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This paper provides pioneering estimates of the impact of loan-to-value (LTV) ratios, also known as leverage, on Bolivia's GDP. The empirical evidence reveals the pro-cyclicality between the economic and financial cycles, which affects the intertemporal resource allocation processes between the financial and real sectors. The findings from the RBC model demonstrate that shocks in the loan-to-value (LTV) ratios trigger a rise in housing prices and greater consumption by entrepreneurs, leading to an increase in investment, employment, and output. Additionally, the study confirms that LTV ratios can be a double-edged instrument, as excessive use can potentially destabilize the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to determine the effect of extreme wealth on economic development (human development index and sub-indices) in 64 countries during 2005-2018, with special emphasis on Mexico and China. A dynamic estimation (sys-GMM) is followed. Estimations show that extreme national wealth acts as a constraint on human development for the entire sample of countries, including Mexico and China. Income is found to be most sensitive to this type of wealth, followed by the education index. The analysis confirms that democracy, economic freedom, investment and social spending are underlying factors of HDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study wage convergence and flexibility in the labour market of Argentinean provinces. We first review historical determinants and propose a theoretical interpretation: the higher the level of convergence in wages, the lower the convergence in employment and eventually in the product level, because of the low competitiveness of the Interior Area, which conspires, via a restriction of the balance of payments, against their growth. Then, we empirically analyze wage convergence and the degree of wage flexibility in provincial labour markets for the period 1997-2013. We find evidence of real wage convergence and low wage flexibility. This indicates that wages do not depend on provincial factors such as labour productivity or local unemployment but on national determinants such as centralized wage agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been shown that the variability of the marginal capital product ratio is what determines the growth rate of economies according to Harrod's model; therefore, it is important to predict its behavior. This paper develops a methodology based on probabilistic random walk to predict the annual marginal capital product ratio of Colombia for the year 2017 based on information from the Penn World Table database from 1993 to 2016. It was found that this variable has underlying mathematical orders, which allows its prediction with an accuracy of 97.69%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent global trends show high levels of households' indebtedness in developed and emerging economies. This paper proposes a method applicable in those economies where a household financial survey and interest rate caps exist. The method applies to the country with the most indebted households in Latin America, Chile. The results state that: (i) the same debt threshold does not apply to all households as variables such as income affect it; (ii) the debt threshold increases with households' income level; (iii) the presence of mortgage debt increases the debt thresholds; (iv) Chilean households overindebted are more than a quarter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household equivalence scales serve a key role in measuring income poverty. This paper analyzes poverty trends and levels under a set of alternative equivalence scales for Argentina and explores how the use of different scales modifies the demographic composition of the poor population. Results suggest that poverty levels are indeed affected by the choice of the scale, although trends are robust. There is evidence of changes in the demographic profile of the poor in favor of certain household types according to the scale employed. Results depend on how the poverty line is set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Bolivia, women working in similar positions as men face lower remunerations, besides being concentrated in low-paid jobs. This paper sheds lights over the gender labor income gap evolution in Bolivia over a 25-year period (1993 to 2018). Using household surveys and applying two different methods, the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition and the Ñopo decomposition, we find sound evidence of an important reduction in the gender labor income gap during the analyzed period. This reduction is due to, firstly, the reduction of the number of observable characteristics affecting the labor market such as education and the impact of family characteristics on access to employment. Secondly, it shows the reduction in the unexplained component, which is usually assumed to be discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]