Andres A. Gallo

The Impact of Export Promotion Institutions on Trade: Is It the Intensive or the Extensive Margin?

This article provides evidence on the channels through which export promotion institutions affect bilateral trade using a sample of Latin American and Caribbean countries over the period 1995 to 2004. We find that these institutions have a larger impact on the extensive margin of exports, especially in the case of trade promotion organizations.

The Use of the ETS Major Field Test for Assurance of Business Content Learning: Assurance of Waste?.

Exit exams have become the currency of choice for both institutions and accrediting bodies seeking to demonstrate student learning. Most researchers have ignored the opportunity costs of these tests and the fundamental question of whether the exams add value to the assessment process already in place on college campuses (course testing and GPA). A statistical model that uses a students GPA, SAT score, and demographic characteristics predicts the students Major Field Test (ETSB) score quite well. Furthermore, the opportunity cost of administering these exams at the institution in question exceeds

The Political Economy of Bank Reform in Argentina Under Convertibility

25,000 annually. The authors argue that the cost-benefit tradeoff of the ETSB exit exam is unfavorable.

Voter Bias in the Associated Press College Football Poll

We provide an analytical narrative of the political and economic causes and consequences of institutional changes in the Argentine banking system. We devote most of our attention to the privatization of the provincial banks. Our story differs from the prevailing wisdom in its stress on the key roles played by convertibility and an independent Central Bank rather than the Fondo Fiduciario (Fiduciary Fund).

Globalización y convergencia de precios en el Imperio Español 1660–1810

The authors investigate multiple biases in the individual weekly ballots submitted by the 65 voters in the Associated Press college football poll in 2007. Using censored Tobit modeling, they find evidence of bias toward teams (a) from the voter’s state, (b) in conferences represented in the voter’s state, (c) in selected Bowl Championship Series conferences, and (d) that played in televised games, particularly on relatively prominent networks. They also find evidence of inordinate bias toward simplistic performance measures—number of losses, and losing in the preceding week—even after controlling for performance using mean team strength derived from 16 so-called computer rankings.

Trade Policy and Protectionism in Argentina

In this paper trade to the interior of the Spanish Empire is analysed. Commodity prices during a 140 years span are described and the price convergence process between Spain and Peru, and between Peru and Chile is investigated. The main finding is that despite technological, trade and institutional improvements, price convergence between Spain and Peru was delayed by wars during the eighteenth century. Conversely, price convergence is found between Peru and Chile. The absence of wars in the Pacific Ocean can explain the difference in price behavior.

Political Institutions and Economic Policy: Rural Renter Legislation in Argentina, 1912-1942

Protectionism can take many different forms. In some cases, strong export performance can mislead observers assessing the trade policy of a country. Such is the case with regard to Argentina, where the strong showing in exports is not the result of a strategy of export‐led economic growth, but rather reflects a complex strategy of government intervention and isolation from international markets in general.

With or without the IMF? Economic Recovery after Devaluation in Argentina and Brazil

The importance of political institutions in the economic performance of developing countries is generally overlooked. Argentine economic development in the 19th and early 20th centuries relied on the production of rural exports. The production structure in agriculture was supported by the widespread use of tenancy contracts. This paper uses spatial analysis and logistic regression to study the role of Congress in shaping tenancy legislation for the period 1912 to 1943. The finding is that legislative reform was a product of how political institutions worked in Congress providing veto power to Conservatives over the proposals of Radicals. Electoral fraud in the 1930s stopped tenancy legislation and gave rise to revolutionary changes in the 1940s.

An Alternative Estimation Technique for Determining Discount Rates and Earnings Growth Rates in Wrongful Death and Personal Injury Cases

The recent experience of the IMF in Latin America is far from promising. The failure of Argentina’s economic program in 2001 represented a hard blow to the effectiveness of the IMF’s (2003) rescue policies and diminished the institution’s support among both developing and developed countries. In many instances, Dr. Baer analyzed the relationship of Brazil and other Latin American countries with the IMF and other international institutions (Amann and Baer, 2002; 2005; Baer, 2001; Baer et al., 2002). One of his main concerns is how countries deal with the IMF’s proposed policies and what degree of freedom governments have. This paper is an attempt to evaluate how much a country needs the IMF. The recent experience of devaluation and recovery of Argentina and Brazil offers an interesting case for analysis. After devaluation in 1999, Brazil pursued an economic policy closely monitored and supported by the IMF, while Argentina, after the crisis of 2001–2002, pursued a more independent policy that, in many cases, went against the IMF’s recommendations. This chapter compares the performance of both countries and the benefits of whether or not to pursue an IMF recipe for getting out of a balance of payments crisis. As it shows, following the IMF recipe is not a guarantee for either success or failure.

The Achievements and Failures of Argentina's Neo-Liberal Economic Policies

Regardless of the time period studied since the 1970s ended, without adjustments for structural factors, both real and nominal interest rates across the spectrum of maturities exhibit non-stationary processes with a unit root. Consequently, simply employing past means of either real or nominal yields losses a degree of credibility. Focusing on the period of the “Great Moderation,” employing structural break analysis can remove the non-stationarity so that forensic economists can chose not to use more complex ARIMA models, stochastic properties of interest rates, or estimating methods more complex than these. Rather, following the analysis in this paper, forensic economists can employ one of a small number of discount rates from a not too distant past time period that reflect systematic variations more likely to be consistent with predictable future interest rates.