Buenos Aires Interdisciplinary Political Economy Institute

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all Sub-Saharan economies through a multitude of impact channels. The study determines the medium-term macroeconomic outcomes of the pandemic on the Kenyan economy and links the results with a detailed food security and nutrition microsimulation module. It thus evaluates the effectiveness of the adopted government measures to reduce the negative outcomes on food security and to enable economic recovery at aggregate, sectoral and household levels. Through income support measures, the food sector and food demand partially recover. However, 1.3% of households still fall below calorie intake thresholds, many of which are in rural areas. Results also indicate that the state of food security in Kenya remains vulnerable to the evolution of the pandemic abroad.

Abstract Since the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, governments have been implementing containment measures aimed at mitigating the spread of the virus, including restrictions to human mobility. The ability to adapt to the pandemic and respond to containment measures can be bound by socioeconomic conditions, which are heterogeneous in large urban areas of low-income and middle-income countries. In this paper, we analyse mobility changes following the implementation of containment measures in Bogotá, Colombia. We characterise the mobility network before and during the pandemic and analyse its evolution and changes between January and July 2020. We observe a general reduction in mobility trends, but the overall connectivity between different areas of the city remains after the lockdown, reflecting the resilience of the mobility network. Then, we estimate a gravity model to assess the effect of socioeconomic conditions on mobility flows. We find that the responses to lockdown policies depend on the socioeconomic conditions of the population. Before the pandemic, the population with better socioeconomic conditions shows higher mobility flows. Since the lockdown, mobility presents a general decrease, but the population with worse socioeconomic conditions shows lower reductions in mobility flows. We conclude by deriving policy implications.

This paper revises and updates the Campi-Nuvolari index of intellectual property protection for plant varieties. The new index provides yearly scores for the period 1961–2018 for 104 countries, which have legislation on plant variety protection in force. The new evidence highlights the ongoing shift towards more similar and stronger systems of intellectual property rights (IPRs) worldwide, regardless of individual characteristics of countries. The signing of the TRIPS and trade agreements with TRIPS-Plus provisions are major drivers of this process. In addition, certain characteristics of countries such as the regulatory environment, the level of human capital, the importance of agricultural production, and openness to trade, are also significant determinants of the evolution of IPRs systems. We conclude by discussing other possible applications of the data.

Abstract Using a complex-network perspective, this paper empirically explores the determinants of the process through which countries, given their capabilities, specialize in agricultural production. Using production data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the period 1993–2013, we characterize the agricultural production space as a time-sequence of bipartite networks, connecting countries to the agricultural products they produce. We then project this representation in the agricultural production spaces, linking countries or products according to their similarity in production profiles, and we identify properties and determinants underlying their evolution. We find that, despite the unprecedented pressure that food systems have been undergoing in recent years, the agricultural production space is a very dense network displaying well-defined and stable communities of countries and products. We also show that the observed country community structures are not only shaped by environmental conditions, but also by economic, socio-political, and technological factors. We conclude by discussing the implications of such findings on our understanding of the complex relationships involving production capabilities and specialization patterns.

Food security represents a key challenge in most Sub-Saharan African countries and in Kenya in particular where still a relevant share of the population lives below a minimum dietary energy consumption. Kenya addresses this concern with a noteworthy policy mix, aiming at giving to the agricultural sector a leading task in improving food security. This paper evaluates the impacts on food security of expanding fertilizer capacities in Kenya, combined with a set of additional policy changes targeting fertilizer use. In a top-down analysis, a specific Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model is linked with a microsimulation approach. Scenarios present overall positive effects on key food security aggregates. The same is true for welfare. Nevertheless, the heterogeneity of households across and within regions suggests that improving input productivity through better market access and service extension are critical to reducing possible discrepancies across farmers, households and regions. The paper concludes on the need for a sound policy mix since increasing fertilizer production alone is not enough to enhance food security evenly. Among accompanying measures, intensifying extension services are essential especially for smallholders in their acquisition of better knowledge on the use of agricultural inputs.

