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This paper introduces an unpublished 1970 work written by the distinguished development economist Lauchlin Currie (1902-93) on Paul Rosenstein Rodan's famous 1944 essay on the "Big Push" which led to the debate on balanced and unbalanced growth in which Albert Hirschman (1915-2012) was an important contributor. Both Currie and Hirschman had been key economic advisers to the Colombian government and here their respective views on development planning are contrasted. In particular, it is shown how Currie's 1970 paper clarifies the theory that serves as the basis for Colombia's 1971-74 National Plan, which he designed and helped execute, and whose institutional innovations have had a lasting impact on Colombia's recent economic history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the gap between the expected and real effects of Colombian trade liberalization policy. First, we stress the influence of international integration on Colombia's growth and development, and explains why moving toward more free trade has not contributed to the consolidation of high value-added industries in that country. Ultimately, we apply the theory of political cycles and suggest that political power in Colombia has contributed to get the country trapped into an international dependency on primary commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a historical series of Colombian GDP from 1888 to 2013. For that purpose we have employed an expenditure approach to reconstruct the GDP for the period 1888-1929. We linked it to the official statistics data of the DANE. The result is expressed in 2011 purchasing parity dollars for international comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trends in housing prices in Bogotá in the period 1995-2013 generated a debate among experts about the existence of a real estate bubble. This paper analyzes the determinants of the supply and demand of the construction sector, the associated markets, and the rate of growth of interest rates and land prices. The results show that there was no bubble in the market in 2012 and that the economic conditions of the 2010 decade caused the increase in housing prices. The increase of these prices throughout the country requires the evaluation of the territorial effects of the national housing policy, the role of local administrations, the use of land management instruments and the effect of these price pressures on quality and habitability of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the discussion on the most appropriate method for measuring productivity. It takes into account the TFP, the productivity of capital, and labor productivity, as well as its interpretations, scope, and relations. Additionally, it analyzes the impacts of this discussion on the evolution of the Colombian minimum wage over the period 2001-2016. Finally, it discusses the relationship between the growth of productivity and the distribution of income between capital and labor, proposing a critique of the neoclassical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the welfare effects of improvements in investment in education and infrastructure with public-private participation, in a fiscal framework of a small and open economy for the Colombian economy. A DSGE model is built where families make decisions on human capital and the government finances megaprojects by placing infrastructure bonds. The results suggest greater effects in the long-term adjustment and improvements in social welfare when public spending is focused on sectors with higher levels of employment and technological and innovation improvements are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze, with a new institutional economics framework, regulatory activity and its motivations. Better regulatory frameworks contribute to create an environment of legitimacy for the actions of the State. Nevertheless, this legitimacy can only be achieved by ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of such frameworks in relation to the aim pursued such as correct market failures, reduce inequity failures, or generation of more competitive environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Colombian data to compare the impact of inflation on the elderly and the general population. On average, the elderly spend a greater proportion on housing and health and less on education. Between December 2008 and May 2015, they experienced a higher inflation rate than the rest of the population. Lower income elderly households spend a higher share of their income on housing and food, and face higher inflation than wealthier elderly households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of innovative processes such as securitization leads to asking if the behavior of economic agents is a response to the institutional changes with specific objectives, or if the changes in the regulatory regime are the result of market behaviour or needs of the economy. The objective of this paper is to apply the theory of institutional change of North (agent, source, process and way of change) to examine the Colombian market in the period 1993-2013 in order to explore the main events which had an influence on the performance of securitization in general, and mortgage securitization in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate a dynamic panel data model to determine the effect of various institutional factors on the performance of a sample of Colombian companies during the period 2002-2007. Our results indicate that the analysed companies are affected by these factors. Institutions associated with property rights and contract compliance have significant effects on the growth of the firms. On the other hand, financial development does not have a significant effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the quality of employment in the major cities of Colombia in 2009. The results show that, although the quality of employment has improved since 2001, it still continues to be below the necessary level of quality employment. It also demonstrates the endogenous nature of education and proposes a correcting procedure for obtaining consistent and efficient estimators of employment quality. In differentiating between salaried and self-employed workers, the results reveal that if an individual is self-employed, an increase in the number of years of education does not contribute to improving the quality of employment. This effect only occurs in the case of salaried workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the duration of unemployment in Colombia as an indicator of the effectivity of search methods. This work is based on the Continuing Survey of Households (ECH), carried out in Colombia in the second quarter of 2006. Parametric (Weibull proportional risk) and nonparametric (Kaplan-Meier) duration models are estimated. The findings suggest that the duration of unemployment is strongly influenced by the search methods used by employees and the unemployed. Formal methods are the most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiscal rules enhance the credibility of economic policy, allow counter cyclical and sustainable fiscal policies, and contribute to macroeconomic stability and economic growth. The Colombian government has used fiscal rules to limit the growth of expenditure and the indebtedness of sub-national governments, and to promote fiscal transparency and responsibility. However, their success has been partial. This paper presents and analyzes a quantitative fiscal rule of 1% of GDP in the structural primary surplus for the central government, in order to consolidate the country's adjustment of public finances and reduce their vulnerability in the future. If that rule were implemented this year, the government would attain savings of 0.7% of GDP between 2008 and 2011, which would reduce the public debt level by about 3 percentage points of GDP by the end of the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]