We exploit the progression of the Peruvian conflict (1980–2000) over time and space to show that individuals’ responses to conflict violence are affected by the identity of the perpetrator. We find that a 1 standard deviation increase in exposure to all violence (from government and terrorists) reduces the perception of the importance of voting and the probability of voting by 1.4% and 1.8% (of each variable mean). However, distinguishing by the perpetrator’s identity unveils contrasting effects. A 1 standard deviation increase in exposure to government violence reduces the perception of voting importance by 4.8% and reduces participation in civil organizations by 12.8% as well as the perception that democracy works or matters by 4.8% and 3.3%. In contrast, exposure to terrorist violence strengthens social capital, although the size of the effects tends to be smaller. In addition, the period from the late teens to early twenties seems key to influencing later voting behavior, participation, and democratic beliefs. Results are robust to pretrends in the outcome variables, multiple hypothesis testing corrections, and selection into migration.

A law that banned the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Senegal in 1999 reduced its prevalence and increased educational investments in girls. These results are not driven by mechanisms like health, broader changes in empowerment, or child marriage. Suggestive evidence indicates that results could be driven by some parents of future brides reacting to the increase in the cost of FGC caused by the law by abandoning this practice and investing in their daughter's education to compensate for smaller bride prices among uncut women.

Driving restrictions are popular interventions in rapidly urbanizing developing countries. Their relatively inexpensive implementation appeals to the pressing need to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. Their effectiveness however, remains contested. Using high frequency data from the community-based driving directions app Waze, we evaluate the causal effect on traffic congestion of Lima's Pico y Placa driving restriction policy introduced in 2019. We find small improvements in traffic congestion for the policy's directly targeted areas. However, those improvements are offset by time and spatial spillovers in the opposite direction in the aggregate. Speed improved by 2 percent during the early weeks of the intervention, but this effect disappeared 16 weeks after the start of the policy. Moreover, traffic conditions worsened in adjacent areas and in hours outside the time schedule of the policy. In the aggregate, accounting for time and spatial spillovers, a simulation exercise suggests that overall welfare declined by 2 percent, mostly driven by the extensive margin (more roads becoming congested) outside the direct areas and hours targeted by the policy. The policy seems not only to have failed to achieve its intended benefits in terms of congestion, but also probably caused increases in traffic-related pollution. These results highlight the need for policy makers to take into account the overall impacts of driving restrictions policies before implementing them.

Limited access to safe transportation is one of the greatest challenges to labor force participation faced by women in developing countries. This paper quantifies the causal impacts of improved urban transport systems in women’s employment outcomes, looking at Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and elevated light rail investments in the metropolitan region of Lima, Perú. We find large gains in employment and earnings per hour among women, and not for men, due to these investments. Most of the gains arise on the extensive margin, with more women being employed, but employment does not appear to be of higher quality than that for comparison groups. We find also evidence of an increase in the use of public transport. Results are robust to alternative specifications and we do not find evidence that they are driven by neighborhood composition changes or reorganization of economic activity. Overall, these findings suggest that infrastructure investments that make it faster and safer for women to use public transport can generate important labor market impacts for women who reside in the area of influence of the improved infrastructure.

This paper provides a comprehensive account of the local employment impact of firms’ investment in R&D in UK local labour markets. We focus on the composition effects across industries and employment types. We distinguish the impact of R&D across areas with different initial shares of workers in routinised occupations and industry shares. Drawing on two instrumenting strategies, our results consistently suggest that R&D change, on average, exerts a small negative effect on local employment, mainly through changes in its composition. Results differ significantly for local labour markets with different initial shares of workers in routinised occupations. Areas with below median shares of workers in routinised occupations experience a relative reduction in low educated employment in non tradeable services and self-employment. In areas with above median shares of workers in routinised occupations, low education employment also increase, in tandem with an increase in non tradeable services; all the positive employment change occurs in self-employment. We qualify the positive effect of R&D on self-employment in highly routinised areas and find no evidence to distinguish if it is driven by opportunities related to R&D investment or necessity.

