Adriana Cassoni | Universidad ORT Uruguay (original) (raw)
Papers by Adriana Cassoni
The high degree of openness of the Uruguayan economy and the fact that the country is characteris... more The high degree of openness of the Uruguayan economy and the fact that the country is characterised by being constantly subject to shocks, strongly suggest the use of simulation tools that allow for predicting its future evolution under different scenarios. Currently, Computable General Equilibrium Models (CGEMs) applied to trade are one
... Please update your bookmarks. Los recursos humanos en el proceso de ajuste: el caso uruguayo.... more ... Please update your bookmarks. Los recursos humanos en el proceso de ajuste: el caso uruguayo. M. Bucheli, A. Cassoni, R. Diez de Medina and Maximo Rossi (). No 293, Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) from Department of Economics - dECON. Date: 1993. ...
The subject of labor unions in Latin America provokes a variety of diverse and strongly held view... more The subject of labor unions in Latin America provokes a variety of diverse and strongly held views. While some see unions as a way to protect workers' rights and ensure an equitable distribution of income, others see unions as a drain of productivity or an intrusion of politics into the workplace. In spite of these strong opinions, the effects of unions in Latin America have received little empirical attention. This book represents one of the first attempts to obtain evidence on union effects in the region. Following an examination of union density across countries, the studies in this volume evaluate the impact of unions on private-sector firm performance, agricultural productivity, and educational outcomes in public school systems. Unions' effects are considered in detail for Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay, as well as the less-studied case of Guatemala. Some of the findings are surprising and may help provide a basis for policies that better address the concerns of wo...
This study examines the impact of unions on wages and employment using data from Uruguay in a per... more This study examines the impact of unions on wages and employment using data from Uruguay in a period when unions were banned (1973-1984), then legalized with tripartite bargaining (1984-1991) followed by industry-wide or firm-specific bargaining (1992-1997). The relationship between wages and employment shifted significantly across these periods as evidenced by recursive residuals, which show structural shifts in five of six industries, with the shifts coming at the same time as the regime changes. Wages are exogenous to employment before 1985, but not afterwards. Wage elasticity and the employment-output elasticity fell sharply after 1984. Unions significantly raised wages in 1985-1992, but afterwards the change in bargaining structure and increased openness led to concessions. Starting in 1985, workers in unionized industries were less likely to be laid off than workers in nonunion industries.
The knowledge of the nature and structure of trade unions is a basic requisite to correctly model... more The knowledge of the nature and structure of trade unions is a basic requisite to correctly model bargaining between firms and unions. Thus, in this paper the historical background and the current characteristics of the Uruguayan trade unions are summarised.
The numerous digital means of payment that are currently operative in Uruguay are designed to tar... more The numerous digital means of payment that are currently operative in Uruguay are designed to target the general population and particular segments of it to a different extent. They are therefore expected to have a distinct impact on the local and the global economy development. Overall money flows may increase through the use of cards, particularly those that allow differing payments along several time periods while almost all the instruments and policies described generate increases in the number of transactions within the formal economy (diverting them from the informal sector). Many of them further seek to improve social and economic conditions of the poorest households by promoting their financial inclusion and promote the formalisation of MSMEs. Given the high concentration of poor households within specific geographical areas (both neighbourhoods and communities) and the creation of specific retailer network linked to many mobile systems, they should also increase money flows...
This paper provides new evidence on the magnitude of the elasticity of substitution between labou... more This paper provides new evidence on the magnitude of the elasticity of substitution between labour and capital for the Uruguayan manufacturing sector. Labour demand is derived using a right-to-manage model estimated for the period 1985-1997 using data for six industries. The evidence found suggests that the elasticity is generally less than 1. Differences by industry and in time are also found. The latter result may be linked both to the integration process underwent by Uruguay in the nineties and to the changes in the bargaining framework that took place in that same period. As a nested CES production function is used to derive the labour demand, the partial elasticity of substitution between production and non-production workers is also calculated, being its magnitude quite low. Finally, the model was estimated using data from industrial surveys (gathered from firms) and from household surveys. The comparison of results shows that when using industrial surveys data the estimated e...
