Browsing by Author "Jordán Colzani, Felipe"

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    Audit threats and year-end spending by government agencies: experimental evidence from Chile
    (Emerald Publishing, 2023) Engel, Eduardo; Jordán Colzani, Felipe; Rau Binder, Tomás Andrés; Repetto, Andrea
    Purpose: The paper aims to estimate the capacity of supreme audit institutions’ (SAIs) audits to deter potentially wasteful year-end procurement spending. It also studies heterogeneous responses to SAIs’ audits depending on whether agencies’ top managers are appointed through a competitive procedure or not. Design/methodology/approach: A letter signed by the head of Chile’s SAI was sent to a hundred randomly chosen agencies two weeks before the end of the fiscal year, with instructions on year-end spending accounting and an audit threat. In addition, a hundred agencies that did not receive the letter were used as a control group. Findings: Agencies that received the letter reduced year-end aggregate procurement spending by 33% relative to controls. Purchases of office supplies, safety equipment, personal care products and paper products experienced the most considerable reductions. The decrease in year-end spending was smaller for agencies with at least one top manager appointed through a competitive procedure. Research limitations/implications: A SAI’s audit threat significantly reduced year-end procurement spending. Larger reductions in agencies headed by political appointees and across categories of goods that have been flagged as likely to be purchased to exhaust the budget suggest the avoided expenditures would have been wasteful. Further research is needed to determine if the net social value of year-end procurement spending deterred by SAIs audits is negative as suggested. Social implications: This paper has implications for the institutional support of SAIs audits and civil service. Originality/value: This paper provides novel experimental evidence of SAIs’ audits’ deterrence power on public agencies’ year-end procurement spending.
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    Migración y sesgo en calificaciones de estudiantes: evidencia para Chile
    (2024) Juanez Valle, Emilson Jampier; Gallego Yáñez, Francisco; Jordán Colzani, Felipe; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Instituto de Economía
    El presente documento estudia la formación de sesgos en las calificaciones de estudiantes migrantes versus nativos en el contexto chileno. La investigación se basa en la yuxtaposición de las notas de los estudiantes en las evaluaciones realizadas por los docentes con los resultados en pruebas estandarizadas externas dentro de educación básica y media durante el período 2016-2022. La estimación más robusta indica que el sesgo en matemáticas —evaluado en el promedio de la prueba estandarizada— en favor de los migrantes es de 0.121 desvíos estándar; además, dicho sesgo decae en función de las habilidades demostradas en matemáticas. Para entender este resultado, proponemos evidencia de que los alumnos migrantes emplean un mayor esfuerzo en la escuela y perciben más motivación por parte de sus profesores en comparación a los nativos. Asimismo, es posible que la brecha en las notas también sea el resultado de un sesgo derivado de las diferencias observadas en el comportamiento dentro del salón de clases. Aunque no podemos demostrar directamente que los profesores incorporan dentro de su función de bienestar la idea de ser benevolentes con quienes afrontan barreras y desafíos en un contexto nuevo, los resultados encontrados parecen, al menos parcialmente, alinearse con este planteamiento.
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    The climate of democracy: effects of exposure to warmer temperatures on electoral outcomes in Chile
    (2023) Araya Alfaro, Paula Montserratt; Gallego Yáñez, Francisco; Jordán Colzani, Felipe; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Instituto de Economía
    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts an increase in global temperatures by the early 2030s, exacerbating regional climate shifts and extreme weather events beyond initial forecasts. This paper explores the nexus between cumulative exposure to warmer temperature shocks and voting behaviors in Chilean national and local elections. Drawing on a dataset spanning 1988 to 2021 and employing panel regression with location and time-fixed effects, I uncover nuanced electoral responses to temperature fluctuations. Results indicate a positive relationship between exposure to warmer temperatures in the year before an election and voter turnout, particularly in local elections, with minimal impact observed at the national level. Moreover, exposure to cumulative warmer temperatures correlates with increased support for left-wing and nontraditional candidates in local races. Heterogeneous analysis reveals that in populations with the least adaptive capacities, new entry votes go, in most cases, to support outsiders, i.e., the “punishment vote” comes from the population most vulnerable to climate shocks. Mechanisms underlying these findings include income reductions from climate shocks and altered perceptions of democratic efficacy in addressing climate challenges. This study contributes to understanding the political ramifications of climate change, particularly in developing democracies like Chile, and underscores the role of exposure to changing climatic conditions in shaping electoral dynamics.