Limited access to safe transportation is one of the greatest challenges to labor force participation faced by women in developing countries. This paper quantifies the causal impacts of improved urban transport systems in women ́s employment outcomes, looking at Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and elevated light rail investments in the metropolitan region of Lima, Perú. We find large gains in employment and earnings per hour among women, and not for men, due to these investments. Most of the gains arise on the extensive margin, with more women being employed, but employment does not appear to be of higher quality than that for comparison groups. We find also evidence of an increase in the use of public transport. Results are robust to alternative specifications and we do not find evidence that they are driven by neighborhood composition changes. Overall, these findings suggest that infrastructure investments that make it more convenient and safer for women to use public transport can generate important labor market impacts for women who reside in the area of influence of the improved infrastructure.

We use across-ethnic-group variation in exposure to a law that banned the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Senegal to evaluate the impact of the law and to document the perverse effect that this cultural practice has on girls’ education. We find that the law, interpreted as a rise in the cost of FGC, reduced the prevalence of FGC, which later increased educational investments received by girls. To explain this result, we propose a theoretical model where, consistent with previous evidence, both education and FGC lead to better marriage market outcomes. In line with the predictions of the model, the results suggest that education and FGC work as substitutes in the marriage market and that educational investments are affected by the cost of alternative pre-marital investments. Additionally, we rule out alternative mechanisms, such as a broader change in gender norms, better health or fewer adolescent women leaving school to get married, to explain why the law increased educational investments.

This paper finds that, in contexts where female genital cutting (FGC) improves marriage outcomes, this practice curbs girls’ education. We use across ethnic group variation in exposure to a law that banned the practice of FGC in Senegal to investigate whether education and FGC work as substitutes in the marriage market, and to estimate the causal effect of FGC on girls’ education. We find that the ban, which is interpreted as an increase in the cost of FGC, decreased the prevalence of the practice, which later increased educational investments received by girls. The results provide widespread support for the substitution hypothesis and suggest that parental decisions on whether to cut their daughters depend highly on the relative cost of alternative pre-marital investments. On the other hand, the findings dismiss alternative mechanisms to explain why the law raised educational investments such as better health or less adolescent girls leaving school to get married. *The research that led to this paper was funded by the European Research Council starting grant 336475 (COSTPOST) to Mikko Myrskylä. We thank comments from Luke Chicoine and participants at seminars at EDePo at UCL, Sticerd at LSE, Max Planck Institute for Development Research, the European Economic Association annual meeting, Nordic Conference of Development Economics, Alpha Workshop at LSE, University of Sussex seminar and the reading group at the Department of Social Policy, LSE. †Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. ‡Inter-American Development Bank.

The paper investigates the effects of firms’ investment in Research and Development (R&D) on employment dynamics in the British local labour markets (Travel to Work Areas). We distinguish between local areas characterised by the initial level of routinised employment of the workforce. We implement a instrumenting strategy to address endogeneity issues in the relation between innovation and employment. Our results suggest that increases in R&D investments mainly affect routinised areas, where the employment created is low skilled, concentrated in non-tradable sectors (like transport, construction) and services. A significant share of the jobs created is self-employment, concentrated in the 25-34 age cohort. We qualify the effect of R&D on self-employment by looking at local firms’ dynamics, which suggest that the increase in self-employment is reflected in a higher number of micro-firms. Rather, in non-routinized areas, R&D results in the expected increase in the demand of high-skilled workers and a reduced demand of low-skill employment.

This paper investigates the effect of firms’ investment in R&D on employment level and composition in UK local labour markets. We distinguish the impact of R&D across areas with different initial shares of workers in routinised occupations and industry specialisation and for different sectors, levels of education, paid employment and selfemployment, and age cohorts. Drawing on two instrumenting strategies, our results consistently suggest that R&D growth, on average, exerts no multiplier effect on local employment, but changes its composition. Results differ significantly by the initial level of routinisaton. Low routinised areas experience a relative reduction in low educated employment in non tradeable services and self-employment. In highly routinised areas, low education employment is created in no tradeable services; a significant share of this is in self-employment, concentrated in the 25-34 age cohort, whereas the 17-24 cohort is negatively affected. We qualify the effect of R&D on the nature of self-employment and find no evidence to distinguish if it is driven by R&D related opportunities or necessity.

