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Social Assistance and Informality: Examining the Link in Colombia

Author

Listed:
  • Fabiola Saavedra-Caballero
  • Mónica Ospina Londoño
Abstract
This paper presents evidence on the labor market effects of social assistance programs in the short and medium run. We evaluate the impact of a Conditional Cash Transfer —cct— program “Familias en Accion” on informality at the individual level in Colombia. We include three different perspectives on informality that capture different aspects of the problem. We argue that, even though it is not a desirable result, being a beneficiary of social programs may create perverse incentives towards informality. We used survey data from the “Familias en Accion” program to identify whether the program had any effect on workers’ propensity to participate in the informal labor market in Colombia, both one and four years after the program’s implementation. To overcome the problem of unobserved time-invariant differences, our empirical strategy includes a combination of matching algorithms and difference-in-differences methodology. Our results show that worker’s informality condition may be affected by receiving cct income.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabiola Saavedra-Caballero & Mónica Ospina Londoño, 2018. "Social Assistance and Informality: Examining the Link in Colombia," Revista de Economía del Rosario, Universidad del Rosario, vol. 21(1), pages 81-120, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000151:017966
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    File URL: https://revistas.urosario.edu.co/index.php/economia/article/view/6801
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Baez, Javier E. & Camacho, Adriana, 2011. "Assessing the Long-term Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers on Human Capital: Evidence from Colombia," IZA Discussion Papers 5751, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    Cited by:

    1. Xavier Jara & David Rodríguez, 2019. "Financial disincentives to formal work: Evidence from Ecuador and Colombia," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-14, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    informality; conditional cash transfers; evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E26 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Informal Economy; Underground Economy
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate

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