Regulatory Framework and Productivity in Latin America

Developing countries are characterized by distortions that undermine the proper functioning of markets and limit productivity growth. Many of these distortions have their origin in existing regulations and failures in the design or implementation of public policies. Also, market failures can be corrected or at least relieved by an adequate regulatory framework. Consequently, a high and sustained economic growth requires institutional changes that favor important productivity gains. In this sense, CAF-Development bank of Latin America- is interested in studying how the design of an appropriate regulatory framework can contribute to closing the productivity gap in Latin America.

Therefore, CAF is launching a call for research proposals that measure the impact of regulations and public policies on productivity in Latin America. Proposals should focus on specific regulations or policies and can be of the following two types:

1. Case studies addressing the effect of industry-specific regulations/policies on productivity. We are particularly interested in "network" sectors such as telecommunications, transport and energy.
    
2. Studies addressing broader regulations/policies affecting all sectors or a large subset of them.

We are particularly interested in regulations/policies aimed at competition advocacy and antitrust; intellectual property protection; bankruptcy; consumer protection; innovation; employment protection, unemployment insurance, and minimum wages; collective (wage) bargaining; social security and pensions; SME and entrepreneurship financing; credit allocation; trade, and environmental protection.

We also welcome proposals that focus on regulatory and bureaucratic procedures (i.e., red tape) that affect, for example, firm entry or the efficiency of the judicial system in order to facilitate contract enforcement.

Proposals should be sent until March 15, 2017. A maximum of 6 projects will be awarded funding of US$ 15,000 each, with an additional amount of up to US$ 5,000 for proposals that use administrative data.

All requeriments, means for submitting and additional details can be found on the call.