Chong, Alberto

Person:
Chong, Alberto

Fields of Specialization

Economic development, Political economy, Public policy

External Links

RePEc

Last updated: January 31, 2023

Biography

Alberto Chong is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and holds a joint appointment with the College of Education and Human Development. He pursued graduate studies in Economics at Cornell University and Harvard University, and received his Ph.D. degree from Cornell. His publications include more than sixty papers in peer-reviewed journals such as the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, Economic Journal, the Journal of the European Economic Association, the Journal of Public Economics, and the Journal of International Economics, among others. He has also edited eight books. Before joining Georgia State University he held faculty appointments with the University of Ottawa and George Washington University and spent about a dozen years working in multilateral organizations in particular, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. He has consulted with USAID, 3ie, the World Bank and the Government of Peru, among others. His current research interests include a broad range of areas in economic development, political economy and public policy including private sector, information technologies, and governance. He is currently an Associate Editor with Economics Bulletin.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 15

Do Information Technologies Improve Teenagers’ Sexual Education? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Colombia
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2020-06) Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco; Chong, Alberto; Karlan, Dean; Valdivia, Martín
This study reports results from a randomized evaluation of a mandatory six-month Internet-based sexual education course implemented across public junior high schools in 21 Colombian cities. Six months after finishing the course, the study finds a 0.4 standard deviation improvement in knowledge, a 0.2 standard deviation improvement in attitudes, and a 55 percent increase in the likelihood of redeeming vouchers for condoms as a result of taking the course. The data provide no evidence of spillovers to control classrooms within treatment schools. However, the analysis provides compelling evidence that treatment effects are enhanced when a larger share of a student's friends also takes the course. The low cost of the online course along with the effectiveness the study documents suggests this technology is a viable alternative for improving sexual education in middle-income countries.
Do Information Technologies Improve Teenagers' Sexual Education? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Colombia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04) Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco; Chong, Alberto; Karlan, Dean; Valdivia, Martin
This study reports results from a randomized evaluation of a mandatory six-month Internet-based sexual education course implemented across public junior high schools in 21 Colombian cities. Six months after finishing the course, the study finds a 0.4 standard deviation improvement in knowledge, a 0.2 standard deviation improvement in attitudes, and a 55 percent increase in the likelihood of redeeming vouchers for condoms as a result of taking the course. The data provide no evidence of spillovers to control classrooms within treatment schools, and it finds that treatment effects are enhanced when a larger share of a student's friends also takes the course. The low cost of the online course along with the effectiveness the study documents suggests this technology is a viable alternative for improving sexual education in middle-income countries.
Will Elders Provide for Their Grandchildren?: Unconditional Cash Transfers and Educational Expenditures in Bolivia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-08) Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo; Chong, Alberto; Rios-Avila, Fernando; Yanez Pagans, Monica
This paper takes advantage of repeated cross-section household surveys and a sharp discontinuity created by the introduction of an unconditional cash transfer to elders. The paper evaluates the impact of these cash transfers on the educational expenditures for children within a household. The analysis finds positive and significant effects of the program at the aggregate level. It also finds that the program has stronger effects in indigenous populations and among female and rural populations. The results are robust with respect to a series of falsification tests, survey structures, model specifications, and estimation methods.
Information Technology and Provision of National Identification Cards by the Bolivian Police: Evidence from Two Randomized Natural Field Experiments
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-06) Machicado Salas, Gustavo; Chong, Alberto; Yanez-Pagans, Monica
This paper investigates the potential of information technology to improve public service delivery and empower citizens. The investigation uses two randomized natural experiments in the renewal of national identification cards by the Bolivian Police. The first experiment arises from the random assignment of police officers and applicants to a manual or digital renewal process, which is identical in all other aspects. The second experiment arises from technical failures in the digital renewal process, which allow police officers to change from the digital to the manual renewal process randomly across renewal days. The efficiency of public service delivery is measured in renewal success rates (which average to a strikingly low rate of 72 percent in the sample) and the time it takes to renew an identification card. The findings show that applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital renewal process were on average 12 percentage points more likely to complete it, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. Further, successful applicants who were randomly assigned to the digital process took on average 31 percent less time to complete the process, compared with those who were randomly assigned to the manual process. The investigation finds that information technology significantly lowers barriers to accessing national identification cards, and promotes more equitable provision across the population. The findings suggest that information technology might achieve these goals by introducing efficiencies (such as reducing administrative shortcomings and transaction costs) and limiting the exercise of discretion by police officers in the renewal process.
Impact of Long Run Exposure to Television on Homicides: Some Evidence from Brazil
(Taylor and Francis, 2016-05-25) Chong, Alberto
This paper focuses on the link between television coverage and violent crime, in particular, homicides in Brazil, a country where crime has grown dramatically in recent decades. Using Census data for the period 1980–2000, the paper finds that people living in areas covered by television signal have significantly lower rates of homicides. The effect is strongest for men of lower socioeconomic status.
