el Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Económico – CEDE - de la Facultad de Economía de la Universidad de los Andes, han decidido publicar periódicamente Notas de Política. El objetivo de las Notas de Política es presentar los resultados de nuestras investigaciones académicas en un lenguaje ágil y accesible a un amplio espectro de colombianos. Con ello, esperamos difundir el trabajo académico y estrechar los vínculos entre la comunidad universitaria, el sector público y el sector privado.

La presente Nota de Política se hace en alianza con la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad de los Andes.

La Niña y los niños: Effects of an Unexpected Winter on Early Life Human Capital and Family Responses
 

We use rainfall shocks caused by La Niña in Colombia between 2010 and 2011 as a source of variation in the inputs of human capital formation. We have outcomes in 2013 for kids 0 to 5 years old and their household characteristics just before La Niña. We measure exposure using the number of days of heavy rains at different ages according to the day of birth of the kid, the exact location of his household and the closest weather station. Exposure in utero reduces birth-weight (0.19SD), weight gain per month (0.07SD), actual weight (0.15SD) and height (0.12SD). Exposure during the second year of life increases the risk of socioemotional problems (0.19SD) and decreases results in cognitive tests (0.10SD). Consistent with reinforcement, children who receive a shock during a critical period also receive less investment by their families. Households were not able to shield their consumption and they cut their expenditures in health and education (0.06SD). However the majority of households do not acknowledge being directly affected by the winter.
 

Marxist Theory of Land Rent. Original Exposure and Contemporary Reformulations
 

Here is presented an English version of the first two chapters of the book of Samuel Jaramillo Hacia una teoría de la renta del suelo urbano (2009) (Towards a theory of Urban Land Rent) that is only published in Spanish. This is justified because the theme developed in these two chapters have greater thematic scope than the book, since it refers to the general category of rent, which has a crucial role in the Marxist interpretation of  value and price formation in capitalism,  and these days it is the subject of several debates. Therefore, it may be interesting not only to those involved in real estate and urban phenomena. The two chapters have autonomy and great consistency as text. Its approach is original and challenging, as shown by the discussions awakened by the Spanish version. With this publication we want to broaden the spectrum of these theses and introduce them to those who do not speak Spanish and are interested in the topic of land property. 

The text has three core themes. In the first chapter a scheme of the original exposure of Marx, which is relatively sparse in his work, is presented. Initially we outline his general notions, and then, the different forms of manifestation of this category: Differential Rent Type I and Type II, Absolute Rent and Monopoly Rent. In the second chapter the main notes and objections that have been made to the original presentation, mainly in Latin American and French literature, are discussed. These objections are examined, their scope is evaluated, and is analyzed what could be the origin of the mismatches identified, when judged that they are justified. A reformulation of the original approach to absorb or overcome these difficulties is proposed. Three cores of discussion are analyzed: the Marx notion of Absolute Rent and its connection to an organic composition of capital in agriculture abnormally low; the presentation of Differential Rent Type II and the relationship with an unequal distribution of agricultural capital; the difference in nature that Marx proposes between Differential  and Absolute Rent and the relationships established between the latter category with the private ownership of land. The chapter concludes with an outline of a general reformulation of the Marxist category of Rent, in order to overcome these criticisms and enhance its potential to interpret the dynamics of price formation and the distribution of value in capitalism. The latter is developed in the light of contemporary discussion of the Marxist theory of value, roughly following the perspective known as "New Approach".

The Effect of Commuting Costs to Employment Centers on Urban Property Values: A Spatial Analysis in Bogotá, Colombia

We study the effect that changes of commuting costs to intra urban employment centers may have on property prices in Bogotá, Colombia. To explore the relationship between prices and communing costs, we use a difference in difference spatial model. Parametric and non-parametric estimations suggest a negative and significant impact of commuting costs on property values for dwellings far away from employment centers. The estimated price elasticity with respect to commuting costs for housing located in distant zones, indicates that a 1% increase in fuel price, reduces property values in 1.48%.  Non-parametric Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) showed to outperform traditional Spatial Autoregressive (SAR, SEM) models.

