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Banks’ Physical Footprint and Financial Technology Adoption
Get PDFWe investigate how the presence of physical bank branches moderates financial technology diffusion. Our identification strategy uses services suspensions caused by criminal groups that perform hit-and-run raids exploding branch facilities and rendering them inoperable for months. We show that the shock depletes the cash inventory of branches, but the stock of credit and deposits remain unaffected. We then document that customers increase their usage of noncash payments after the events. We investigate a new instant payment technology called Pix that was a remarkable success in terms of adoption. After robbery events, the number and value of Pix intra-municipality transactions increase, as well as the number of users. We also find Pix usage spillover effects that go beyond cash substitution. First, the number of Pix transactions and users also increases when either the payer or the payee is in an unaffected municipality. Second, we show that there are local spillovers to digital institutions, indicating that cash dependence can be an impediment to their expansion. Our results shed light on the determinants of technology adoption and the consequences of the recent transition in the banking industry from a physical branch-based model to an increasing reliance on digital services
Overconfidence and Gun Preferences: How Behavioral Biases Affect Your Safety
Get PDFOverconfidence leads to risky behavior, including when people are around guns. Does overconfidence also shape attitudes about gun ownership and use? We evaluate this possibility by conducting nationally representative surveys in six countries in the Americas, including the United States. Results show that overconfident individuals are more willing to accept the use of guns and more likely to declare their willingness to use guns. These results indicate that overconfidence is a significant behavioral trait correlated with attitudes toward weapons handling, ownership, carrying, and use. Overall, over-confidence could lead, in equilibrium, to lower regulation than optimal and a higher amount of guns, even before considering the effect of the electoral system, lobbying, and campaign contributions. Efforts to correct the biases of individuals confronted with making decisions about guns should be a priority, especially in regulatory contexts. Information about actual performance and the risks entailed by wrong choices is a must. Obliging individuals to reflect on their choices may also help correct observed biases
Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2022
Get PDFThis report compiles comparable tax revenue statistics over the period 1990-2020 for 27 Latin American and Caribbean economies. Based on the OECD Revenue Statistics database, it applies the OECD methodology to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to enable comparison of tax levels and tax structures on a consistent basis, both among the economies of the region and with other economies. This publication is jointly undertaken by the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, the OECD Development Centre, the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Beyond the Price Tag Understanding the True Cost of Digital Health Tools
No full textTotal Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a cost calculation method that, when applied to the field of digital solution implementation, provides a final figure that reflects not only the cost of acquisition (buy, build or adapt) but also those related to the use, maintenance and closure of such solution. Total cost of ownership analysis is a financial estimate of all the direct and indirect costs of acquiring, commissioning, operating, maintaining and disposing of a product or system
The IDB Group and the CIF: 13 years of Transformational Impact in Latin America and the Caribbean
Get PDFThe joint work between the IDB and the CIF successfully demonstrates through its results the impact achieved after 13 years of effort
BIDEconomics Brazil: Landscape of opportunities
No full textBrazil faces challenges that have historically stalled the possibility of securing continuous sustainable growth and prosperity for all Brazilians. Based on its strengths and the progress achieved in different areas, Brazil has the chance to start paving the way into a new reality where economic growth and highly efficient public policies are able to support the advancement of critical social indicators and ensure a more inclusive and greener society
Country Development Challenges: Route Toward Sustainable and Inclusive Growth
Get PDFBrazil was already facing a sluggish economic recovery prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2014 and 2016, the country experienced a deep recession marked by substantial drop in economic activity combined with a reversal of recent gains in social indicators. From 2017 to 2019, GDP growth was unable to fully recoup the losses incurred during the recession. In recent decades, Brazil has repeatedly experienced this pattern, with a sharp decline in economic activity followed by an anemic recovery
Approach Paper: Extended Country Program Evaluation: Costa Rica 2015-2022
No full textThe Extended Country Program Evaluation (XCPE) for Costa Rica will analyze two successive Bank strategies and the IDB Group program with the country, covering the 2015-2022 period. This will be the sixth OVE evaluation of the IDB Group\u27s program with Costa Rica. Previous country program evaluations (CPEs) covered the periods 1990-2001 (document RE-277), 2002-2006 (document RE-325), 2006-2010 (document RE-377), 2011-2014 (document RE-472-1), and 2015-2018 (document RE-535-4). In this sixth evaluation, the first extended one, OVE will cover the 2015-2022 period (corresponding to the country strategies for 2015-2018 and 2019-2022), providing an independent evaluation of the relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of the IDB Group program and strategies in Costa Rica. The analysis will encompass the financial and nonfinancial products made available to the country (details provided in Section II(C). The objective is for the findings and recommendations of the evaluation to be used as inputs in preparing the new IDB Group strategy with Costa Rica for the 2023-2026 period
Taxation of the Mining Industry in Latin America and the Caribbean: Analysis and Policy
Get PDFLittle is known about mining taxation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), although it is both particularly complex and has large effects on incentives for investments in mining activities. This paper reviews the types and consequences of mining taxes that are applied in the region and their implications for investment. Most countries assess royalties based on the value of production, which are consistent with royalties applied globally. However, miners confront additional taxes such that tax regimes, in the aggregate, inefficiently discourage investment, including income taxes, non-refundable sales taxes on capital purchases, capital taxes, gross receipt taxes, and real estate transfer taxes. Several reforms emerge from the analysis. The most important is for LAC countries to consider profit-based regimes--similar to Chile, Mexico, and Peru--supplemented by a minimum royalty based on the value of production. Company tax reforms should also be considered with the aim to tax mining similarly to other sectors of the economy to improve the allocation of capital
Inter-American Development Bank Quarterly Business Review: First Quarter 2023
No full textThe 2023 first quarter edition of the Quarterly Business Review (QBR) provides management with a status of the Bank\u27s performance. The QBR reports on outputs, lending program priorities and organizational indicators on a quarterly basis to allow management to monitor progress in achieving corporate results. This periodic monitoring supports evidence-based decision making and allows for timely identification of deviations from targets and enables effective implementation of measures to address them. Also, the QBR provides an overview of the IDB\u27s performance on sovereign-guaranteed outputs and lending program priorities. It identifies trend deviations from IDB portfolio targets to support Bank management efforts to identify and implement corrective measures. This edition compiles data for the first quarter of 2023