Ezequiel Tacsir - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ezequiel Tacsir
Cuyonomics. Investigaciones en Economía Regional
En la última década el sector agropecuario fue testigo de un cambio radical expresado a través de... more En la última década el sector agropecuario fue testigo de un cambio radical expresado a través de la creciente utilización de tecnologías de base digital. Este paradigma emergente, usualmente conocido como agtech, derivó en nuevas oportunidades para el escalamiento/upgrading en cadenas globales de valor. Este trabajo aporta elementos para la comprensión del fenómeno del desarrollo del sector agtech en Uruguay, intentando identificar los principales drivers de su crecimiento, así como también los mayores obstáculos. Utilizando una metodología de estudio de casos presentamos un par de emprendimientos de base digital en Uruguay. Encontramos que las capacidades tecnológicas, la experiencia previa, las vinculaciones tempranas con usuarios y los espacios de apoyo fueron centrales para que los emprendedores puedan identificar oportunidades de negocio, obtener financiamiento, y desarrollar y validar las tecnologías. También identificamos diversos obstáculos que estarían limitando las posibi...
Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the lemon and citrus clusters in Argentina and Urugu... more PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the lemon and citrus clusters in Argentina and Uruguay, in which the central role of public-private coordination in ensuring successful participation in global value chains. International agrifood markets are increasingly segmented in terms of quality, plant health and safety standards, requiring the implementation of reliable traceability systems and certifications of good practices. These requirements call for the alignment of various actors – including private companies, plant health organizations, science and technology institutions – behind a common interest.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a series of case studies to answer the research question. Thus, the study conducted 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from different public and private organizations (18 for the Argentinean case and 12 for Uruguay). This fieldwork took place between June and November 2020, where all interviews were recorded.Fin...
This study presents new findings on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on productivity and innov... more This study presents new findings on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on productivity and innovation for Caribbean firms, with particular focus on the effects on firm gender diversity and workforce composition. Research on the impact of women's participation on firm performance and innovation has so far produced mixed results, though there is some evidence to suggest that for Latin America, larger shares of women in the knowledge creation and innovation process may increase innovative behavior and, as a consequence, lead to greater labor productivity. In the current context, female participation in firms becomes an even more pressing issue, given the early indications of the pandemics disproportionately negative burden on women s income and jobs in different regions. We found that the gender composition of the personnel has an interesting direct effect on productivity. At the same time, our results show that the expected reductions in female personnel due to the pandemic, have...
El cluster de limones en Argentina y de cítricos en Uruguay ilustra dos casos de cómo la coordina... more El cluster de limones en Argentina y de cítricos en Uruguay ilustra dos casos de cómo la coordinación entre los privados y la cooperación de estos con el sector público son centrales para la inserción exitosa en las cadenas globales de valor. Los mercados internacionales agroalimentarios, cada vez más segmentados en materia de calidad y con exigencias constantemente renovadas en aspectos de sanidad vegetal e inocuidad, requieren la implementación de sistemas de trazabilidad confiables y de certificaciones de buenas prácticas. Esta situación demanda la alineación de diversos actores detrás de un interés común incluyendo a las empresas privadas, los organismos de sanidad vegetal, instituciones de ciencia y tecnología, entre otros. Los clusters acá estudiados ejemplifican cómo estos desafíos pueden ser alcanzados. A su vez, estos logros no solo se tradujeron en oportunidades de exportación, generación de empleo, atracción a la inversión extranjera directa (o apertura de filiales en otr...
Documentos de Proyectos, 2017
Slow labour productivity growth has been a salient feature of the Dutch economy for a while, espe... more Slow labour productivity growth has been a salient feature of the Dutch economy for a while, especially in (business) services. Using firm-level data from the Dutch business services sector, the article aims to explain this feature by analysing whether the slow growth is due to a lack of innovation. Innovation expenditures in the period 1994-1996 were, in fact, rather low from an international perspective. The article shows that innovating firms in Dutch business services realised higher productivity growth rates than non-innovating firms. Remarkably, innovation did not go along with superior growth rates in turnover, but was instead accompanied by lower growth rates of employment.