International trade is one of the classic areas of study in economics. Its empirical analysis is a complex problem, given the amount of products, countries and years. Nowadays, given the availability of data, the tools used for the analysis can be complemented and enriched with new methodologies and techniques that go beyond the traditional approach. This new possibility opens a research gap, as new, data-driven, ways of understanding international trade, can help our understanding of the underlying phenomena. The present paper shows the application of the Latent Dirichlet allocation model, a well known technique in the area of Natural Language Processing, to search for latent dimensions in the product space of international trade, and their distribution across countries over time. We apply this technique to a dataset of countries' exports of goods from 1962 to 2016. The results show that this technique can encode the main specialisation patterns of international trade. On the country-level analysis, the findings show the changes in the specialisation patterns of countries over time. As traditional international trade analysis demands expert knowledge on a multiplicity of indicators, the possibility of encoding multiple known phenomena under a unique indicator is a powerful complement for traditional tools, as it allows top-down data-driven studies.

Abstract This article explores how the strengthening of intellectual property (IP) protection affects agricultural productivity in a panel of countries for the period 1961–2011. Using an index of IP protection for plant varieties, we study the effect of stronger intellectual property rights (IPRs) on cereal yields and two different types of cereals: Open‐pollinated (wheat) and hybrid (maize). We found that the strengthening of IPRs has a positive effect on productivity of cereals for high‐ and low‐income countries. However, we found no significant effect for middle‐income countries. In addition, we found that becoming a member of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights negatively affects cereal yields. Finally, we found evidence of the existence of nonlinearities in the effect of IPRs on agricultural yields, which confirms a threshold effect of IPRs that also varies for countries of different income level. The findings support the hypothesis that country specificities are important in determining the effect of IPRs and imply that there is no unique system that fits all.

In this paper, we analyze whether the recent global process of strengthening and harmonization of intellectual property rights (IPRs) affects decisions of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We investigate if IPRs have a differential effect across sectors of different technology content and for countries of different development level. Also, we study how imitation abilities of target countries interact with the tightening of IPRs. Using data for the post-TRIPS period (1995–2010), we estimate an extended gravity model to study the bilateral number of M&As, including a measure of the strength of IPRs systems on target countries and a set of control variables usually considered as determinants of M&As. The estimation results verify the gravity structure for M&As and show that IPRs –and enforcement– influence decisions of cross-border M&As in all sectors regardless of their technological content. However, IPRs are more important in countries with high imitation abilities and in sectors of high-technology content. Furthermore, a strengthening of IPRs leads to a larger increase of M&As in developing countries than in developed countries. These results call the attention on the possible implications for least developed economies and challenge the adequacy of a globally harmonized IPRs systems.

Do creative industries have positive spillovers for the local economy in middle-income countries? While in high-income countries several studies have shown that creative industries are highly innovative and productive, positively impacting the local economy, the evidence is scarce for middle-income countries. Using employment data, we studied the agglomeration patterns of creative industries in Colombia between 2008 and 2017. We found a positive relationship between creative industries’ agglomeration and employment in non-creative services industries. However, using a shift–share instrumental variable approach, we found no significant causality of an increase in creative industries’ employment on employment growth in other industries.

The sustainable development goal #2 aims at ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030. Given the numbers of food insecure and malnourished people on the rise, the heterogeneity of nutritional statuses and needs, and the even worse context of COVID-19 pandemic, this has become an urgent challenge for food-related policies. This paper provides a comprehensive microsimulation approach to evaluate economic policies on food access, sufficiency (energy) and adequacy (protein, fat, carbohydrate) at household level. The improvement in market access conditions in Kenya is simulated as an application case of this method, using original insights from households' surveys and biochemical and nutritional information by food item. Simulation's results suggest that improving market access increases food purchasing power overall the country, with a pro-poor impact in rural areas. The daily energy consumption per capita and macronutrients intakes per capita increase at the national level, being the households with at least one stunted child under 5 years old, and poor households living areas outside Mombasa and Nairobi, those which benefit the most. The developed method and its Kenya's application contribute to the discussion on how to evaluate nutrition-sensitive policies, and how to cover most households suffering food insecurity and nutrition deficiencies in any given country. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12571-021-01215-2.