The paper investigates the effects of firms’ investment in Research and Development (R&D) on employment dynamics in the UK local labour markets, defined on the basis of British Travel to Work Areas. We implement a robust instrumenting strategy to address endogeneity issues in the relation between innovation and employment. We distinguish between areas characterised by high and low routinisation of the workforce. Our results suggest that innovation has an effect mainly on routinized areas, where the employment created following a R&D shock is low skilled, concentrated in non-tradable sectors (like transport, construction) and services. Also, a significant share of the employment created is (unincorporated) self-employment, concentrated in the 25-34 age cohort. In non-routinized areas, R&D has more limited overall effects, resulting from the expected increase in the demand of high-skilled workers and a reduced demand of low-skill employment.

Spanish Abstract: Es poco lo que se conoce sobre la educacion a distancia (EaD) que se realizaba en Costa Rica previo a la fundacion de la Universidad Estatal a Distancia (UNED). El Seminario Biblico Latinoamericano (SBL), con programas academicos de nivel universitario, asi como opciones no formales, tenia en marcha un programa de ensenanza a distancia diversificada, abierta, flexible y contextualizada, que tuvo sus origenes en anteriores etapas caracterizadas por la educacion por correspondencia y la extension. El objetivo es describir y analizar algunos de los elementos constitutivos del modelo pedagogico practicado por el SBL, para darle un lugar en la historia de la EaD costarricense. English Abstract: Little is known about distance education in Costa Rica before the foundation of the National Distance Education University (UNED). The Latin American Biblical Seminary (SBL), with formal, university-level academic programs, as well as non-formal options, had in place a diversified, open, flexible, and contextualized distance education program, which had its origins in previous stages characterized by correspondence education and theological education by extension. The goal is to describe and analyze some of the main components of the pedagogical model carried out by the SBL, in order to give it a place in the history of Costa Rican distance education.

Spanish Abstract: El modelo de Ensenanza para la Comprension (epc) constituye un enfoque de ensenanza-aprendizaje basado en competencias y desempenos, asociado con las teorias constructivistas, y desarrollado desde la decada de los noventa en el Proyecto Zero, de la Universidad de Harvard. Si bien existen actualmente multiples experiencias en la educacion basica y secundaria, su aplicacion en educacion superior es relativamente nueva, y mucho mas como modelo pedagogico institucional. La Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnologia (ulacit), de San Jose, Costa Rica, se ha dado a la tarea de impulsar la construccion de un enfoque educativo propio, inspirado en el modelo epc, especificamente para el ambito universitario. En este articulo se presenta una sistematizacion de los primeros pasos hacia la incorporacion de un modelo basado en epc, los cuales, a lo largo de dos anos, empiezan a dar frutos. Se espera que este reporte pueda contribuir a la innovacion educativa en la formacion universitaria.English Abstract: The Teaching for Understanding (TfU) model represents a teaching-learning approach based on competencies and performance, associated with constructivist theories, and developed in the nineties at Harvard University. Although currently there are multiple experiences in basic and secondary education, its application in higher education is relatively new, and much more like an institutional pedagogical model. The Latin American Science and Technology University (ulacit for its acronym in Spanish), at San Jose, Costa Rica, has taken on the task to drive the construction of a proper educational approach, inspired by the epc model, in particular for universities. This article presents a systematization of the first steps towards the incorporation of an epc-based model, which over two years, start to produce results. It is expected that this report will contribute to educational innovation in universities.

This paper documents the relationship between regional financial development and firm growth in the Peruvian manufacturing sector. In order to control for mutual causality between credit availability and firm growth, industry differences in financial dependence on external funds are exploited. The 1994 and 2008 rounds of the National Economic Census are used, permitting analysis at the firm level as well as the activity level. Results suggest a significant and positive effect of financial deepening on surviving firms` growth. However, this effect is smaller for micro enterprises, suggesting that the cost of external funding decreases with financial development mainly for large firms. The conclusions remain unchanged when entering and exiting firms are included. The paper further finds that credit expansion have encouraged not only firm growth but also firm entry. The results are robust using an alternative measure of financial dependence.

