Ivonne Acevedo’s research while affiliated with Colegio Ciudad de México and other places

Education is a crucial asset for a country’s economic prospects and for its inhabitants. In addition to its direct impact on growth via the accumulation of human capital, it is a critical ingredient in producing an informed citizenry, enhancing their ability to obtain and exert human and political rights and their facility to adapt to changing environments (generated by, e.g. technological or climatic change) among other benefits. In this chapter, we study education inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) (both in quantity and quality), assess how it emerges and amplifies or dampens existing inequalities, and examine the interaction of education inequality with other forms of inequality, primarily income and labor market outcomes. Our analysis is based on primary data from multiple sources.

The trend of declining gender gaps in labour market indicators in Latin America in previous decades did not change significantly in most countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, (i) women were harder hit in terms of employment losses during the 2020 shock; (ii) in 2021 they often remained less likely to work compared to 2019; and, (iii) in some countries the gender gap in employment rates widened. Accumulated income losses were larger for women in most cases. Women with lower education levels, aged 14-24, living in urban areas, and working in the tertiary sector were the most affected.

work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC-IGO BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/legalcode) and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose, as provided below. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC-IGO license. Abstract This study examines the relationship between weather emergencies and labor market outcomes in Mexico from 2016 to 2020. Using panel data and a two-way fixed effects estimation, the analysis focuses on storms, floods, wildfires, and landslides. The results show that storms can have significant negative associations with labor market outcomes. When living in municipalities affected by storms, individuals experience 3.5 percent lower wages. Also, storms are associated to a decrease in weekly working hours, while the rest of weather-related emergencies do not show significant effects. Furthermore, the probability of employment is negatively and significantly affected by storms, resulting in a 1 percentage point reduction in the likelihood of being employed. Finally, when evaluating dynamic effects, we also find that individuals living in municipalities affected by landslides experience a worsening of labor market outcomes (employment, hours, and wages) in the following quarter.

This study explores the evolution of inequality in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic by using primary data from household and employment surveys collected in 2020. First, we discuss the trends in inequality in the region from 1992 to 2020. Next, we estimate regression models to examine how the changes in demographics and education levels might be correlated with changes in income distribution. Finally, we use a panel regression model with fixed effects for 16 countries in the region to identify how the socioeconomic context might help explain the changes in income inequality. The empirical findings suggest that inequality increased by a statistically significant 2% between 2019 and 2020. We obtained significantly heterogeneous results when disaggregating by gender, urban/rural location, and sector of economic activity. Remittances had a modest effect, while government transfers helped to prevent more significant disparities in half the countries studied. Our estimations show that the decline in employment levels – due to the economic contraction caused by COVID-19— is associated with increases in income inequality that might gradually diminish with the recovery.

There is evidence that the well-known conditional cash transfer program PROGRESA/ /OPORTUNIDADES/PROSPERA, implemented in Mexico since the 1990s increased school enrolment, nutrition, and health outcomes among its participants, but little is known about its effects on school performance. This paper assesses this less commonly explored aspect through an innovative data base that engages the results from the national standardized academic performance test ENLACE, with the Program´s administrative records. Under different estimation techniques, including regression discontinuity and difference-in-differences, we find that the Program had a positive association between beneficiary´s time of exposure and their continuation in the schooling system until the end of Upper Secondary Education (12th grade). Less conclusively, depending on how academic performance is measured, there are also generally positive associations between participation in the Program and learning outcomes.