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Papers by Andres Zambrano

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2022

Policy Research Working Papers, 2021

This paper examines the effect of conflict on agricultural production of small-farmers. We use a ... more This paper examines the effect of conflict on agricultural production of small-farmers. We use a unique household survey applied to 4.800 households in four micro-regions of Colombia. The survey collects detailed information on households' economic conditions, incidence of violent shocks, and presence of non-state armed actors. We separate the effects of conflict on direct impacts, measured through conflict-induced shocks, and indirect impacts, measured through years of presence of nonstate armed actors. The results show the association between lower agricultural production and conflict transmits through different channels. In regions with an intense conflict, yearly agricultural revenues per hectare and investments are lower, and households concentrate production on seasonal crops and pasture. Presence of non-state armed actors is associated with an immediate increase in production costs, lower access to formal financial institutions, and lower investments. The results suggest that households are affected by indirect and direct impacts that may induce sub-optimal agricultural decisions. Although traditional reconstruction efforts are crucial, post-conflict policies should also aim to reduce uncertainty and improve the rule of law to foster increases in production.

Insurance-based schemes for the financing of health care systems in developing countries face the... more Insurance-based schemes for the financing of health care systems in developing countries face the structural challenge of labor-market informality. Neither community financing schemes nor supply-side subsidies seem to guarantee access to health care by the most vulnerable groups. But the expansion of subsidized insurance also implies higher pressures on social expenditure. This article is a review of the literature on this topic. It explores international experiences of the above mentioned types, and analyzes their relevance for Colombia.

El proposito de este estudio es analizar el cambio en magnitud, composicion y distribucion del ga... more El proposito de este estudio es analizar el cambio en magnitud, composicion y distribucion del gasto de los hogares en los anos 1997 y 2003, usando las encuestas de calidad de vida. Este analisis encuentra una gran disminucion del gasto per capita (23.9%), especialmente en zonas urbanas y regiones mas adelantadas, reflejo de la crisis economica que golpea al pais desde 1998. Este decrecimiento desigual genero una mejor distribucion en el 2003 y ocasiono un cambio en la estructura de gastos, llevando a un importante crecimiento de la proporcion de los gastos en alimentos y una disminucion de los gastos de educacion y salud. En el documento se utilizo estadistica descriptiva, discriminando por quintiles de cada region y clase (urbano rural). Posteriormente se realizaron estimaciones parametricas y no parametricas de las curvas de Engel, para cada rubro, con el fin de identificar su naturaleza.*********************************************************************************************...

This paper explores the role of effort and human capital as mechanisms to alleviate the idiosyncr... more This paper explores the role of effort and human capital as mechanisms to alleviate the idiosyncratic risk faced by individuals in the presence of incomplete markets. I construct a DSGE model where effort and human capital determine the probability of being employed the next period. While effort is a flow variable that has to be exerted every period, human capital is a stock variable chosen when the agent is born. I first show how effort and assets are inverse related, and then characterize the investment in education as a function of its cost. In the stationary equilibrium individuals diversify between market and nonmarket mechanisms to reduce risk. As a result, in the long run, the median individual will hold a negative credit balance, which better approximates the real wealth distribution when compared with previous studies. The results shed light on the potential implication of combining policies of unemployment insurance and subsidies to education to improve the wealth distribu...

El objetivo de este capitulo es crear las bases de unos indicadores y metodos de evaluacion que l... more El objetivo de este capitulo es crear las bases de unos indicadores y metodos de evaluacion que logren la adecuada medicion de como la investigacion ha logrado transformar los procesos productivos, interviniendo en procesos de innovacion. Para ello se describen distintos enfoques teoricos que se han utilizado para la evaluacion del impacto de la ciencia en el ambito de la produccion y los indicadores que de alli han resultado. En la primera seccion se hace una sintesis sobre la nocion de sistema de conocimiento y se conceptualiza su impacto en el sector productivo, se caracterizan las relaciones entre uno y otro y se exponen los principales enfoques teoricos de medicion. En la segunda seccion se describen algunas limitaciones institucionales a la innovacion en Colombia. Por ultimo, en la tercera, se evalua el impacto del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia en el ambito del sector productivo, a traves de estadisticas provenientes de la convocatoria a grupos de investigacion.

Social Science Research Network, 2020

This paper analyses the effect of Covid-19 on health and economic indicators of Bogota, the capit... more This paper analyses the effect of Covid-19 on health and economic indicators of Bogota, the capital of Colombia, and the responses of the local government to ease the economic shock. We highlight the importance of designing policies that adapt to the local context and complement the existing strategies at the national level, and the implementation of ambitious local programs that would be too difficult to execute nationwide. We also emphasize on the benefits on having an ample fiscal space due to the good behavior of previous administrations, allowing the funding of these programs with sustainable debt.

Cad Saude Publica, 2008

This paper analyzes the main advances in health coverage and health services demand in Colombia u... more This paper analyzes the main advances in health coverage and health services demand in Colombia using the 1997 and 2003 living standards surveys. The study showed an increase in health coverage associated with expansion of the subsidized care system, although a large proportion of the population is still not entitled to health care. The type of entitlement also directly affects the demand for services. There was an increase in preventive medical consultations in 2003 and a decrease in the use medical care for acute illness, due mainly to lack of money. Access to medicines increased from 1997 to 2003, as reflected by a decrease in out-of-pocket expenditure on medicines.

The World Bank Economic Review, 2015

I explore the effect of effort as a mechanism to alleviate the idiosyncratic risk faced by indivi... more I explore the effect of effort as a mechanism to alleviate the idiosyncratic risk faced by individuals in the presence of incomplete markets. I construct a DSGE model where costly effort determines the probability of being employed the next period and a riskless asset can be used to smooth consumption. I first show how effort and assets are inverse related, and that a unique stationary equilibrium exists. Then, in a calibrated version of the model to the US economy, I show that in the stationary equilibrium a positively skewed wealth distribution arises, which is closer to the observed data and has not been obtained by models without ex-ante heterogeneity. I then use the model to evaluate the effect of unemployment insurance on the wealth distribution. JEL codes: D91, E21, E24, E25, J22 I N T R O D U C T I O N Heterogenous agents models with incomplete markets allow one to study the distribution of key economic variables in an economy such as earnings, consumption, and wealth. The first models in this literature, where agents have only access to a single riskless asset to smooth consumption, generate left-skewed wealth distributions since most agents accumulate assets for precautionary motives (Huggett 1993; Aiyagari 1994). However, real wealth distributions are skewed to the right: few individuals hold most of the wealth, whereas most agents have some degree of debt or have little savings (see Fig. 1). The purpose of this paper is to study the role of effort as a mechanism for self-insurance and evaluate its consequences for the wealth distribution.