This paper examines the link between financial deepening and formalization in Peru. Using data from the National Household Survey, Bloomberg and the Central Bank of Peru Central Bank, the Catão, Pagés, and Rosales (2009) model is implemented at activity level (2-digits ISIC), and the Rajan and Zingales (1998) approach of sectors' dependence on external funds is followed. The sample is divided into three firm size categories, and two formality measures are assessed. Using the accounting books specification, robust results are obtained, supporting a significant and positive effect of credit growth on formalization only for the self-employment firms category. Alternatively, using the pension enrollment specification, the channel is found positively significant only for firms with more than 10 workers; there is a smaller effect for firms with 2-10 workers. There is also a significant between effect, explaining the transition from small firms to larger firms due to greater credit availability.

The paper illustrates the pro-cyclical behavior of strikes in the Peruvian private sector with the number of strikes rising with economic growth and falling in periods when the economy is in recession. In the first scenario, workers can bargain for higher wage levels without fear of losing their jobs. In the second, the contrary happens. The paper finds that the frequency of strike activity depends on the changes in labor law. lndeed, the drastic changes introduced in the labor legislation in 1992 brought a reduction in the number of strikes in all phases of the economical cycle. An important result is the reduction in the elasticity of the number of strikes as a response to legal changes affecting the labor market. Technically, there is a variation in both coefficients of the estimated regression, intercept and parameter. lf labor reform had not been introduced in 1992, the number of strikes would have increased. The labor reform thus prevented the loss of about 15 million man-hours involving 300.000 workers.

The paper illustrates the pro-cyclical behavior of strikes in the Peruvian private sector with the number of strikes rising with economic growth and falling in periods when the economy is in recession. In the first scenario, workers can bargain for higher wage levels without fear of losing their jobs. In the second, the contrary happens. The paper finds that the frequency of strike activity depends on the changes in labor law. Indeed, the drastic changes introduced in the labor legislation in 1992 brought a reduction in the number of strikes in all phases of the economical cycle. An important result is the reduction in the elasticity of the number of strikes as a response to legal changes affecting the labor market. Technically, there is a variation in both coefficients of the estimated regression, intercept and parameter. If labor reform had not been introduced in 1992, the number of strikes would have increased. The labor reform thus prevented the loss of about 15 million man-hours involving 300.000 workers.

Spanish Abstract: Este ensayo presenta un panorama general acerca del estudio de la consciencia y de como podria conceptualizarse desde una perspectiva conductual. Se discuten las principales contribuciones del analisis experimental de la conducta y se comparan con las de los mas importantes enfoques teoricos sobre la consciencia. Los primeros apartados se centran en los aspectos teoricos y empiricos relacionados con el concepto de consciencia. Los siguientes apartados versan sobre una epistemologia conductual en medio de las perspectivas fenomenologica, cognoscitiva y biologica, asi como algunos desarrollos en el campo del analisis de la conducta (p. ej., conducta verbal, conducta gobernada por reglas y control del estimulo), que se constituyen en alternativas a los recuentos mentalistas. Se concluye que la consciencia, desde una perspectiva comportamental, debe entenderse como conducta consciente y no como un concepto para explicar el comportamiento en si.English Abstract: This paper presents an overview of the study of consciousness and how it may be viewed from a behavioral standpoint. Behavior analysis’ main contributions are discussed and compared with the other major approaches to consciousness. The first sections focus on the conceptual and empirical issues associated with the concept of consciousness. The next sections are devoted to discussing a behavioral epistemology in the midst of the phenomenal, cognitive, and biological perspectives, as well as some developments in the field of behavior analysis (e.g., verbal behavior, rule-governed behavior, stimulus control) that constitute an alternative to mentalistic explanations. It is concluded that consciousness, from a behavioral perspective, should be conceptualized as conscious behavior, and not as an explanatory term for behavior.

The relationship between conflict, economic development, and private economic activity (PEA) is still puzzling, despite the recent increase in studies investigating the microeconomic impacts of conflict. Violent conflict has a negative effect on the economic growth of low-income countries; entrepreneurship is a key determinant of economic development; there is evidence that in fragile and conflict affected states (FCS) employment is higher in areas with more conflict; and there is growing evidence that PEA is resilient, or even increases, during conflict.