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.

Full item page

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 15

Bundling Services and Household Welfare in Developing Countries: The Case of Peru

(World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2003-11) Chong, Alberto ; Hentschel, Jesko ; Saavedra, Jaime

Using panel data for Peru for 1994-2000, the authors find that when households receive two, or more services jointly, the welfare increases as measured by changes in consumption are larger than when services are provided separately. The increases appear to be more than proportional, as F-tests on the coefficients of the corresponding regressors confirm. Thus, the authors find that bundling services may help realize welfare effects.
(Ineffective) Messages to Encourage Recycling : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Peru

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-07) Chong, Alberto ; Karlan, Dean ; 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.
Privatization and Labor Force Restructuring around the World

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-09) Chong, Alberto ; López-de-Silanes, Florencio

Some critics of privatization argue that poor labor force restructuring is a key concern and that governments should establish better retrenchment programs. Using new data from a sample of 400 companies in the world, Chong and López-de-Silanes test competing theories about the wisdom of retrenchment programs and their effect on prices paid by buyers, and rehiring policies by private owners after privatization. The results show that adverse selection plagues retrenchment programs carried out by governments before privatization. Controlling for endogeneity, several labor retrenchment policies yield a negative impact on net privatization prices. In confirmation of the adverse selection argument, various types of voluntary downsizing lead to a higher frequency of rehiring of the same workers by the new private owners. Compulsory skill-based programs are the only type of program that is marginally associated with higher prices and lower rehiring rates after privatization, but the political and economic costs of this policy may make it somewhat impractical. While a qualified non-intervention policy appears to be the safest bet in labor retrenchment before privatization, another one might be to set up a social safety net or labor reallocation program before privatization, and then let the new private owners decide who is redundant and who is not. Setting up the program before privatization may help with the political viability of the process and letting the new owners manage the retrenchment may help avoid adverse selection.
Determinants of Current Account Deficits in Developing Countries

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-07) Calderon, Cesar ; Chong, Alberto ; Loayza, Norman

The authors examine the empirical links between current account deficits and a broad set of economic variables proposed in the literature. To accomplish this, they complement and extend previous research by using a large, consistent set of macroeconomic data on public and private domestic savings, external savings, and national income variables; focusing on developing economies by drawing on a panel data set for 44 developing countries and annual information for the period 1966-95; adopting a reduced-form approach rather than holding to a particular structural model; distinguishing between within-country and cross-country effects; and employing a class of estimators that controls for the problems of simultaneity and reverse causation. Among their findings: Current account deficits in developing countries are moderately persistent. A rise in domestic output growth generates a larger current account deficit. Increases in savings rates have a positive effect on the current account. Shocks that increase the terms of trade or cause the real exchange rate to appreciate are linked with higher current account deficits. Either higher growth rates in industrial economies or higher international interest rates reduce the current account deficit in developing economies.
(Ineffective) Messages to Encourage Recycling: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Peru

(Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2015-01) Chong, Alberto ; Karlan, Dean ; 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.
Investor Protection and Corporate Governance : Firm-Level Evidence Across Latin America

(Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007) Chong, Alberto ; López-de-Silanes, Florencio

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.
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) Chong, Alberto ; Machicado Salas, Gustavo ; 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 ; Yañez-Pagans, Mónica

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.
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.
Do Information Technologies Improve Teenagers' Sexual Education? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Colombia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04) Chong, Alberto ; Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco ; 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.