 

We present an endogenous growth model where innovations are factor saving and model the choice of technologies in an Overlapping Generations framework. Markets are competitive and factor prices are determined by marginal productivity of factors; therefore, the income share of reproducible factors increases with the stage of development. Beyond the standard results of this type of model we find that (i) without bequests long run growth is not possible, (ii) if the economy presents long run growth then intra generation inequality may last forever but if the economy does not present long run growth then in steady state there is no intra generation inequality (iii) when the economy is open, the pattern of capital flows depends not only on the relative abundance of factors but also on the technologies and, for this reason, capital may not flow from rich to poor economies (iv) consistently, capital flows may not help to break poverty traps.

In Colombia, physicians must work during a year to fulfill a compulsory social service known as año rural. This service constitutes an entry-level labor market which can be modeled as a many-to-one matching market. To match physicians with hospitals, a centralized and equiprobable random drawing is employed in the market. This random mechanism is evaluated here by using axioms of ex-post stability, ex-post efficiency and strategy-proofness. It is underlined in this paper that agents in the market have identified these axioms as a matter of interest. A formal proof shows that the random mechanism violates these axioms.

Three random mechanisms which produce desirable outcomes are presented: Employment by Lotto (Aldershof, Carducci, and Lorenc, 1999; Klaus and Klijn, 2006), Random Order Mechanism (Roth and Vande Vate, 1990; Ma, 1996; Klaus and Klijn, 2006) and Doctor Serial Dictator (Roth, 1982). The first two are both ex-post stable and ex-post efficient, and the latter is ex-post efficient and strategy-proof. It is shown that there is no ex-post stable and strategy-proof random mechanism, extending the result by Roth (1982, 1985) from deterministic to random mechanisms. Considering the concept of doctor-strategy-proofness, it is shown that the deterministic mechanism which leads to the doctor-optimal matching is the unique ex-post stable and doctor strategy-proof mechanism, strengthening the result by Roth (1985).

State Capabilities In Colombian Municipalities Measurement and Determinants
 

This paper constructs a comprehensive set of State Capacity indicators for Colombian municipalities, focusing in four basic governmental capabilities: fiscal, financial, physical and operational. First, a group of relevant variables was selected from a vast array of sources and classified into these four categories. Second, synthetic indicators were constructed using Principal Component Analysis (six in total as operational capabilities were further divided into three subcategories). These indicators allow us to study differential effects of a wide scope of potential determinants and controls upon each component. Such determinants included geographical features, natural resources, internal conflict, local political competition and early indigenous presence and immigration Controls included present income per capita and population density. This interdisciplinary variable selection provides a holistic explanation of State Capabilities related to public service delivery in Colombian municipalities.
 

Con el ánimo de contribuir al diseño de mejores políticas públicas y de proveer elementos académicos a los debates públicos, la Escuela de Gobierno Alberto Lleras Camargo y el Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Económico – CEDE - de la Facultad de Economía de la Universidad de los Andes, han decidido publicar periódicamente Notas de Política. El objetivo de las Notas de Política es presentar los resultados de nuestras investigaciones académicas en un lenguaje ágil y accesible a un amplio espectro de colombianos. Con ello, esperamos difundir el trabajo académico y estrechar los vínculos entre la comunidad universitaria, el sector público y el sector privado. 

Con el ánimo de contribuir al diseño de mejores políticas públicas y de proveer elementos académicos a los debates públicos, la Escuela de Gobierno Alberto Lleras Camargo y el Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Económico – CEDE - de la Facultad de Economía de la Universidad de los Andes, han decidido publicar periódicamente Notas de Política. El objetivo de las Notas de Política es presentar los resultados de nuestras investigaciones académicas en un lenguaje ágil y accesible a un amplio espectro de colombianos. Con ello, esperamos difundir el trabajo académico y estrechar los vínculos entre la comunidad universitaria, el sector público y el sector privado.