The challenge of catching-up requires not only keeping pace with the front runners, but actually ... more The challenge of catching-up requires not only keeping pace with the front runners, but actually out-pacing them. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has identified a particular area of weakness in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) economies; namely-the low productivity levels in the service sector. LAC employment is overwhelmingly concentrated in services, and the sector's productivity levels have been identified as dragging the region's relative aggregate productivity levels downward. The service sector is adding more value to economies in developed regions than in the LAC region. Recent research conducted by the IDB shows that innovation positively affects productivity growth in the region, although the evidence comes almost exclusively from the manufacturing sector. The dearth of evidence regarding innovation in services is related, at least in part, to uncertainty with respect to how innovation in services actually works, how it can best be measured and whether or not old measurement tools (biased toward manufacturing and R&D) are really applicable to innovation in service sector environments. Traditional views of services have tended to view it as a sector that is not very prone to innovation, a view that has kept policymakers from considering it a strategic sector in their quest to achieve sustainable growing economies. This viewpoint is becoming outmoded. In fact, services are increasingly recognized as the sector with the greatest potential to affect economic growth; in developed economies the sector is being regarded as a leading job provider and creator, and as one that is capable of spurring economic growth by acting as a chief diffusion agent of general purpose technologies. If policies to promote innovation are to be effective, they need to reflect the ways in which innovation takes place today. Unfortunately, the little available empirical evidence about innovation in the service sector is largely limited to developed economies or regions; there is no systematic study of innovation in services in LAC. Recent evidence for developed economies highlights that innovation has became much broader in scope, stemming from a variety of practices and ones that are fundamentally more collaborative in nature. As such, innovation can be found in a variety of sectors (including government) and in a range of activities (such as those considered low-tech, according to the level of R&D) which have only recently started receiving attention to and we are just now beginning to understand. So far, the limited empirical evidence available suggests that LAC service firms do in fact innovate, sometimes even more than their manufacturing peers; however, they often face burdensome financial constraints when they want to innovate, and these constraints can sometimes be more binding in the service sector than in manufacturing. A deeper understanding of the dynamics at play in the service sector in LAC and the relationship between productivity and innovation in services (as well as specific sub-sectors of services) represents a policy making opportunity that, if ignored, could contribute to prolonged productivity lags in the region, while, if well designed and implemented, could have large economic payoffs. Policymakers in LAC are faced with the challenge of striking a balance between learning from the most advanced economies and understanding their own contexts which may compromise direct application
The advance of knowledge-based societies has modified the labor markets and qualification require... more The advance of knowledge-based societies has modified the labor markets and qualification requirements. In this sense, and considering that individual choices about careers and occupations have pervasive social effects, there is a growing interest from both academics and policy makers in understanding and influencing the process of education choice. Specifically, there is a worldwide renewed concern on achieving higher levels of graduation from scientific and technological disciplines. Available evidence shows that mobilizing individual wills towards these highly priority careers is not an easy nor mechanical task. Thus, it is necessary to expand the standard view about the process of occupation choice by adding non pecuniary factors, influence of social networks and the role of information and guidance policies. With these objectives in mind, and after reviewing the theoretical literature about occupation choice in economics, the present paper analyzes the effects that diverse pers...
In this note, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovat... more In this note, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovation behaviour of manufacturing firms in LAC using the recently released Enterprise Surveys 2010. The Enterprise Surveys define innovation rates as the share of firms introducing product and process innovations. The survey also measures the proportion of firms investing in research and development (R&D) and filing for intellectual property rights (IPRs). The aim of this note is to understand the main characteristics of innovative firms and to gather new evidence with regard to the nature of the innovation process in the region. Statistics about the performance of LAC firms are provided using different types of indicators to measure firms’ innovative behaviour. In particular, differences in innovation performance and effort by country, sector, and key firm characteristics, such as being a multinational or exporter, are explored. Those firms in LAC that are top R&D performers are identified...
