In an effort to shed some light on the effectiveness of government-owned development Banks, the Institutions for Development Sector (IDS) at the IDB financed two studies on the impact of Bancoldex, the second-tier public development Bank in Colombia. The two studies, which I co-authored with Marcela Meléndez and Marcela Eslava, evaluate the effect of Bancoldex on both firm … [Read more...] about Second-tier development banks: some evidence from Colombia
What does and doesn't work in development
Is religion good for health and education?
It’s Easter, or as the Uruguayans call it, “tourism week”. So let us talk about religion and development. The immense majority of the world’s population is religious and believes that religion is important. According to the World Values Survey, 70% of the world’s population considers them-selves a “religious person”. In almost all of the developing countries that participate … [Read more...] about Is religion good for health and education?
And the jury is back: One Laptop per Child is not enough
In 2008 a couple of economists from the IDB visited the Peruvian Ministry of Education to meet with the Education Technology Director. Our purpose was to evaluate an old IDB-project that provided computer labs to middle schools. We were welcomed and were provided with all the support to carry out that evaluation. We were told that the Government's real interest was in … [Read more...] about And the jury is back: One Laptop per Child is not enough
The impact of public credit programs on Brazilian firms
This is a joint blog with Cesar Rodriguez. The need for public intervention to expand access to credit for firms in emerging markets has been debated for long by policy makers and scholars. Even more controversial has been the role that government-owned Banks should play in these economies. We just published a paper in the SPD working paper series, in which we try to … [Read more...] about The impact of public credit programs on Brazilian firms
Cement is good
I just finished reading a fascinating paper on the social impact of urban street paving in Mexico by Marco Gonzalez and Climent Quintana. A previous version of this paper had been presented at the Impact conference in Cuernavaca back in June 2011. It turns out that street paving – mostly with cement - has a significant impact on property values (+43%), land values (+54%) … [Read more...] about Cement is good