Estudios de Economía https://estudiosdeeconomia.uchile.cl/index.php/EDE <p>Estudios de Economía is published, since 1973, two times a year by the Department of Economics at the University of Chile. Its purpose is to publish empirical as well as theoretical papers in every field of Economics. All papers must go through refereeing process by two anonymous referees. As part of our editorial policy, an answer regarding the status of a paper will not exceed two months from its reception. If that were not the case, the authors are free to send their paper for consideration for publication elsewhere.</p> Departamento de Economía - Facultad de Economía y Negocios, Universidad de Chile. en-US Estudios de Economía 0304-2758 The elasticity of substitution and labor-saving innovations in the Spanish regions https://estudiosdeeconomia.uchile.cl/index.php/EDE/article/view/69080 This paper performs a nonlinear estimation of a normalized CES production function within a system of equations with a panel of Spanish regions for the period 1964-2013. It obtains an elasticity of substitution below one and identifies different rates of factor-augmenting technical progress. The results support for labor-saving innovations hypothesis for the Spanish case. Nevertheless, they do not support a relationship between the elasticity of substitution and the initial regional capital per worker. The results do not change if labor is adjusted by human capital. Antonio Cutanda Copyright (c) 2022 Estudios de Economía 2022-12-06 2022-12-06 49 2 123 144 Intellectual property rights and North-South trade: Exports vs. foreign direct investment https://estudiosdeeconomia.uchile.cl/index.php/EDE/article/view/69081 This paper examines whether a Northern firm prefers to export or to engage in FDI to serve the South. If the firm engages in FDI, its technology is imitated, and a Southern firm enters the market that may sell in both markets. The Northern firm may invest to prevent product piracy in the North. The two markets may have different sizes. We find that when the cost of preventing product piracy in the North is great enough: (i) If the Southern market is large enough the Northern firm engages in FDI, allowing piracy in its home market, and the South obtains the greater welfare; (ii) If the Southern market is small enough the Northern firm exports and the government of the South imposes a strong Intellectual Property Rights protection, attracting the Northern firm and improving the welfare of both countries. Quan Dong Juan Carlos Bárcena-Ruiz María Begoña Garzón Copyright (c) 2022 Estudios de Economía 2022-12-06 2022-12-06 49 2 145 173 Does college make you progre? Evidence from Bolivia https://estudiosdeeconomia.uchile.cl/index.php/EDE/article/view/69082 I examine the association between college education and left-leaning views in Bolivia using novel survey data. My findings suggest that college education is associated with left-leaning social preferences (college-educated individuals favor social equality and a tax system in which not everybody must pay taxes) but right-leaning individual preferences (they favor individual liberty and respect for private property). My results fit the connotation given to terms like progre or socialista caviar commonly used in Latin America to refer to educated individuals who consider themselves progressive, or even socialist, but admit and enjoy the benefits of individual liberty and markets. Antonio Saravia Copyright (c) 2022 Estudios de Economía 2022-12-06 2022-12-06 49 2 175 197 Herding behavior in the Chinese stock market and the impact of COVID-19 https://estudiosdeeconomia.uchile.cl/index.php/EDE/article/view/69083 We analyze herding behavior in the Chinese stock markets in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic using the cross-sectional absolute deviation (CSAD) model proposed by Chang et al. (2000) to detect herding behavior in the time period between January 30, 2001, and June 12, 2020. We consider stock prices for all firms listed (A-shares) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHSE) and Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) in China. We report the presence of herding behavior during the period under study and that herding behavior becomes stronger after December 31, 2019 (the COVID-19 event date). We also study herding activity in the context of potential asymmetries in market return and volatility states. The results show that when the market return is high and the volatility is low, there is a more predominant herding behavior trend. Our results do not depend on using different time windows. Results do not change when time-varying coefficients are considered using rolling regressions. Other control variables which may be relevant in explaining CSAD do not change the results when included in the estimations. Carlos Maquieira Christian Espinosa-Méndez Copyright (c) 2022 Estudios de Economía 2022-12-06 2022-12-06 49 2 199 229 University credentials and wage differentials in the Argentine productive structure https://estudiosdeeconomia.uchile.cl/index.php/EDE/article/view/69084 We estimate the wage return of the different university-level educational credentials in Argentina using administrative data for 2019. The results indicate sizeable variability according to the hierarchy of the degree and area of knowledge. Applied Sciences obtain the best results, while the opposite is true for the Humanities. These effects are higher for individuals located in the right tail of the conditional wage distribution. Martín Trombetta Gisella Pascuariello Nicolás Sidicaro Pablo Sonzogni Gisel Trebotic Copyright (c) 2022 Estudios de Economía 2022-12-06 2022-12-06 49 2 231 255