En la última década el sector agropecuario fue testigo de un incipiente cambio radical a partir d... more En la última década el sector agropecuario fue testigo de un incipiente cambio radical a partir de la creciente utilización de tecnologías de base digital. Esta tendencia global se replicó en los casos de Argentina y Uruguay. Además de hacer más eficientes (y en la etapa primaria más amigables con el medio ambiente) las tareas llevadas a cabo en diversos eslabones de la cadena desde la producción a campo, pasando por la industrialización, hasta la comercialización-, este paradigma emergente, usualmente conocido como Agtech, derivó en nuevas oportunidades para el escalamiento/upgrading en cadenas globales de valor. Los startups de este sector suelen utilizar tecnologías disruptivas e.g. Big Data, Inteligencia Artificial, etc.- para brindar sus servicios, los cuales son provistos a través de medios digitales e.g. aplicaciones móviles, páginas web, etc-. En particular, en este trabajo identificamos una serie de emprendimientos de base digital en Argentina y Uruguay que, a partir de las...
In this note, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovat... more In this note, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovation behaviour of manufacturing firms in LAC using the recently released Enterprise Surveys 2010. The Enterprise Surveys define innovation rates as the share of firms introducing product and process innovations. The survey also measures the proportion of firms investing in research and development (R&D) and filing for intellectual property rights (IPRs). The aim of this note is to understand the main characteristics of innovative firms and to gather new evidence with regard to the nature of the innovation process in the region. Statistics about the performance of LAC firms are provided using different types of indicators to measure firms ’ innovative behaviour. In particular, differences in innovation performance and effort by country, sector, and key firm characteristics, such as being a multinational or exporter, are explored. Those firms in LAC that are top R&D performers are identifie...
UNU-MERIT Working Papers intend to disseminate preliminary results of research carried out at UNU... more UNU-MERIT Working Papers intend to disseminate preliminary results of research carried out at UNU-MERIT and MGSoG to stimulate discussion on the issues raised. Effects of Innovation on Employment in Latin America
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflec... more The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent. The unauthorized commercial use of Bank documents is prohibited and may be punishable under the Bank's policies and/or applicable laws. Copyright © 2012 Inter-American Development Bank. All rights reserved; may be freely reproduced for any non-commercial purpose. Corresponding author: Elena Arias Ortiz
Firm Innovation and Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2016
Chapter 2 although the GDp per capita of most Latin american countries has grown rapidly since 20... more Chapter 2 although the GDp per capita of most Latin american countries has grown rapidly since 2003, it still significantly lags the levels of industrialized countries. Further, productivity, the main driver of long-term economic growth, has expanded at a lower rate than the world's technological frontier (IDB 2010). thus, improving productivity is the main challenge for Latin america. But what creates productivity growth? economies are becoming more knowledge based, and innovation is a key driver of national competitiveness, development, and long-term economic growth. at the firm level, innovation-the transformation of ideas into new products, services, and
Las "Notas técnicas" abarcan una amplia gama de prácticas óptimas, evaluaciones de proyectos, lec... more Las "Notas técnicas" abarcan una amplia gama de prácticas óptimas, evaluaciones de proyectos, lecciones aprendidas, estudios de caso, notas metodológicas y otros documentos de carácter técnico, que no son documentos oficiales del Banco. La información y las opiniones que se presentan en estas publicaciones son exclusivamente de los autores y no expresan ni implican el aval del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, de su Directorio Ejecutivo ni de los países que representan. Este documento puede reproducirse libremente.
The advance of knowledge-based societies has modified the labor markets and qualification require... more The advance of knowledge-based societies has modified the labor markets and qualification requirements. In this sense, and considering that individual choices about careers and occupations have pervasive social effects, there is a growing interest from both academics and policy makers in understanding and influencing the process of education choice. Specifically, there is a worldwide renewed concern on achieving higher levels of graduation from scientific and technological disciplines. Available evidence shows that mobilizing individual wills towards these highly priority careers is not an easy nor mechanical task. Thus, it is necessary to expand the standard view about the process of occupation choice by adding non pecuniary factors, influence of social networks and the role of information and guidance policies. With these objectives in mind, and after reviewing the theoretical literature about occupation choice in economics, the present paper analyzes the effects that diverse pers...