Discrimination in Latin America : An Economic Perspective
(Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank, 2010) Moro, Andrea; Nopo, Hugo; Chong, Alberto; Nopo, Hugo; Chong, Alberto; Moro, Andrea
The chapters presented in this volume adopt a variety of these methodological tools in order to explore the extent to which discrimination against women and demographic minorities is pervasive in Latin America. In chapter two, Castillo, Petrie, and Torero present a series of experiments to understand the nature of discrimination in urban Lima, Peru. They design and apply experiments that exploit degrees of information on performance as a way to assess how personal characteristics affect how people sort into groups. Along similar lines, in chapter three, Cardenas and his research team use an experimental field approach in Colombia to better understand pro-social preferences and behavior of both individuals involved in the provision of social services (public servants) and potential beneficiaries of those services (the poor). In chapter four, Elias, Elias, and Ronconi try to understand social status and race during adolescence in Argentina. They asked high school students to select and rank ten classmates with whom they would like to form a team and use this information to construct a measure of popularity. In chapters five and six, Bravo, Sanhueza, and Urzua present two studies covering different aspects of the labor market using different methodological tools. Based on an audit study by mail, their first study attempts to detect gender, social class, and neighborhood of residence discrimination in hiring practices by Chilean fir. In a second study, they use a structural model to analyze gender differences in the Chilean labor market. In chapter seven, Soruco, Piani, and Rossi measure and analyze possible discriminatory behaviors against international emigrants and their families remaining in southern Ecuador (the city of Cuenca and the rural canton of San Fernando). Finally, in chapter eight, Gandelman, Gandelman, and Rothschild use micro data on judicial proceedings in Uruguay and present evidence that female defendants receive a more favorable treatment in courts than male defendants.
(Ineffective) Messages to Encourage Recycling: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Peru
(Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2015-01) Karlan, Dean; Chong, Alberto; Shapiro, Jeremy; Zinman, Jonathan
There is growing interest in using messaging to drive prosocial behaviors, which contribute to investment in public goods. We worked with a leading nongovernmental organization in Peru to randomize nine different prorecycling messages that were crafted on the basis of best practices, prior evidence, and theories of behavioral change. Different variants emphasized information on environmental or social benefits, social comparisons, social sanctions, authority, and reminders. None of the messages had significant effects on recycling behavior. However, reducing the cost of ongoing participation by providing a recycling bin significantly increased recycling among enrolled households.
(Ineffective) Messages to Encourage Recycling : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Peru
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-07) Karlan, Dean; Chong, Alberto; Shapiro, Jeremy; Zinman, Jonathan
There is growing interest in using messaging to drive prosocial behaviors, which contribute to investment in public goods. The authors worked with a leading nongovernmental organization in Peru to randomize nine different prorecycling messages that were crafted on the basis of best practices, prior evidence, and theories of behavioral change. Different variants emphasized information on environmental or social benefits, social comparisons, social sanctions, authority, and reminders. None of the messages had significant effects on recycling behavior. However, reducing the cost of ongoing participation by providing a recycling bin significantly increased recycling among enrolled households.
Investor Protection and Corporate Governance : Firm-Level Evidence Across Latin America
(Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007) López-de-Silanes, Florencio; Chong, Alberto
This book holds that the crucial failure of corporate governance is the expropriation of outside investors, be they shareholders or creditors, by those who are in control of firms. The problem of expropriation, also known as tunneling, often takes on enormous proportions. Billions of dollars of wealth are siphoned away from outside investors to controlling shareholders and their private company allies. The expropriation prevents investors from devoting funds in the corporate sector, thus leading to low valuations of corporate assets, stunted capital markets, and slowed economic growth. Low valuations and underdeveloped financial markets are only two of the symptoms of investor expropriation. Other symptoms include concentrated corporate ownership, large spreads between cash flow ownership and the voting rights of dominant shareholders, pyramids, and low dividend payments. When financial markets exhibit these symptoms, the likely underlying problem is investor expropriation. The essays collected in this volume put together a compelling picture showing that many of the symptoms of investor expropriation and poor corporate governance are present in Latin America. The evidence is loud and clear in every chapter of this book. But there are also benefits to collecting this detailed proof. The evidence suggests recipes for improvement as well. The message of this book is as unambiguous as is its analysis: a critical goal in the agenda of financial reform in Latin America must be improvement in corporate governance through legal reform.
Privatization in Latin America : Myths and Reality
(Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005) López-de-Silanes, Florencio; Chong, Alberto; Chong, Alberto; López-de-Silanes, Florencio
Privatization is under attack. Beginning in the 1980s, thousands of failing state-owned enterprises worldwide have been turned over to the private sector. But public opinion has turned against privatization. A large political backlash has been brewing for some time, infused by accusations of corruption, abuse of market power, and neglect of the poor. What is the real record of privatization and are the criticisms justified? This report evaluates the empirical evidence on privatization in a region that has witnessed an extensive decline in the state's share of production over the past 20 years. The book is a compilation of recent studies that provide a comprehensive analysis of the record of and accusations against privatization, with important recommendations for the future. Seven countries are investigated: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.