José María Cabrera

Justification of Physical and Verbal Aggression in Uruguayan Children and Adolescents

This study examines the justification of aggressive acts in Uruguayan children and adolescents in different social situations as a function of age and sex, as well as the effect of differences in socioeconomic status on justification. A total of 663 participants aged 8 to 21 completed a self-report questionnaire designed to measure the justification of eight aggressive acts in six social situations. The results showed that adolescents justified both physical and verbal aggression more easily than children in a wide range of situations. As expected, boys justified physical aggression more easily than girls; however, no differences appeared in regard to verbal aggression. Unexpectedly, no statistically important differences were found in the justification of aggression related to the socioeconomic status of the participants. These findings are discussed in terms of previous studies from other cultures, in the hope of contributing to a deeper knowledge of the complex phenomenon of aggression.

Asignación de derechos de usufructo en mercados informales: Evidencia desde las calles

En el presente estudio, observamos los resultados de una politica de asignacion masiva de derechos de usufructo a los cuidacoches, personas que desempenan –en la informalidad– tareas de vigilancia de vehiculos aparcados en las calles. Sorprendentemente, a pesar del costo reducido y los considerables beneficios de adquirir legalmente el derecho de usufructo sobre la cuadra, la mitad de los potenciales beneficiarios han rechazado la suscripcion a ese programa. Con el fin de entender este mercado y la movilidad entre el sector formal e informal, construimos una base de datos inedita que contiene informacion economica y sociodemografica de los cuidacoches. Dentro de los resultados encontrados, se destacan cuatro observaciones: la heterogeneidad en las razones de entrada al sector informal de cuidacoches; la proteccion del derecho de usufructo sobre la cuadra como el beneficio principal percibido de pasarse al sector formal; la aspiracion a cambiar de trabajo de la inmensa mayoria; la capacidad de ahorro reducida. El estudio concluye con lineas para la elaboracion de una estrategia de identificacion causal que permita medir el posible impacto de la forma-3 lizacion como cuidacoches (i.e., obtener el permiso de la autoridad departamental) en la movilidad ascendente en el mercado laboral.

Beware: a woman is looking after your car

There has been little research on the association between behaviors, gender and usufruct rights in informal settings. Using a unique database from an underprivileged population, who informally look after cars parked in the streets, we analyze the behaviors women and men exhibit when they interact with other people in the street. We find that men tend to commit acts of physical aggression more than women when they have to defend their usufruct right. But, surprisingly, though theory and applied literature suggests the contrary, we found that women are more likely to react aggressively than men, when drivers underpay in this voluntary payment market. Building a Type Index of cuidacoches (indicator of attitude and external appearance), we explore association between aggressive behavior and this Type Index.

The effect of one-on-one assistance on the compliance with labor regulation. A field experiment in extremely vulnerable settings.

This is the first paper to analyze the effects of intense personal assistance on the compliance with labor regulation, within a population of deeply disadvantaged informal workers, using a field experiment. We randomly assign one-on-one assistance to these workers, and, within this treatment group, we randomly assign money to cover the cost of fulfilling the legal requirements to get a permit to work on the streets. One month after the intervention, we find that a worker who receives one-on-one assistance is three times more likely to comply with the legal documentation required by the government than a worker in the control group. We also find that a worker who receives both one-on-one assistance and cost coverage is four times more likely to comply with the legal requirements. The findings of this study shed light on strategies to help highly vulnerable workers to comply with labor regulations.