Cuyonomics. Investigaciones en Economía Regional
En la última década el sector agropecuario fue testigo de un cambio radical expresado a través de... more En la última década el sector agropecuario fue testigo de un cambio radical expresado a través de la creciente utilización de tecnologías de base digital. Este paradigma emergente, usualmente conocido como agtech, derivó en nuevas oportunidades para el escalamiento/upgrading en cadenas globales de valor. Este trabajo aporta elementos para la comprensión del fenómeno del desarrollo del sector agtech en Uruguay, intentando identificar los principales drivers de su crecimiento, así como también los mayores obstáculos. Utilizando una metodología de estudio de casos presentamos un par de emprendimientos de base digital en Uruguay. Encontramos que las capacidades tecnológicas, la experiencia previa, las vinculaciones tempranas con usuarios y los espacios de apoyo fueron centrales para que los emprendedores puedan identificar oportunidades de negocio, obtener financiamiento, y desarrollar y validar las tecnologías. También identificamos diversos obstáculos que estarían limitando las posibi...
Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the lemon and citrus clusters in Argentina and Urugu... more PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the lemon and citrus clusters in Argentina and Uruguay, in which the central role of public-private coordination in ensuring successful participation in global value chains. International agrifood markets are increasingly segmented in terms of quality, plant health and safety standards, requiring the implementation of reliable traceability systems and certifications of good practices. These requirements call for the alignment of various actors – including private companies, plant health organizations, science and technology institutions – behind a common interest.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a series of case studies to answer the research question. Thus, the study conducted 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from different public and private organizations (18 for the Argentinean case and 12 for Uruguay). This fieldwork took place between June and November 2020, where all interviews were recorded.Fin...
This study presents new findings on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on productivity and innov... more This study presents new findings on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on productivity and innovation for Caribbean firms, with particular focus on the effects on firm gender diversity and workforce composition. Research on the impact of women's participation on firm performance and innovation has so far produced mixed results, though there is some evidence to suggest that for Latin America, larger shares of women in the knowledge creation and innovation process may increase innovative behavior and, as a consequence, lead to greater labor productivity. In the current context, female participation in firms becomes an even more pressing issue, given the early indications of the pandemics disproportionately negative burden on women s income and jobs in different regions. We found that the gender composition of the personnel has an interesting direct effect on productivity. At the same time, our results show that the expected reductions in female personnel due to the pandemic, have...
El cluster de limones en Argentina y de cítricos en Uruguay ilustra dos casos de cómo la coordina... more El cluster de limones en Argentina y de cítricos en Uruguay ilustra dos casos de cómo la coordinación entre los privados y la cooperación de estos con el sector público son centrales para la inserción exitosa en las cadenas globales de valor. Los mercados internacionales agroalimentarios, cada vez más segmentados en materia de calidad y con exigencias constantemente renovadas en aspectos de sanidad vegetal e inocuidad, requieren la implementación de sistemas de trazabilidad confiables y de certificaciones de buenas prácticas. Esta situación demanda la alineación de diversos actores detrás de un interés común incluyendo a las empresas privadas, los organismos de sanidad vegetal, instituciones de ciencia y tecnología, entre otros. Los clusters acá estudiados ejemplifican cómo estos desafíos pueden ser alcanzados. A su vez, estos logros no solo se tradujeron en oportunidades de exportación, generación de empleo, atracción a la inversión extranjera directa (o apertura de filiales en otr...
Documentos de Proyectos, 2017
Slow labour productivity growth has been a salient feature of the Dutch economy for a while, espe... more Slow labour productivity growth has been a salient feature of the Dutch economy for a while, especially in (business) services. Using firm-level data from the Dutch business services sector, the article aims to explain this feature by analysing whether the slow growth is due to a lack of innovation. Innovation expenditures in the period 1994-1996 were, in fact, rather low from an international perspective. The article shows that innovating firms in Dutch business services realised higher productivity growth rates than non-innovating firms. Remarkably, innovation did not go along with superior growth rates in turnover, but was instead accompanied by lower growth rates of employment.
