Andrés Álvarez

Job vacancies in Colombia: 1976–2012

Based on the counting of Help-wanted advertisements in print newspapers, we build national vacancy indexes and vacancy rates for Colombia for the period 1976–2012. The result is the first dataset capturing the evolution of vacancies for Colombia and the first one covering such a long period for any developing country. We publish the series in the Additional file 1; an online version is also available at http://economia.uniandes.edu.co/vacantescolombia.We explain how we built the series and tackle the most important questions concerning some issues about the representativeness of the resulting vacancy rate. These series will allow tackling many questions related to the functioning of the labor markets in emerging economies, where such datasets were not available.We relate the vacancy rate with the Colombian business cycle and estimate a Beveridge curve. We find that the vacancy rate is procyclical while the latter relationship presents the expected downward slope between vacancies and unemployment with a structural change—an outward shift—around 1986.JEL codesE24, E32, J63, J64

'Out of Sight, Out of Mind': Modern Economics, Social Interactions, and Smith’s Sympathy

After having reviewed some of the recent advances in Economics trying to incorporate new elements in our understanding of human interactions, we aim at contributing to this line of research using Adam Smith´s system of sympathy. The features Smithattributes to the intersubjective identification mechanism of sympathy lead not only to conceive the construction of a community but also the possibility of exclusion of some of its members. The asymmetry of sympathy allows explaining emulationof those seen as more fortunate as well as the exclusion of those perceived as miserable. Through a formal representation we try to illustrate the phenomena of inclusion and exclusion present in intersubjetive relations and the construction of communities.Keywords: Adam Smith, sympathy, emulation, exclusion.JEL Codes: B12, B31, D03.

Léon Walras on Industrial Regulation: Railroads as Economic and Moral State Monopolies

Modern microeconomics foundations of industrial regulation policies were developed during the second half of the 19th century. One of the main theoretical and applied debates which is still an issue today concerns natural monopolies. Railroads were at the center of these debates, because of their technological and industrial significance. The main question raised at this time was the participation of the State on the provision and regulation of this industry. In France, between the 1840s and 1880s the evolution of regulatory legislation was deeply related with the academic contributions, in particular coming from liberal economists belonging to the Société d’Économie Politique. The dominant views among these French economists advocated for a Private provision and incentives to create competition within this industry and some defenses of a private-public partnership through concessions. Contrary to this point of view L. Walras was in favor of a purely public provision of railroads and transportation. Walras’s point of view was developed with twofold argument of theoretical and a moral nature. This paper analyses the logic and coherence of these arguments and concludes that they are constructed upon an original vision on human nature and economic dynamics that contrast with the traditional views on Walras’s pure political economy. The case made in favor of the State intervention on Railroads industry considers altruistic motivations of human action, public servants surrounded by democratic institutions as free press and the role of education. On the economic side we found an interesting dynamic argument based on the importance of the network nature of railroads, the possibility for the State to improve the general economic development through the impetus given to railroads and the possibility to take advantage of the monopoly rents of some railways in order to finance new parts of the network. These ideas are mainly establish trough a dynamic conception of the development of the railroads network and its consequences on economic growth.

Intercambio: la odisea de William Paul McGreevey en Colombia

La coleccion de Historia Economica de Colombia de la Universidad de los Andes publico este ano un libro que en su momento fue un hito en la disciplina, tanto por sus aportes como por la controversia que suscito entre los historiadores economicos colombianos. El libro Historia economica de Colombia: 1845-1930 de W. P. McGreevey se convirtio en un momento fundacional porque permitio un debate teorico, meteorologico e incluso politico.

50 Years of Job Vacancies in Colombia: The Case of Bogota, 1960-2010

This paper presents a novel monthly dataset of job vacancies in Bogota between 1960 and 2010. The dataset was constructed by counting the number of help-wanted announcements published in the most important newspaper with national circulation-namely, El Tiempo. We describe the methodology used to construct the database, discuss some possible problems associated with it, and propose ways to solve them. The paper also presents an estimation of the job vacancy rate. We depict a Beveridge curve and use the vacancy rate to forecast unemployment. This first look at the series yields sensible results, while leaving a myriad of open questions for future research.

Comparative Views on L. Walras and A. Cournot on the Regulation of Paper Money: Rules Vs. Discretion at the End of the XIXth Century

This paper presents Léon Walras and Augustin Cournot views on monetary regulation. Important differences can be found in their views about the convenience of the issuing of paper money and fiat money in general. Whereas Walras is against bank notes, even if coming from a central bank, Cournot has a moderate position. He accepts the need for bank notes even without a strict adjustment to metal reserves. It can be ascertained that Cournot believes discretionary monetary regulation is convenient and acceptable, while Walras believes the only acceptable monetary system is one based exclusively on the stability of the value of money under a monetary rule following the strict equivalence between metallic reserves and a pure medium of exchange form of money. This paper shows Cournot’s ability to understand more clearly than Walras the evolution of the monetary system of his days. Whereas Walras is trying to guarantee the coherence of his pure theory with his applied theory, and he is then unable to accept the evolution toward a monetary system based on fiat money and he proposes very rigid and complex system of quasi-bimetallic circulation where banks are simple mediators between entrepreneurs and savings.

Early Neoclassical views on Monopoly: the Cournotian heritage

In spite of Cournot´s unquestionable influence on contemporary theory, his legacy regarding economic policy and, especially, the regulation of monopolies is mostly unknown. In this paper I explore the several forms of Cournot´s analysis of monopolistic market structures, starting with his theoretical model up to his normative and empirical examination. With the help of little known texts of the author I aim at showing the versatility of his ideas and the richness of his analytical legacy. Against this setup I retrace his influence over three of the most important economists of the end of the XIXth century: Walras, Edgeworth and Marshall. I show that there exists a theoretical representation that constitutes the indisputable reference regarding monopolies that is enriched with normative analyses and leads each one of them to their own specific proposals in regulation and economic policy. RESUMENA pesar de la influencia teorica indiscutible de Cournot sobre la teoria contemporanea, su legado en relacion con las politicas economicas y en particular con la regulacion de los monopolios es mucho menor. Este trabajo explora las formas diversas que tiene el analisis de las estructuras monopolicas de mercado propuesto por Cournot, partiendo de su modelo teorico hasta su analisis mas normativo y empirico. Utilizando textos poco conocidos del autor se pone en evidencia la versatilidad de sus ideas y la riqueza de su legado analitico. A partir de estos elementos se intenta reconstruir la influencia que sus ideas tuvieron sobre tres de los principales autores de finales del siglo XIX: Walras, Edgeworth y Marshall. Se muestra que existe una representacion teorica que constituye la referencia indiscutible sobre los monopolios pero que se enriquece en los analisis normativos y resulta en propuestas de regulacion y de politica economica diversas que cada uno de estos autores desarrolla y se apropia de manera diferente.