We aim to determine the average efficiency levels of the Argentine Labor Courts and their individual behavior with respect to the average. We also seek to establish the determinants of the relative efficiency levels of those courts. In so doing, we estimate a Data Envelopment Analysis efficiency frontier, and then analyze the efficiency score drivers and the Judiciary career incentives. Our sample comprises 80 courts during the period 2006–2012. Our findings show high levels of efficiency on average. Nonetheless, there is 9–12 percent room for improvement in the output with the same inputs on average, whether considering variable or constant returns, respectively. The efficiency results take caseloads and backlog into account. Given that no measure of capital input is used, this is a short-run analysis. The analysis of the efficiency scores with respect to its determinants shows that more variables, outside our sample, can help explain the variance in the scores.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the factors that act as innovation obstacles in precision agriculture (PA) technologies in Argentina, one of the world leading exporters of cereals and oilseeds. The focus of this study is on the supply side, i.e. the factors that are perceived by PA firms as obstacles for the expansion of their market. Design/methodology/approach Based on a survey to 67 firms that develop PA technologies in Argentina, this study examines the impact of different types of obstacles on firms’ growth and innovation activities. This analysis is complemented with the results that emerge from a series of interviews with different stakeholders (such as firms’ managers, policymakers and experts). Findings In this study, it was determined that market and cost factors negatively affect firms’ growth, while institutional obstacles reduce the amount of innovation efforts. In turn, knowledge barriers positively impact on the relevance firms assigned to R&D activities. This study helps identify different strategies that firms have put in place to overcome the barriers they face. Finally, policy implications of the results are discussed. Originality/value PA technologies may contribute to greening agricultural production and offer an opportunity for the emergence of domestic suppliers of innovative equipment and services based on the use of data science, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things. To the bets of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that explores the obstacles that prevent growth and impact on innovation activities of PA firms. The insights from this study are valuable for both researchers and policymakers aiming to foster emergence of high-tech clusters in developing countries.

Latin America is experiencing an unprecedented crisis in its labor markets because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is reflected in a drastic contraction of employment, hours worked, and income. The outlook is even more worrying when considering that these impacts have been unequal and that the path of recovery, which is slowly emerging in the region, could be accompanied by a widening of labor and income gaps across different population groups. This crisis, therefore, would be exacerbating the high levels of inequality that existed before the outbreak of the pandemic, even though countries have made significant efforts to rapidly implement a set of policies aimed at sustaining employment and incomes. It is crucial to strengthen the labor institutional framework, particularly with regard to active labor market policies. Likewise, occupational health and safety have become a relevant element for any recovery strategies with safe and healthy employment.

En este artículo analizamos cómo se combinan los tiempos de vida de las mujeres dedicados al trabajo remunerado y no remunerado en México. Asimismo, entendiendo que los cursos de vida son resultado del entrecruzamiento del tiempo histórico y el biográfico, nos interesa plantear las diferencias entre diversas generaciones, así como destacar las desigualdades por origen social y región de socialización. En efecto, siguiendo la perspectiva de la economía feminista, buscamos visibilizar el trabajo doméstico y de cuidados no remunerado que realizan las mujeres como pieza fundamental para el análisis económico y el sostenimiento de la vida. Con este propósito, aplicamos un análisis de secuencias multidimensionales a un conjunto de mujeres entrevistadas en la Encuesta Demográfica Retrospectiva (EDER) 2017, esto para reconstruir una tipología de trayectorias de trabajo que entrelazan las dimensiones remunerada y no remunerada.

In this paper, we characterize the geography of Colombian exporting clusters and analyze how the COVID-19 crisis has affected Colombian exporters. We contribute to the industrial clusters literature by defining exporting clusters with bipartite network analysis and community detection tools. The methodology allows us to empirically detect product clusters, which are compared with an alternative definition of industrial clusters, and to consider the centrality of firms within clusters. Then, we analyze the firms trade margins during the COVID-19 crisis to evaluate whether belonging to an exporting cluster can be a source of resilience for firms. We find that clusters do not automatically lead to higher resilience and that there are differences in how firms react to a crisis within clusters. Identifying the relevant firms characteristics can guide policymakers to activate the mechanisms that generate resilience.