Nota: T1-tramo de ingresos de 1 a 3 salarios mínimos nacionales; T2-tramo de 3 a 6 SMN; T3-tramo ... more Nota: T1-tramo de ingresos de 1 a 3 salarios mínimos nacionales; T2-tramo de 3 a 6 SMN; T3-tramo de 6 y más SMN. NC-No corresponde. Patr.-son Aportes patronales, Pers.-Aportes personales, Mon.-Montevideo, Int.-Interior.
High-relevance knowledge accumulation is one agreed necessary condition to boost development, one... more High-relevance knowledge accumulation is one agreed necessary condition to boost development, one that Uruguay is still far from meeting but that has increasingly attracted the attention of policy-makers. The comprehension of the innovative behaviour of private agents is thus critical for the correct design of incentives to promote the activity. The descriptive analysis of Innovation Surveys’ data summarised in this paper is a contribution in that direction. A large share of manufacturing innovators focus just on new processes, particularly when oriented to the local market and facing an economic downturn. The generally low novelty degrees attained are, partially explained by the large market imperfections and the lack of a national system that effectively protects property. A further major barrier stems from the widespread use of sub-optimal innovation technologies, as revealed by the chosen innovative input mixes. Organisational efficiency and highly skilled workers are key pre-re...
Armington elasticities of substitution – AEs – are a crucial set of parameters that allows CGEMs ... more Armington elasticities of substitution – AEs – are a crucial set of parameters that allows CGEMs applied to trade to be operational. In the case of Uruguay, no estimated values for these parameters have been available until now, forcing researchers to impose them arbitrarily. We here start filling this gap by providing estimated AEs for 32 Uruguayan 4digit manufacturing industries belonging to the Food, Beverages and Tobacco; Chemical Products; and Textiles economic sectors, using monthly and quarterly data along 19892001. The specification of the models follows the simplified benchmark proposed by Armington (1969) that has been used in most of the existing applied research. The resulting estimated AEs are in line with those reported by the international literature and hence of a smaller size than expected by CGEM modellers. Our econometric analyses also show that the low values of the estimated elasticities are not due to the characteristics of the available data and/or the methodo...
This paper examines a unique situation in Uruguay where before-after comparisons about the impact... more This paper examines a unique situation in Uruguay where before-after comparisons about the impact of collective bargaining can be made. During the period under study there were three distinct regimes: (1) 1975-1984 when bargaining was banned, (2) 1985-1991 when there was tripartite bargaining, and (3) 1992- 1997 when there was bargaining without government involvement. During the third regime the economy became much more open, which would presumably also have an effect on bargaining results. Strong evidence of a change in economic behaviour after 1985 is reported. Based on this evidence, a standard labour demand model, derived from a neoclassical framework, for 1975-1984 and a right-to-manage bargaining model for 1985-1997 are estimated. The results show that the long run wage elasticity of labour demand and the employment-output elasticity fell sharply, while there was no overall change in the amount of time needed for employment to adjust to its equilibrium level. The bargaining m...
As of today, the international literature has significantly contributed to the comprehension of t... more As of today, the international literature has significantly contributed to the comprehension of the mechanisms underlying the innovative behaviour of firms, its impact on performance and, to a lesser extent, the inertia inherent to the phenomenon. On the opposite, the dynamics of knowledge-capital accumulation along the business cycle still remains an unexplored topic. We here start to analyse this dimension of innovation within the benchmark proposed in 1998 by Crépon, Duguet and Mairesse using a balanced panel of medium and large Uruguayan firms. Our findings reveal that, on average, the innovation intensity evolves procyclically while the innovation propensity and the novelty degrees follow a counter-cyclical path. The type of innovation sought during economic recessions is heterogeneous across firms. Innovators that are able to divert their sales to world markets tend to innovate in products of enhanced originality while those oriented to the local market generally innovate in p...
Some of the main indicators of labor market performance in Uruguay are here analyzed in order to ... more Some of the main indicators of labor market performance in Uruguay are here analyzed in order to give some insight on which are the most urgent problems to be faced. Unemployment, underemployment, instability of employment and informality have gone up in Uruguay in the late nineties, in spite of the country having grown at a high average annual rate. The individuals that have worsen their relative position in the labor market are identified so that policy implications – both labor and social policies- can be suitably differentiated according to the reasons explaining the process. RESUMEN Los indicadores de desempeño del mercado laboral uruguayo aquí analizados ayudan a la comprensión de cuáles son los problemas más urgentes a enfrentar. El desempleo, el subempleo, la inestabilidad laboral y la informalidad aumentaron en la segunda mitad de los noventa, a pesar de que el país creció a una alta tasa promedio anual. Los individuos que han empeorado su posición relativa en el mercado de...
