Effects of Colombia's Social Protection System on Workers' Choice between Formal and Informal Employment

Camacho, Adriana ; Conover, Emily ; Hoyos, Alejandro

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGE CATEGORY;    AGE GROUP;    BUSINESS CYCLES;    CAPACITY BUILDING;    CHILD HEALTH;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6564
RP-ID  :  WPS6564

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper examines whether theColombian government's expansion of social programs inthe early 1990s, particularly the publicly provided healthinsurance, discouraged formal employment. Using householdsurvey data and variation across municipalities in the onsetof interviews for the SISBEN, the instrument used toidentify beneficiaries for public health insurance, it showsrobust and consistent estimates of an increase in informalemployment of approximately 4 percentage points. Similarresults are obtained using an alternative dataset,consisting of a panel of individuals interviewed for thefirst and second SISBEN. The findings suggest that marginalindividuals optimized when deciding whether to participatein the formal sector.