Los derechos de propiedad intelectual (DPI) y las patentes como mecanismos de impulso a la innovación han cobrado especial relevancia y debate en el contexto colombiano. Este artículo tiene como objetivo explorar el comportamiento de las patentes de residentes y no residentes para el período 1980-2010. En particular analiza cómo este comportamiento podría estar relacionado con el fortalecimiento de la legislación de propiedad intelectual y con el proceso de apertura económica y desindustrialización. La evidencia sugiere que el fortalecimiento de los DPI no ha incentivado la innovación local, sino que sólo ha impulsado las solicitudes de patentes de no residentes en unos pocos campos tecnológicos y por parte de unas pocas empresas multinacionales. En cambio, las empresas nacionales recurren al uso de mecanismos alternativos de propiedad intelectual como los acuerdos de confidencialidad y el secreto industrial para gestionar su conocimiento y apropiarse de las rentas asociadas a sus esfuerzos en actividades de innovación que se caracterizan por formas de innovar basadas en la imitación y adaptación de tecnologías extranjeras. Esta evidencia permite discutir la política de fortalecimiento de los DPI y el estímulo de las patentes de invención como mecanismo para incentivar la innovación en Colombia.

This paper presents a regional case study using a Bi-Regional Input-Output (BRIO) matrix of Buenos Aires City (BAC) and the Rest of Argentina (ROA), constructed from the Argentinian Input-Output matrix. A hybrid approach was applied to obtain the BRIO matrix, which combines pure non-survey methods with matrix-balancing methods like RAS or Cross-Entropy. Once the BRIO matrix was obtained, our study has focused on analyzing the BAC regional structure and the interconnections between regions. We have also estimated the regional and national carbon footprint for the BAC and Argentina, respectively. Results show that service and industry sectors play an important role in the economy of BAC and some of them have strong interregional spillover effects over the rest of the country. In addition, the results also show that sectors on BAC with the highest regional multipliers are also the ones with highest emissions.

Argentina has entered the exclusive club of countries capable of designing and manufacturing its\nown observation and telecommunication satellites, and is close to being able to build its own\nlaunch vehicles. This paper explores the history and perspectives of the “space economy” in\nArgentina, in large measure a “daughter” of previous development in its nuclear industry, within\na context in which several new processes seem to open new technological and market horizons\nfor the space industry at a global scale. Public policy has been efficient with regard to the\ndevelopment of technologically successful missions. Here we are interested in understanding the\ndeterminant factors of these successes, as well as evaluating to what degree they have helped\ncreate the type of externalities that are supposed to be produced by the space industry and to\ndevelop an associated market of goods and services. Finally, we suggest an agenda of policies\nand research based on these subjects.

In many countries, statistics from household consumption and expenditure surveys are increasingly being used to inform policies and programs. In household surveys, foods are typically reported as they are acquired (the majority are raw). However, the micronutrient content of some foods diminishes during processing and cooking. Using food consumption data from the 2015/16 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey, this study analyzes whether mean consumption estimates of dietary energy, macronutrients, and eight micronutrients are equivalent (applying a two-side paired equivalence test) when matching foods: (1) considering the nutrient content in raw foods (as reported in the survey), and (2) considering the nutrient content in foods as typically consumed, thus applying yield and retention factors as needed. Both food matching approaches rendered statistically equivalent mean consumption estimates, at national and county levels, for dietary energy, protein, fats, available carbohydrates, total fiber, calcium and zinc. Non-equivalent means were found for iron, vitamins A, B1, B2, B12, and C. The higher differences between the means were, in percentage change, for vitamin C (47 %), B1 (34 %) and B12 (26 %).

Las investigaciones sobre la evolución de los salarios en Argentina, bajo el liderazgo político de Juan Domingo Perón (a partir de 1943 y hasta 1955), coinciden en señalar un incremento en sus niveles reales, en particular y de manera extraordinaria entre 1946 y 1949. La imagen de una mejora en las remuneraciones y su poder adquisitivo se apoya fundamentalmente en la evolución de los salarios industriales y el índice de precios al consumidor de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. En este trabajo se profundiza el análisis de la trayectoria de las retribuciones sumando otros sectores (rural, servicio doméstico, construcción y empleados estatales). Asimismo, se evalúa si el índice de precios tradicionalmente utilizado puede considerarse como representativo del movimiento general de precios durante el periodo analizado. Entre las conclusiones, puede mencionarse que la evolución de los salarios reales muestra una trayectoria menos favorable a la señalada por la historiografía. Los operarios manufactureros fueron un grupo privilegiado, situación que no puede extenderse automáticamente al resto de los trabajadores. Por otra parte, los fuertes aumentos logrados a principios de la presidencia de Perón se diluirían con el tiempo; para 1955 los salarios reales habían regresado a niveles similares a los de 1939.