The average HRM profile of medium and large firms in Uruguay is quite professionalized and formal... more The average HRM profile of medium and large firms in Uruguay is quite professionalized and formalized. It is largely oriented towards improving efficiency levels and, to a lesser extent, the degree of employees’ commitment to the organization, independently of either the firm’s characterization or its economic performance. However, given that successful companies do exhibit a more strategy-oriented behavior than the rest, the disregard of collaborative practices may be rooted on the optimality of a sequential adoption of managerial activities. The temporal evolution of the observed average patterns, the characterization of HRM practices used by innovative firms and the comparison of the profiles under different scenarios of union influence are all consistent with such hypothesized path. The existence of several ‘best’ configurations of practices across clusters of firms with distinct characteristics, such as their sales market and the degree of union influence, would also explain th...
Estudios de Economía, 1994
LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN CHILE AND URUGUAY Steven G. Allen' Adriana Cass... more LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN CHILE AND URUGUAY Steven G. Allen' Adriana Cassoni-Gafiton J, Labadie-ABSTRACT This study compares evidence on wage rigidity in Chile and Uruguay to determine whether difference* in labor market ...
Nota: T1-tramo de ingresos de 1 a 3 salarios mínimos nacionales; T2-tramo de 3 a 6 SMN; T3-tramo ... more Nota: T1-tramo de ingresos de 1 a 3 salarios mínimos nacionales; T2-tramo de 3 a 6 SMN; T3-tramo de 6 y más SMN. NC-No corresponde. Patr.-son Aportes patronales, Pers.-Aportes personales, Mon.-Montevideo, Int.-Interior.
Latin American Business Review, Apr 1, 2012
The failure to identify the returns to innovation in Latin America within the framework formalize... more The failure to identify the returns to innovation in Latin America within the framework formalized in the CDM model has hampered a thorough comprehension of the phenomenon and hence the design of adequate policies to foster the activity. We here argue that the use of standard innovation output indicators is at the root of the poor performance of empirical models
The high degree of openness of the Uruguayan economy and the fact that the country is characteris... more The high degree of openness of the Uruguayan economy and the fact that the country is characterised by being constantly subject to shocks, strongly suggest the use of simulation tools that allow for predicting its future evolution under different scenarios. Currently, Computable General Equilibrium Models (CGEMs) applied to trade are one
... Please update your bookmarks. Los recursos humanos en el proceso de ajuste: el caso uruguayo.... more ... Please update your bookmarks. Los recursos humanos en el proceso de ajuste: el caso uruguayo. M. Bucheli, A. Cassoni, R. Diez de Medina and Maximo Rossi (). No 293, Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) from Department of Economics - dECON. Date: 1993. ...
The subject of labor unions in Latin America provokes a variety of diverse and strongly held view... more The subject of labor unions in Latin America provokes a variety of diverse and strongly held views. While some see unions as a way to protect workers' rights and ensure an equitable distribution of income, others see unions as a drain of productivity or an intrusion of politics into the workplace. In spite of these strong opinions, the effects of unions in Latin America have received little empirical attention. This book represents one of the first attempts to obtain evidence on union effects in the region. Following an examination of union density across countries, the studies in this volume evaluate the impact of unions on private-sector firm performance, agricultural productivity, and educational outcomes in public school systems. Unions' effects are considered in detail for Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay, as well as the less-studied case of Guatemala. Some of the findings are surprising and may help provide a basis for policies that better address the concerns of wo...
This study examines the impact of unions on wages and employment using data from Uruguay in a per... more This study examines the impact of unions on wages and employment using data from Uruguay in a period when unions were banned (1973-1984), then legalized with tripartite bargaining (1984-1991) followed by industry-wide or firm-specific bargaining (1992-1997). The relationship between wages and employment shifted significantly across these periods as evidenced by recursive residuals, which show structural shifts in five of six industries, with the shifts coming at the same time as the regime changes. Wages are exogenous to employment before 1985, but not afterwards. Wage elasticity and the employment-output elasticity fell sharply after 1984. Unions significantly raised wages in 1985-1992, but afterwards the change in bargaining structure and increased openness led to concessions. Starting in 1985, workers in unionized industries were less likely to be laid off than workers in nonunion industries.
