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case western reserve university

Silvia Prina

 
Silvia Prina

Assistant Professor of Economics

Weatherhead School of Management
11119 Bellflower Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44106

 

Office Phone: 216-368-0208
Email: silvia.prina@case.edu

 

I work in applied microeconomics, development economics and international trade.

Working Papers

 

Who Benefited More from NAFTA: Small or Large Farmers? Evidence from Mexico

Abstract: Trade liberalization can generate substantial distributional conflicts. Despite its importance, the effect on income from household production has received little attention. This paper measures the impact of increasing trade openness between Mexico and the U.S. resulting from NAFTA on the income of small versus large cash-crop farmers in Mexico. Relating NAFTA cuts in trade restrictions to border prices of Mexican exports and imports, I find that NAFTA-induced tariff reductions decreased the border price of corn, Mexico's main agricultural import, and increased the border prices of tomatoes and melons, Mexico's main agricultural exports. Then, I find that, among cash-crop farmers, the rise in fruit and vegetable prices benefited small farmers more than large farmers; while the drop in corn prices hurt large farmers more than small. This study accounts for benefits to Mexican farmers resulting from higher prices of export goods as well as losses incurred from greater import competition. Finally, the analysis at the regional level shows stronger results in the central region where trade liberalization increased the level of earning of poor farmers relative to those of large farmers. These results are consistent with observed cropping patterns and regional characteristics.

 

Endogenous Fertility, Inequality and Human Capital
With Dilip Mookherjee and Debraj Ray

Abstract: This paper integrates the endogenous fertility and endogenous inequality literatures. It studies steady states of an overlapping generations economy with borrowing constraints and two occupations varying in skill and training costs. Parental altruism is dynastic a la Barro-Becker, uses a less restrictive specification of fertility preferences than most formulations, and is yet consistent with a negative quality-quantity correlation in demand for children. Introducing endogenous fertility is shown to remedy two problems of endogenous inequality models: steady states are (generically) locally determinate, and can exhibit intergenerational mobility despite lack of any randomness or agent heterogeneity. The model permits detailed analysis of long run effects of human capital, fertility and fiscal policies.

 

Effects of NAFTA on Agricultural Wages and Employment in Mexico

Abstract: This paper measures the impact of NAFTA-induced real border prices changes of Mexican imports and exports on wages and employment of agricultural workers in Mexico. I find that changes in real border prices of crops did not affect agricultural wages. On the other side, increases in the real price of vegetables (main agricultural export) were associated with an increase in employment in the cultivation of vegetables, while the drop in the real price of corn (main agricultural import) reduced the employment in the corn sector. This is in line with the predictions of neoclassical trade theory: in the absence of mobility costs or sector-specific skills, factors moved smoothly from import-competing sectors into export sectors.

 

Work in Progress

 

The Evolution of Aspirations through Social Interactions: Evidence from Mexico
With Carlos Chiapa and José Luis Garrido

Abstract: Recent economic theory argues that poverty may have a close link between the aspirations of the poor and their condition of poverty. This theory also suggests people's aspirations can be changed through social interactions with individuals of higher education and economic status. This paper analyzes if this hypothesis is supported by the data. We consider PROGRESA, a program that exposes poor participants to a frequent level of interaction with individuals of higher education and economic status, such as doctors and nurses. We study if parents' aspirations towards the educational attainment of their children change as a result of these social interactions. Results suggest that frequent contact with doctors and nurses increases parents' educational aspirations for their daughters a third of a school year, while there is no significant effect for boys. A number of tests show that what drives the change in parental aspirations is not PROGRESA per se but constant and repeated interaction.

 
Childhood Obesity, Parents’ Knowledge, and Report Cards (with Heather Royer)

 

Self-Control and Nutritional Knowledge: What Influences Children’s Food Consumption? (with Heather Royer)

 

Microsavings Products and Market Failures: Evidence from Nepal

 

Microsavings Products and Networks: Evidence from Nepal

 

Older Works

Social Sectors and Poverty in Armenia: from Equity in Access to Equity in Quality
Human Development Working Paper, World Bank, March 2006
(with D. Angel-Urdinola and S. Jain)

Generational Accounting in the ECA Region
Human Development Working Paper, World Bank, November 2005
(with M. Chawla, N. Krishnan, P. Rizza, R. Zakirova)