Este libro analiza las razones de desempeño mediocre de países seleccionados de América Latina en la movilización de ingresos propios subnacionales y explora las opciones de política para aumentar estos ingresos como de la manera más eficiente y equitativa posible. Siete estudios de caso - Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, México, Perú y Venezuela - abarcan una amplia gama de características, incluyendo los países federales y unitarios, diferentes tamaños geográficos, niveles de desarrollo económico, y grados de descentralización de los ingresos. En este libro, los gobiernos subnacionales incluyen tanto los niveles intermedios y locales de gobierno, que se distinguen en los estudios de caso. En conjunto, los estudios de casos proporcionan una imagen razonablemente representativa de los desafíos que enfrentan en toda América Latina en la movilización de ingresos propios subnacionales de una manera que apoye el crecimiento equitativo.

Con el fin de entender el desarrollo más reciente del proceso de descentralización fiscal, así como el papel que las reglas fiscales juegan sobre su resultado, esta monografía analiza el desempeño de las finanzas subnacionales de la región, y propone una metodología orientada a mejorar la comprensión de los determinantes del desempeño fiscal subnacional y a evaluar su sostenibilidad fiscal en el corto y el largo plazo. Esta metodología se aplica luego a los casos específicos de Colombia y Perú. El propósito último es contribuir a la discusión y al entendimiento de la descentralización fiscal en América Latina.

The paper studies the impact of financial aid on long-term educational attainment and labor market outcomes in Colombia. In 2014, the government launched a large-scale and generous student loan program called "Ser Pilo Paga." It offered full tuition coverage to students admitted to one of 33 government-certified high-quality universities known for superior test scores, graduation rates, and per-student spending. Notably, completing a bachelor's degree converted the loan into a grant. To qualify, students must score in the top 10% of the standardized high school exit exam and have below-median household wealth. Using RD and DD methodologies, we use nationwide administrative microdata linking all high school test takers, postsecondary attendees, and formal workers to estimate impacts up to eight years after high school. Financial aid improves college enrollment, quality, and attainment, particularly in STEM-related fields. The earnings gains are substantial, growing, and driven partly by high-quality universities improving students' skills, as demonstrated by their performance on Colombia's college graduation exam. A welfare analysis using the MVPF yields over $4.8 per dollar of government spending. Lastly, the program narrowed socioeconomic gaps in college attainment, skill development, and earnings among academically similar students without adversely affecting non-recipients, thereby promoting equity and efficiency.

Over two centuries, Colombia transferred vast quantities of land, equivalent to the entire UK landmass, mainly to landless peasants. And yet Colombia retains one of the highest concentrations of land ownership in the world. Why? We show that land reform's effects are highly bimodal. Most of Colombia's 1100+ municipalities lack a landed elite. Here, rural properties grew larger, land inequality and dispersion fell, and development indicators improved. But in municipalities where such an elite does exist and landholding is highly concentrated, such positive effects are counteracted, resulting in smaller rural properties, greater dispersion, and lower levels of development. We show that all of these effects - positive and negative - flow through local policy, which elites distort to benefit themselves. Our evidence implies that land reform's second-order effects, on the distribution of local power, are more important than its first-order effects on the distribution of land.