The knowledge of the nature and structure of trade unions is a basic requisite to correctly model... more The knowledge of the nature and structure of trade unions is a basic requisite to correctly model bargaining between firms and unions. Thus, in this paper the historical background and the current characteristics of the Uruguayan trade unions are summarised.
The numerous digital means of payment that are currently operative in Uruguay are designed to tar... more The numerous digital means of payment that are currently operative in Uruguay are designed to target the general population and particular segments of it to a different extent. They are therefore expected to have a distinct impact on the local and the global economy development. Overall money flows may increase through the use of cards, particularly those that allow differing payments along several time periods while almost all the instruments and policies described generate increases in the number of transactions within the formal economy (diverting them from the informal sector). Many of them further seek to improve social and economic conditions of the poorest households by promoting their financial inclusion and promote the formalisation of MSMEs. Given the high concentration of poor households within specific geographical areas (both neighbourhoods and communities) and the creation of specific retailer network linked to many mobile systems, they should also increase money flows...
This paper provides new evidence on the magnitude of the elasticity of substitution between labou... more This paper provides new evidence on the magnitude of the elasticity of substitution between labour and capital for the Uruguayan manufacturing sector. Labour demand is derived using a right-to-manage model estimated for the period 1985-1997 using data for six industries. The evidence found suggests that the elasticity is generally less than 1. Differences by industry and in time are also found. The latter result may be linked both to the integration process underwent by Uruguay in the nineties and to the changes in the bargaining framework that took place in that same period. As a nested CES production function is used to derive the labour demand, the partial elasticity of substitution between production and non-production workers is also calculated, being its magnitude quite low. Finally, the model was estimated using data from industrial surveys (gathered from firms) and from household surveys. The comparison of results shows that when using industrial surveys data the estimated e...
Nota: T1-tramo de ingresos de 1 a 3 salarios mínimos nacionales; T2-tramo de 3 a 6 SMN; T3-tramo ... more Nota: T1-tramo de ingresos de 1 a 3 salarios mínimos nacionales; T2-tramo de 3 a 6 SMN; T3-tramo de 6 y más SMN. NC-No corresponde. Patr.-son Aportes patronales, Pers.-Aportes personales, Mon.-Montevideo, Int.-Interior.
High-relevance knowledge accumulation is one agreed necessary condition to boost development, one... more High-relevance knowledge accumulation is one agreed necessary condition to boost development, one that Uruguay is still far from meeting but that has increasingly attracted the attention of policy-makers. The comprehension of the innovative behaviour of private agents is thus critical for the correct design of incentives to promote the activity. The descriptive analysis of Innovation Surveys’ data summarised in this paper is a contribution in that direction. A large share of manufacturing innovators focus just on new processes, particularly when oriented to the local market and facing an economic downturn. The generally low novelty degrees attained are, partially explained by the large market imperfections and the lack of a national system that effectively protects property. A further major barrier stems from the widespread use of sub-optimal innovation technologies, as revealed by the chosen innovative input mixes. Organisational efficiency and highly skilled workers are key pre-re...
Armington elasticities of substitution – AEs – are a crucial set of parameters that allows CGEMs ... more Armington elasticities of substitution – AEs – are a crucial set of parameters that allows CGEMs applied to trade to be operational. In the case of Uruguay, no estimated values for these parameters have been available until now, forcing researchers to impose them arbitrarily. We here start filling this gap by providing estimated AEs for 32 Uruguayan 4digit manufacturing industries belonging to the Food, Beverages and Tobacco; Chemical Products; and Textiles economic sectors, using monthly and quarterly data along 19892001. The specification of the models follows the simplified benchmark proposed by Armington (1969) that has been used in most of the existing applied research. The resulting estimated AEs are in line with those reported by the international literature and hence of a smaller size than expected by CGEM modellers. Our econometric analyses also show that the low values of the estimated elasticities are not due to the characteristics of the available data and/or the methodo...