The challenge of catching-up requires not only keeping pace with the front runners, but actually ... more The challenge of catching-up requires not only keeping pace with the front runners, but actually out-pacing them. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has identified a particular area of weakness in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) economies; namely-the low productivity levels in the service sector. LAC employment is overwhelmingly concentrated in services, and the sector's productivity levels have been identified as dragging the region's relative aggregate productivity levels downward. The service sector is adding more value to economies in developed regions than in the LAC region. Recent research conducted by the IDB shows that innovation positively affects productivity growth in the region, although the evidence comes almost exclusively from the manufacturing sector. The dearth of evidence regarding innovation in services is related, at least in part, to uncertainty with respect to how innovation in services actually works, how it can best be measured and whether or not old measurement tools (biased toward manufacturing and R&D) are really applicable to innovation in service sector environments. Traditional views of services have tended to view it as a sector that is not very prone to innovation, a view that has kept policymakers from considering it a strategic sector in their quest to achieve sustainable growing economies. This viewpoint is becoming outmoded. In fact, services are increasingly recognized as the sector with the greatest potential to affect economic growth; in developed economies the sector is being regarded as a leading job provider and creator, and as one that is capable of spurring economic growth by acting as a chief diffusion agent of general purpose technologies. If policies to promote innovation are to be effective, they need to reflect the ways in which innovation takes place today. Unfortunately, the little available empirical evidence about innovation in the service sector is largely limited to developed economies or regions; there is no systematic study of innovation in services in LAC. Recent evidence for developed economies highlights that innovation has became much broader in scope, stemming from a variety of practices and ones that are fundamentally more collaborative in nature. As such, innovation can be found in a variety of sectors (including government) and in a range of activities (such as those considered low-tech, according to the level of R&D) which have only recently started receiving attention to and we are just now beginning to understand. So far, the limited empirical evidence available suggests that LAC service firms do in fact innovate, sometimes even more than their manufacturing peers; however, they often face burdensome financial constraints when they want to innovate, and these constraints can sometimes be more binding in the service sector than in manufacturing. A deeper understanding of the dynamics at play in the service sector in LAC and the relationship between productivity and innovation in services (as well as specific sub-sectors of services) represents a policy making opportunity that, if ignored, could contribute to prolonged productivity lags in the region, while, if well designed and implemented, could have large economic payoffs. Policymakers in LAC are faced with the challenge of striking a balance between learning from the most advanced economies and understanding their own contexts which may compromise direct application
The advance of knowledge-based societies has modified the labor markets and qualification require... more The advance of knowledge-based societies has modified the labor markets and qualification requirements. In this sense, and considering that individual choices about careers and occupations have pervasive social effects, there is a growing interest from both academics and policy makers in understanding and influencing the process of education choice. Specifically, there is a worldwide renewed concern on achieving higher levels of graduation from scientific and technological disciplines. Available evidence shows that mobilizing individual wills towards these highly priority careers is not an easy nor mechanical task. Thus, it is necessary to expand the standard view about the process of occupation choice by adding non pecuniary factors, influence of social networks and the role of information and guidance policies. With these objectives in mind, and after reviewing the theoretical literature about occupation choice in economics, the present paper analyzes the effects that diverse pers...
In this note, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovat... more In this note, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovation behaviour of manufacturing firms in LAC using the recently released Enterprise Surveys 2010. The Enterprise Surveys define innovation rates as the share of firms introducing product and process innovations. The survey also measures the proportion of firms investing in research and development (R&D) and filing for intellectual property rights (IPRs). The aim of this note is to understand the main characteristics of innovative firms and to gather new evidence with regard to the nature of the innovation process in the region. Statistics about the performance of LAC firms are provided using different types of indicators to measure firms’ innovative behaviour. In particular, differences in innovation performance and effort by country, sector, and key firm characteristics, such as being a multinational or exporter, are explored. Those firms in LAC that are top R&D performers are identified...