This paper examines a unique situation in Uruguay where before-after comparisons about the impact... more This paper examines a unique situation in Uruguay where before-after comparisons about the impact of collective bargaining can be made. During the period under study there were three distinct regimes: (1) 1975-1984 when bargaining was banned, (2) 1985-1991 when there was tripartite bargaining, and (3) 1992- 1997 when there was bargaining without government involvement. During the third regime the economy became much more open, which would presumably also have an effect on bargaining results. Strong evidence of a change in economic behaviour after 1985 is reported. Based on this evidence, a standard labour demand model, derived from a neoclassical framework, for 1975-1984 and a right-to-manage bargaining model for 1985-1997 are estimated. The results show that the long run wage elasticity of labour demand and the employment-output elasticity fell sharply, while there was no overall change in the amount of time needed for employment to adjust to its equilibrium level. The bargaining m...
As of today, the international literature has significantly contributed to the comprehension of t... more As of today, the international literature has significantly contributed to the comprehension of the mechanisms underlying the innovative behaviour of firms, its impact on performance and, to a lesser extent, the inertia inherent to the phenomenon. On the opposite, the dynamics of knowledge-capital accumulation along the business cycle still remains an unexplored topic. We here start to analyse this dimension of innovation within the benchmark proposed in 1998 by Crépon, Duguet and Mairesse using a balanced panel of medium and large Uruguayan firms. Our findings reveal that, on average, the innovation intensity evolves procyclically while the innovation propensity and the novelty degrees follow a counter-cyclical path. The type of innovation sought during economic recessions is heterogeneous across firms. Innovators that are able to divert their sales to world markets tend to innovate in products of enhanced originality while those oriented to the local market generally innovate in p...
Some of the main indicators of labor market performance in Uruguay are here analyzed in order to ... more Some of the main indicators of labor market performance in Uruguay are here analyzed in order to give some insight on which are the most urgent problems to be faced. Unemployment, underemployment, instability of employment and informality have gone up in Uruguay in the late nineties, in spite of the country having grown at a high average annual rate. The individuals that have worsen their relative position in the labor market are identified so that policy implications – both labor and social policies- can be suitably differentiated according to the reasons explaining the process. RESUMEN Los indicadores de desempeño del mercado laboral uruguayo aquí analizados ayudan a la comprensión de cuáles son los problemas más urgentes a enfrentar. El desempleo, el subempleo, la inestabilidad laboral y la informalidad aumentaron en la segunda mitad de los noventa, a pesar de que el país creció a una alta tasa promedio anual. Los individuos que han empeorado su posición relativa en el mercado de...
The average HRM profile of medium and large firms in Uruguay is quite professionalized and formal... more The average HRM profile of medium and large firms in Uruguay is quite professionalized and formalized. It is largely oriented towards improving efficiency levels and, to a lesser extent, the degree of employees’ commitment to the organization, independently of either the firm’s characterization or its economic performance. However, given that successful companies do exhibit a more strategy-oriented behavior than the rest, the disregard of collaborative practices may be rooted on the optimality of a sequential adoption of managerial activities. The temporal evolution of the observed average patterns, the characterization of HRM practices used by innovative firms and the comparison of the profiles under different scenarios of union influence are all consistent with such hypothesized path. The existence of several ‘best’ configurations of practices across clusters of firms with distinct characteristics, such as their sales market and the degree of union influence, would also explain th...
Estudios de Economía, 1994
LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN CHILE AND URUGUAY Steven G. Allen' Adriana Cass... more LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN CHILE AND URUGUAY Steven G. Allen' Adriana Cassoni-Gafiton J, Labadie-ABSTRACT This study compares evidence on wage rigidity in Chile and Uruguay to determine whether difference* in labor market ...
Nota: T1-tramo de ingresos de 1 a 3 salarios mínimos nacionales; T2-tramo de 3 a 6 SMN; T3-tramo ... more Nota: T1-tramo de ingresos de 1 a 3 salarios mínimos nacionales; T2-tramo de 3 a 6 SMN; T3-tramo de 6 y más SMN. NC-No corresponde. Patr.-son Aportes patronales, Pers.-Aportes personales, Mon.-Montevideo, Int.-Interior.
Latin American Business Review, Apr 1, 2012
The failure to identify the returns to innovation in Latin America within the framework formalize... more The failure to identify the returns to innovation in Latin America within the framework formalized in the CDM model has hampered a thorough comprehension of the phenomenon and hence the design of adequate policies to foster the activity. We here argue that the use of standard innovation output indicators is at the root of the poor performance of empirical models