En la última década el sector agropecuario fue testigo de un incipiente cambio radical a partir d... more En la última década el sector agropecuario fue testigo de un incipiente cambio radical a partir de la creciente utilización de tecnologías de base digital. Esta tendencia global se replicó en los casos de Argentina y Uruguay. Además de hacer más eficientes (y en la etapa primaria más amigables con el medio ambiente) las tareas llevadas a cabo en diversos eslabones de la cadena desde la producción a campo, pasando por la industrialización, hasta la comercialización-, este paradigma emergente, usualmente conocido como Agtech, derivó en nuevas oportunidades para el escalamiento/upgrading en cadenas globales de valor. Los startups de este sector suelen utilizar tecnologías disruptivas e.g. Big Data, Inteligencia Artificial, etc.- para brindar sus servicios, los cuales son provistos a través de medios digitales e.g. aplicaciones móviles, páginas web, etc-. En particular, en este trabajo identificamos una serie de emprendimientos de base digital en Argentina y Uruguay que, a partir de las...
In this note, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovat... more In this note, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovation behaviour of manufacturing firms in LAC using the recently released Enterprise Surveys 2010. The Enterprise Surveys define innovation rates as the share of firms introducing product and process innovations. The survey also measures the proportion of firms investing in research and development (R&D) and filing for intellectual property rights (IPRs). The aim of this note is to understand the main characteristics of innovative firms and to gather new evidence with regard to the nature of the innovation process in the region. Statistics about the performance of LAC firms are provided using different types of indicators to measure firms ’ innovative behaviour. In particular, differences in innovation performance and effort by country, sector, and key firm characteristics, such as being a multinational or exporter, are explored. Those firms in LAC that are top R&D performers are identifie...
UNU-MERIT Working Papers intend to disseminate preliminary results of research carried out at UNU... more UNU-MERIT Working Papers intend to disseminate preliminary results of research carried out at UNU-MERIT and MGSoG to stimulate discussion on the issues raised. Effects of Innovation on Employment in Latin America
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflec... more The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent. The unauthorized commercial use of Bank documents is prohibited and may be punishable under the Bank's policies and/or applicable laws. Copyright © 2012 Inter-American Development Bank. All rights reserved; may be freely reproduced for any non-commercial purpose. Corresponding author: Elena Arias Ortiz
Firm Innovation and Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2016
Chapter 2 although the GDp per capita of most Latin american countries has grown rapidly since 20... more Chapter 2 although the GDp per capita of most Latin american countries has grown rapidly since 2003, it still significantly lags the levels of industrialized countries. Further, productivity, the main driver of long-term economic growth, has expanded at a lower rate than the world's technological frontier (IDB 2010). thus, improving productivity is the main challenge for Latin america. But what creates productivity growth? economies are becoming more knowledge based, and innovation is a key driver of national competitiveness, development, and long-term economic growth. at the firm level, innovation-the transformation of ideas into new products, services, and
Las "Notas técnicas" abarcan una amplia gama de prácticas óptimas, evaluaciones de proyectos, lec... more Las "Notas técnicas" abarcan una amplia gama de prácticas óptimas, evaluaciones de proyectos, lecciones aprendidas, estudios de caso, notas metodológicas y otros documentos de carácter técnico, que no son documentos oficiales del Banco. La información y las opiniones que se presentan en estas publicaciones son exclusivamente de los autores y no expresan ni implican el aval del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, de su Directorio Ejecutivo ni de los países que representan. Este documento puede reproducirse libremente.
The advance of knowledge-based societies has modified the labor markets and qualification require... more The advance of knowledge-based societies has modified the labor markets and qualification requirements. In this sense, and considering that individual choices about careers and occupations have pervasive social effects, there is a growing interest from both academics and policy makers in understanding and influencing the process of education choice. Specifically, there is a worldwide renewed concern on achieving higher levels of graduation from scientific and technological disciplines. Available evidence shows that mobilizing individual wills towards these highly priority careers is not an easy nor mechanical task. Thus, it is necessary to expand the standard view about the process of occupation choice by adding non pecuniary factors, influence of social networks and the role of information and guidance policies. With these objectives in mind, and after reviewing the theoretical literature about occupation choice in economics, the present paper analyzes the effects that diverse pers...